Senior Logistics Commercial Leader

Alexforbes; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Crane Worldwide Logistics in South Africa seeks a senior commercial leader to drive the SA sales strategy, coach and align regional teams, and own revenue growth across air, ocean, road, and contract logistics.

You will recruit and develop talent, set targets for revenue, gross profit, and pipeline, and partner with Operations, Pricing, Procurement, Finance, and Marketing to deliver competitive solutions. Travel within South Africa and the region is required.

Qualifications

• Relevant tertiary qualification in Business, Commerce, Supply Chain, Logistics or a related discipline.
• Equivalent demonstrated experience will be considered.
• Substantial commercial leadership with minimum 10 years experience in freight forwarding, logistics, supply chain or a related B2B services environment.
• Proven success leading multi-role commercial teams and delivering revenue and gross profit growth.
• Strong understanding of air freight, ocean freight, road transport, customs, warehousing, contract logistics and project cargo solutions.
• Demonstrated minimum 10 years experience with strategic account management, tendering, pricing, contract negotiation and solution selling.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including margin management, forecasting, budgeting and customer profitability.
• Proficiency in CRM platforms and Microsoft 365 applications.
• Valid driver's license and willingness to travel within South Africa and the region, as business needs require.

Responsibilities

• Lead the South African sales strategy and translate country objectives into clear regional, team and individual commercial plans.
• Recruit, onboard, coach, develop and retain high-caliber sales and account-management talent.
• Set measurable targets for revenue, gross profit, new logos, customer retention, appointments, qualified pipeline and conversion.
• Own the commercial operating rhythm, including pipeline reviews, forecast accuracy, sales activity reviews, win/loss analysis and corrective actions.
• Drive profitable growth by balancing volume, margin, credit risk, operational capacity and customer value.
• Establish clear account ownership and ensure commission and profit-linked performance is governed consistently under approved company plans.
• Partner with Operations, Pricing, Procurement, Finance, Product, Marketing, QHSSE and Compliance to build executable, competitive customer solutions.
• Support strategic tenders, pricing reviews, contract negotiations, implementation handovers and executive customer engagements.
• Develop growth plans for priority verticals and trade lanes relevant to South Africa and the broader Southern African market.
• Promote cross-selling across air, ocean, road, customs, warehousing, contract logistics and project-forwarding solutions.
• Monitor market conditions, competitor activity and customer trends, converting insight into practical commercial action.
• Ensure CRM data quality, opportunity hygiene, timely updates and disciplined use of approved sales tools and processes.
• Maintain full compliance with company governance, anti-bribery, data-protection, competition-law, credit and procurement requirements.
• Represent the business professionally at customer meetings, industry events and internal regional forums.
• Undertake other reasonable duties aligned with the scope and seniority of the position.

Job description

Crane Worldwide Logistics in South Africa seeks a senior commercial leader to drive the SA sales strategy, coach and align regional teams, and own revenue growth across air, ocean, road, and contract logistics.

You will recruit and develop talent, set targets for revenue, gross profit, and pipeline, and partner with Operations, Pricing, Procurement, Finance, and Marketing to deliver competitive solutions. Travel within South Africa and the region is required.