Business Manager, Business Assurance - East Africa

About the role

SGS is looking for a Business Manager for its Business Assurance business in East Africa, based in Nairobi (Westlands). The role owns the regional growth agenda, accountable for revenue, profitability, market development and business performance, and covers Kenya as a key operating hub with a mandate extending across East Africa according to market potential and SGS priorities.

Key responsibilities

• Own the East Africa growth agenda and develop and execute a three-year growth plan, identifying priority countries, sectors, services, customer segments and investment requirements.
• Penetrate new markets and build direct, partnership, affiliate or other operating models in line with SGS governance, and turn regional priorities into country plans with commercial, operational and financial targets.
• Transform the commercial organisation toward active market development, disciplined prospecting, key account growth and stronger sales conversion, with a commercial operating cadence covering pipeline, forecasts, tenders, pricing and win/loss analysis.
• Accelerate Business Assurance services such as QHSE, Food, Sustainability, Digital Trust, Forestry, Supply Chain Assurance, Medical Devices and Academy, and develop strategic regional and multinational accounts.
• Lead major opportunities, tenders and customer relationships, set competitive positioning and pricing, and assess and improve the organisation's leadership capability and operating model.
• Build and coach country leadership, sales and operational teams, develop successors and strengthen technical and auditor capacity.
• Ensure service delivery, quality, accreditation compliance and technical excellence, and manage client claims and complaints.
• Build relationships with customers, accreditation bodies, regulators, government entities, industry associations, partners and international and development organisations, and monitor market trends, competitors and regulations.
• Identify alliances, partnerships and bolt-on acquisition opportunities, and ensure compliance with HSE, quality and integrity requirements.

Required profile

• University degree in Business Management, Engineering or a related discipline; an advanced business qualification is an advantage.
• Minimum 12-15 years of progressive commercial and business leadership experience, including responsibility for a P&L or substantial business unit.
• Proven record of growing and transforming a B2B services business across multiple African markets, with experience entering new markets and winning major customers.
• Strong preference for experience in TIC, certification, professional services, industrial services, sustainability, risk, compliance, laboratories or comparable technical B2B services.
• Experience leading organisational change, developing leaders and making difficult people decisions.
• Fluent English; additional regional languages are an advantage.

Required skills

• P&L leadership, commercial acumen and pricing and performance management.
• Market-entry, go-to-market and business development capability.
• Sales leadership, pipeline management and negotiation.
• Leadership of transformation, organisational change and succession development.
• Customer focus, stakeholder management and project management.
• Ability to influence and deliver across multiple countries and cultures.