About Interswitch

Interswitch is an Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company that facilitates the electronic circulation of money as well as the exchange of value between individuals and organizations on a timely and consistent basis. Our vision is to build a prosperous Africa driven by a seamless exchange of value and commerce.

Job Purpose

To manage required resources, and work collaboratively with other departments to deepen and diversify existing businesses as well as develop new ones to achieve revenue growth while leading commercial strategy development, direct market share growth, and cultivate new opportunities. Direct and coordinate market research and analysis to create detailed business plans on commercial opportunities in order to analyze international sales statistics gathered by internal team to determine requirements and monitor the preferences of customers

Job Responsibilities:

• Consult with customer representatives at the top management level to identify the strategic outcomes they are seeking to achieve, coordinating the engagement of users as well as functional and technical specialists within own and customer organisations, to gather and analyse very complex customer data and to develop and agree on a specification of customer requirements.
• Set clear objectives for each sales call, develop and make presentations that are tailored to the known interests, needs, issues, and concerns of decision-makers and influencers within the customer organisations.
• Gather and analyse relevant information and gain agreement to a statement of customer requirements.
• Understand the requirements of existing customers to meet their needs.
• Acquire new customers and manage client relationships.
• Direct market research and analysis to create detailed business plans on commercial opportunities (expansion, business development etc.).
• Prepare and manage short-term and annual workforce plans using existing analytical frameworks and tools to identify the number and mix of staff required to meet the demand forecast.
• Prepare budget, obtain approval, execute, control, evaluate and report budget variances.
• Manage and drive the performance of direct reports, set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports or project / account team members, hold them accountable for achieving these and take appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure achievement of team / personal objectives.
• Motivate and support the growth of team, using equitable approaches to performance management and development that may be differentiated to support each employee's unique needs and preferences to bring out their best and meet business needs.
• Provide constructive feedback to team on performance, provide training, coaching and mentoring and identify talent for pivotal roles from a succession management standpoint.
• Identify and communicate the actions needed to implement the function's strategy and business plan within the business area or department, explain the relationship to the broader Interswitch mission, vision and values.
• Motivate people to commit to these and to doing extraordinary things to achieve local business goals.
• Lead the formulation and execution of business development strategies and develop a compelling view of Interswitch’s future in line with its strategic objectives and standards, and continuously thrive to identify breakthrough opportunities that might arise by building and nurturing strong connections and partnerships.
• Influence overall value propositions and help the field with enablement activities and new insights.
• Help shape product, platform, services choices and direction through market analyses, opportunity assessments, goal segment strategies, sales and partner motion input, solutions input and business acceleration programme design.
• Participate in formulating the strategy and identifying, evaluating, and structuring key transactions to ensure continued financial health and maximum value creation through the entire product life cycle.
• Transactions may involve alliances, collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, in and out licensing initiatives, and other activities.
• Contribute to the development of annual and longer-term business plans.
• Forecast performance against business key performance indicators.
• Develop business cases for key activities / projects and estimate the financial and human resources required to deliver performance targets.
• Partner with executives and business leaders to develop and lead the implementation of a strategic executable plan to provide accurate business forecasting, and formulating commercial strategies to generate new revenue and customer relationships and partnerships in a manner that aligns with the Interswitch’s overall strategic objectives.
• Develop a personal network of senior managers within the business sector and at relevant advisory and regulatory bodies.
• Represent ISW at major business sector events, obtain market intelligence, promote Vertico, and enhance its reputation.
• Consolidate and feel ownership for the product-level pipeline, come up with target segment business strategies, develop and support sales programmes, and work directly with Product Management and Innovation, Sales, Marketing and Communications, and Engineering teams globally on challenging and important customer situations.
• Monitor and develop multiple points of entry into new and existing customer bases from both the top-down and bottom-up, elevating to the enterprise level where appropriate while continuing to add value in the field.
• Analyze and identify areas of improvement, and verify all processes for various sales reports.
• Supervise international competitors in specific market and provide recommendation for expansion opportunities.
• Develop internal marketing plans and work collaboratively with other departments to improve internal relationships in a large organisation and to build strong external customer relationships.
• Develop and implement a relationship management plan for strategic, complex existing accounts to build key relationships at local and national levels.
• Coordinate the engagement of own organisation with the customer organisation to ensure effective two-way flow of information and resolution of issues.
• Manage key client and customer relationships, often through account teams, to ensure their ongoing satisfaction and loyalty.
• Maintain relationship with international stakeholders, deploy commercial management policies and standards in projects, systems and services, across Interswitch.
• Build and maintain profitable partnerships with key stakeholders across Interswitch to raise awareness on commercial procedures, and to discuss risk management concerns.
• Lead a cross-functional internal team to configure a complex tailored or bespoke product and services solution and associated contractual terms that meet the customer's mid- to long-term needs at a national / key operating unit level.
• Negotiate agreement with the customer and internally with commercial colleagues to ensure that customer requirements are met at an acceptable level of profitability and cash flow. Review and authorise complex sales proposals from team members that deviate from standard terms, escalating issues to senior management where appropriate.
• Serve as a dynamic ambassador for Interswitch, both internally and externally.
• Inspire support from a variety of stakeholders, ranging from dedicated institutional investors, strategic investors, and government agencies.
• Gain swiftly substantive knowledge of product and platform features, to effectively present potential investment opportunities, verbally and visually to prospective investors

EDUCATION

• University Post Graduate Degree in Management, Information Technology, Finance, Sales and Marketing or related field.

EXPERIENCE

• At least 12 years' wide and deep experience in Business Development roles ideally within reputable financial institutions or the payments industry, including a minimum of 8 years of customer-facing experience in the FinTech space. This will enable the job holder to deal with the majority of situations and to advise others.

Managerial Experience

• At least 6 years’ experience of planning, managing and organising people and other resources within short / medium timescales within the overall policy framework, to achieve specific end results.

Due to the high level of Applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Thank you