Senior Key Account Manager, Gauteng (Invitro Diagnostics)

Cepheid; Centurion; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Cepheid, a Danaher Company, is seeking a Senior Key Account Manager based in Gauteng to drive growth across South Africa’s healthcare ecosystem. You will manage strategic accounts, support distributors, and meet sales targets while collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure service excellence.

The role requires strong commercial acumen, ability to influence stakeholders, and willingness to travel locally and regionally up to 50%.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated success in managing key accounts and developing long-term relationships.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen in B2B healthcare markets.
• Ability to lead complex sales cycles with multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills in clinical and commercial settings.

Responsibilities

• Achieve or exceed revenue targets by managing strategic accounts in the region.
• Design tailored account strategies to drive market share and partnerships.
• Lead tenders, contracts, and pricing strategies.
• Serve as primary contact for healthcare institutions and distributors.
• Collaborate with Marketing on demand generation and events.
• Forecast using SFDC and maintain pipeline visibility.

Skills

Key account management

Stakeholder influence

Sales leadership

Communication skills

Strategic planning

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences or related field

Tools

Salesforce CRM

Job description

Job Title: Senior Key Account Manager - Gauteng

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Business Unit: Cepheid, a Danaher Company

Reports To: Country Manager, South Africa

Position Summary

At Cepheid, we are united by our mission to enable access to fast, accurate, and actionable diagnostic insights that improve lives. As a Senior Key Account Manager based in Gauteng, you will play a critical role in accelerating our commercial growth across South Africa’s healthcare ecosystem.

You will lead strategic customer engagement, driving adoption of Cepheid’s molecular diagnostic solutions across both the commercial and public health sectors, including HBDC. You will be responsible for managing key accounts directly and supporting distributor activities, while delivering on sales targets and business expansion plans. This high-impact role requires a customer-centric mindset, strong commercial acumen, and the ability to influence complex stakeholder environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Achieve or exceed quarterly and annual revenue targets by managing and growing strategic accounts in the region.
• Design and execute tailored account strategies to drive market share, increase test menu utilization, and secure long-term partnerships.
• Lead participation in tenders, contracts, and pricing strategies aligned with both commercial and public health market dynamics.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for healthcare institutions, commercial laboratories, and regional distributor partners.
• Drive business growth across key private and public healthcare providers, including Commercial Labs, Hospitals, Clinics, and Alternative Care Settings.
• Conduct regular engagements with clinicians, lab directors, procurement leads, and policy makers, positioning Cepheid as a trusted diagnostics partner.
• Collaborate with the Marketing team on demand generation campaigns, scientific workshops, and customer events, ensuring execution excellence.
• Support distributor partners by evaluating performance, facilitating training, and ensuring adherence to the Channel Partner Toolkit (CPTK) process.
• Maintain strong sales forecasting discipline using Salesforce (SFDC), providing visibility on pipeline, funnel activity, pricing, and market trends.
• Work cross-functionally with Customer Care, Service, and Technical teams to ensure high service quality and instrument uptime for your accounts.
• Champion the Danaher Business System (DBS) and funnel management principles to continuously drive process excellence and performance.

Training Responsibilities

• Complete all assigned training modules on time and ensure compliance with Cepheid and Danaher policies.
• For team leaders: Ensure timely and full training completion for all direct reports.

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Medical Technology, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in the diagnostics, medical device, or healthcare industry.
• Demonstrated success in managing key accounts and developing long-term business relationships.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, especially within B2B healthcare markets.

Skills & Competencies

• Ability to lead complex sales cycles, manage multiple stakeholders, and influence buying decisions.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills in both clinical and commercial environments.
• Adept at cross-functional collaboration and leveraging internal resources to support customer success.
• Highly organized, self-driven, and motivated by results.
• Willingness to travel locally and regionally up to 50%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Multi-lingual: Fluent in English; additional languages are an asset.
• Experience managing P&L and budgets.
• Advanced proficiency in Salesforce CRM or other sales tracking tools.
• Understanding of molecular diagnostics and public health procurement models.

Join our winning team today. Together, we’ll accelerate the real-life impact of tomorrow’s science and technology. We partner with customers across the globe to help them solve their most complex challenges, architecting solutions that bring the power of science to life.

For more information, visit www.danaher.com.