Commercial Manager- CPT
A fast-growing FMCG distributor operating in the nicotine and vaping category across Southern Africa. We are seeking a Commercial Manager to own and drive the company's revenue performance — from strategy through to execution.
This is a senior, high-impact role. The Commercial Manager will be responsible for growing our customer base, deepening relationships with key accounts, managing and developing the sales team, and ensuring that commercial decisions are grounded in data and delivered with discipline.
The right candidate is a natural sales leader — someone who can set strategy in the boardroom and still roll up their sleeves with a territory rep in the field. They will be commercially astute, metrics-driven and comfortable operating at speed in a competitive category.
This role has a direct line to the Director and significant influence over the direction of the business.
Key Responsibilities
Sales Strategy & Revenue Growth
Key Account Management
Sales Team Leadership
Channel & Distribution Management
Commercial Reporting & Forecasting
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Key Performance Indicators
KPI What we will measure
Revenue growth Month-on-month and year-on-year revenue vs target
New account acquisition Number of new active accounts opened per quarter
Key account retention Churn rate and growth within top 20 accounts
Sales team performance Team attainment of individual and collective targets
Forecast accuracy Variance between forecast and actual revenue per month
Debtor discipline Overdue debt within the sales team's account base
Market coverage Active call coverage vs total addressable accounts
New product ranging Listing success rate for new SKUs across key channels
Required Skills & Experience
Non-negotiable requirements
• Minimum 5 years commercial, sales management or key account management
experience
• Proven track record of delivering revenue growth — must be able to evidence with
numbers
• Experience managing and leading a sales team — not just individual contributor
experience
• Strong FMCG, distribution or consumer goods background
• Demonstrable key account management experience at a buyer or senior decision-
maker level
• Commercially astute — understands margin, pricing, trading terms and P&L implication
• Excellent communication, negotiation and presentation skills
• Data-literate — comfortable interpreting sales data, building forecasts and reporting to senior leadership
• Relevant qualification — BCom (Marketing / Sales / Business Management), NDip or
equivalent
Preferred experience — strong differentiators
• Experience in the nicotine, vaping, tobacco or regulated consumer goods category
• Established trade relationships in Western Cape and/or Eastern Cape retail and wholesale channel
• Experience managing distributor networks or sub-distributor relationships
• Experience in a business scaling through growth — not just steady-state management
• Exposure to ERP or CRM systems for pipeline and account management
• Experience launching new products into trade — ranging, pricing, promotiona
planning
• Multi-region commercial responsibility (e.g. national accounts or two or more provinces)
• Operational management experience — ability to step into or support operational
functions beyond pure sales