Head of Sales at ENGIE Energy Access (Africa)

 

Job Title: Head of Commercial

Location Lagos (with travel throughout regional Nigeria, 25-50% of the time)

Position: Full-time

Reporting line: Country Director

About ENGIE Energy Access (EEA)

ENGIE Energy Access is a leading Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) and mini-grids solutions provider in

Africa, with a mission to deliver affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy solutions and life-changing

services with an exceptional customer experience. The company is a result of the

integration of Fenix International, ENGIE Mobisol, and ENGIE PowerCorner; and develops

innovative, off-grid solar solutions for homes, public services and businesses, enabling customers

and distribution partners' access to clean, affordable energy. The PAYGo solar home systems are

financed through affordable installments from $0.14 per day,, and the mini-grids foster economic

development by enabling electrical productive use and triggering business opportunities for

entrepreneurs in rural communities.

With over 1,700 employees, operations in nine countries across Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire,

Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia), over 1 million customers

and more than 5 million lives impacted so far, ENGIE Energy Access aims to remain a leading

clean energy company, serving millions of customers across Africa by 2025.


Job Overview

The Commercial Director will play a critical role in ENGIE Energy Access Nigeria (EEAN). As

Commercial Director, you are responsible for driving revenue growth and expanding market share,
while maintaining strong customer repayments. You are also expected to identify new commercial opportunities. The role works in close partnership with the marketing team to align on go-to-market strategies , brand visibility, and demand generation initiatives

Key Responsibilities

• Set and manage the overarching strategic direction, priorities, and focus areas for sales cascading and ensuring alignment throughout EEAN

• Manage consolidated country P&L Sales performance (primarily revenue and
  
  

gross profit), with a secondary focus on driving overall EBITDA (given sales team core responsibilities for credit, product, operations, and CX outcomes)

• Where the country is underperforming on sales and commercial targets, manage turnaround efforts to remediate performance

• Establish a best-in-class sales operating model, with a high-impact and right-sized organizational structure, tools, reports, standards and systems

• In conjunction with marketing, support our go-to-market strategy through understanding our customers, the market and competitive landscape then determining competitive positioning with regards to products, prices, channels and locations

• Develop and lead a team a sales team (including State Managers) on a local, regional and national level, with full responsibility for the team’s workplan, coaching and professional development

• Lead and oversee strategic projects to improve sales performance
  
  

Detailed Responsibilities

Strategy, Planning & Budgeting (10%)

• Set and manage the overarching strategic direction, priorities and focus areas for
  
  

commercial across EEAN over the short, medium and long-term

• Develop the commercial strategy to drive efficient customer acquisition and revenue
  
  

growth throughout EEAN, including directly owning key inputs with our go-to-market

strategy (locations, distribution channels, partnerships etc.) and collaborating

cross-functionally to determine other key strategic inputs (e.g. product, pricing, CX, marketing etc.)

• Ensure regions have localized strategies in line with the country strategy and have robust
  
  

plans to deliver the country targets, including allocating sufficient investment and

resources to reliably execute

• As part of the management team, provide thought partnership for cross-functional leads,
  
  

provide input into strategies, act as a key stakeholder on cross-functional decisions and

ensure that core commercial and enabling functions align with the sales strategy

• Develop the sales budgets, and track departmental expenditures, financial goals and budgets
• Where required, both lead and oversee strategic commercial projects to drive sales growth across EEAN Governance, Reporting, Analytics & Performance Management (40%)

• Continuously manage country P&L performance, including:
  
  

‒ Primary focus on revenue (though sales volumes, kit mix and price), gross profit

(through maximizing sales of higher margin withs with a lower COGS) and cost of sale

‒ Secondary focus on EBITDA, given sales team core responsibilities for credit, product,

operations, and CX outcomes

• Set the overarching sales target setting process, approve regional sales targets
• Oversee the development of reports, analysis and insights for financial performance and
  
  

other operational KPIs for sales (per sales manager / agent, active agents) and

marketing (brand health, marketing spend, referrals, etc.)

• Establish the overarching governance framework to track performance against
  
  

commercial goals, lead national ] governance forums and hold State Managers and other departments accountable for results and plans

• Where there is underperformance, provide hands-on support to turnaround and make
  
  

key decisions to remediate performance

• Continuously monitor performance of other key functions that drive sales, including
  
  

product, pricing, sales, distribution, portfolio health, customer experience, software, and

service with potential partners, working with them to take remediation action to address

underperformance Commercial Operations (30%)

• Lead and manage development of a robust sales operating model, including:
  
  

‒ Develop procedures and policies for core sales operations functions (lead and

opportunity management; recruitment and training, tools of trade, incentives, size

and structure, government reporting and performance management etc.)

‒ Implement procedures and policies throughout the sales function, monitor and ensure compliance, continually test and improve

• Lead and manage marketing operations, including:
  
  

‒ Lead market research, including the market and competitive landscape to identify analyze threats and opportunities

‒ Segment EEA Nigeria’s customers and develop tailored strategies to target

‒ Identify trends in customer behavior closely following sales, product usage, customer

retention, upgrades and competitors, leveraging this data to enhance our

commercial strategy

• Establish and manage external partnerships, including negotiating ongoing contracts
  
  

with suppliers and customers; managing and reviewing contracts and making recommendations regarding commerciality.

Leadership, Management & Culture (20%)

• Develop and lead a team of sales and commercial managers and analysts, including full
  
  

responsibility for coaching and their professional development

• Manage the team’s work plan and workload to ensure delivery of agreed goals
• Help recruit, collaborate with, coordinate and train diverse teams such as Marketing and
  
  

especially field sales and credit teams.

• Provide strong leadership, management and coaching for regional sales teams,
  
  

including with support to other members of the Management Team

Required Skills & Experience

• Minimum of 12 years’ experience in progressive business leadership experience, with 3+
  
  

years leading a Commercial function (particularly FMCGs, MNOs & financial institutions)

• Strong commercial capability across sales and marketing (particularly in B2C), with a
  
  

demonstrated history of leading and delivering strong commercial results

• Outstanding leadership, having led large field-based sales teams and the ability to
  
  

create a performance culture with strong governance, accountability and results

• Strong understanding of the Nigeria commercial environment, ideally with time spent in
  
  

various regions throughout Nigeria

• General strategic, analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to set and
  
  

communicate the strategic vision for commercial throughout the organization

• Ability to lead high-impact cross-functional strategic commercial projects end to end
  
  

(including planning, analysis, conclusions and implementation) to achieve results

• Exceptional judgement and decision-making skills, with the ability to independently
  
  

assess and take action to achieve results

• Outstanding stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to
  
  

develop relationships with key functional leads (especially Customer Finance, Customer

Experience and Operations) but also with external strategic commercial partners

• Demonstrated passion for our mission, values and customers!
  
  

Manager Expectations

At EEA, we have high expectations for our managers. Each manager plays a key role in creating

an exceptional experience not only for our customers but for every person on our team. Our

managers help EEA realize our ambitious goals while developing their own leadership skills and

facilitating growth for their direct reports.

• We believe that great managers:
• Get things done, and are highly productive and results-oriented
• Empower their team members to own their work and challenge them to achieve more
  
  

than they thought possible

• Communicate and collaborate effectively both within and across teams, listening and
  
  

sharing information

• Know and care about their team members, help them to use their strengths at work,
  
  

invest in their professional development, and prioritize feedback

• Live by the company values and mission, lead others to do the same, and create an
  
  

inclusive and equitable environment

• Make the vision and strategy clear, and translate them into clear plans and expectations
  
  

for the team and team members

• Operate transparently and with accountability, and hold others accountable
  
  

Business Unit: GBU Flexible Gen & Retail

Division: Energy Access

Legal Entity: ENGIE ENERGY ACCESS NIGERIA LIMITED

Professional Experience: Senior (experience >15 years)

Education Level: Bachelor's Degree

How to Apply

Interested persons should click here to apply