Sales Operations Manager

a fast-growing FMCG distributor operating in the nicotine and vaping category across Southern Africa. As the business scales across three regions, execution consistency – coverage, compliance, in-store standards, and the day-to-day discipline that turns a sales plan into an actual result on shelf – needs a dedicated owner. Are seeking a Sales Operations Manager to take that on.

This is a deliberately hands-on role. It exists to make sure execution happens in the field, every day, in every region – not to build strategy decks or manage exclusively through layers of subordinate managers. The successful candidate will personally get into stores, depots and trucks, find where execution is breaking down, fix it at the source, and build simple systems that make the fix stick.

The right candidate is a strong, credible operator who has personally driven measurable execution improvement before – not someone several organisational layers removed from the field. This role sits below the National Sales Manager / Head of Sales in seniority, and deliberately so: we need an executor, not another layer of strategic oversight

Required Skills & Experience

Non-negotiable requirements

Proven, hands-on FMCG field execution experience – coverage, distribution, ranging and in-store standards, personally driven, not delegated

Demonstrable history of fixing an execution gap – must be able to evidence with numbers (before and after compliance or coverage) and explain specifically what they personally did

Comfortable spending significant time in the field – stores, depots, trucks, with reps – this is not an office- based role

Experience holding regional or field teams accountable to standards without direct management authority over them

Practical systems and process discipline – CRM, call planning, reporting tools

Willing and able to travel extensively on a national basis

Valid driver’s licence and own reliable vehicle

Non-negotiable requirements

Based in, or willing to relocate to, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth or Johannesburg

If based in Johannesburg: able to work independently without a dedicated company office – only hot-desk access at the distributor’s warehouse is available

Comfortable operating within a clearly scoped execution mandate long-term, without needing broader commercial or strategic authority to feel effective in the role

Preferred experience – strong differentiators

Experience stepping into a business with a known execution gap and personally turning it around

History of working alongside – not replacing – a National Sales Manager or Head of Sales

FMCG experience in a founder-led, fast-scaling or entrepreneurial environment

Experience in the nicotine, vaping, tobacco or regulated consumer goods category

Practical experience building a compliance or audit tool that a field team actually adopted