Project Manager, Sales Operations & Route-to-Consumer (Contract)

Job Title: Project Manager, Sales Operations & Route-to-Consumer (Contract)

Timeframe: 4-6 months (exact time period negotiable)

Reporting To: Head of Sales

Location: Uganda (25%), with travel to other EEA markets (50%) and option to spend remaining 25% in Uganda or current location (working remote)  

Closing Date: 17th April, 2021

An amazing short-term opportunity has arisen for a senior and experienced subject-matter-expert in sales to lead the development of standards, policies and processes for sales operations across ENGIE Energy Access. With travel throughout some of our 9 African markets and the opportunity to shape the development of sales operations and route-to-consumer at one of the world’s leading energy access companies – this is an opportunity not to be missed.

About ENGIE Energy Access 

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 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, Cote 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. 

www.engie-africa.com  

www.linkedin.com/company/engie-africa 

Job Purpose/Mission  

ENGIE Energy Access (EEA) is creating a leading practice commercial operating model across its 9 African markets. To facilitate this, EEA is developing and implementing standard operating procedures, policies, minimum standards and best practices across all commercial operations areas (sales, service & customer finance).

We are looking for a Sales Operations Specialist/Project Manager to undertake the sales components of this project, which will include: documenting the standards based on internal and external best practices; undertaking a current state assessment and gap analysis; and then working with countries to implement the standards and remedy gaps.

The Sales Operations Specialist/Project Manager will report to the Head of Sales, but will work very closely with other central leads (in particular the Head of Credit Operations and Head of Customer Experience), country leads and country commercial heads.

This role will require a strong: 

• Understanding of the sales environment in Africa (especially field-based sales) 
• Written communication skills to document standards 
• Strategic and analytical capability to leverage data to inform standards 
• Stakeholder engagement and project management skills     

Responsibilities 

1. Undertake a current state assessment of current standards then run an extensive research and consultation process (internal and external) to define future standards, including strong engagement with countries on assumptions and input into the design 
2. Develop detailed standard operating procedures, policies and standards across all key sales operations areas, including minimum standards, what can vary by market and leading practice. These standards will be across all channels, including B2C (direct agents, stores & telesales) & B2B, and they will include:
   • Lead and opportunity management, including customer targeting, route planning, customer engagement, sales pitch, objection handling, lead follow-up and closing
   • Recruitment and training, including recruitment strategies, target agent profiles, agent value proposition, agent onboarding, initial training and support and continuous learning
   • Tools of trade, including field applications, vehicles and other transportation
   • Sales team incentive plan design rollout and administration, including structured commissions (fixed and variable), ad-hoc sales team promotions and recognition programs (monetary and non-monetary)
   • Sales model, including organisation size and structure, roles and responsibilities, region assignment and resource allocation
   • Governance, reporting and performance management, including target setting, consequence management (e.g. support, training, probation and dismissal), forums, performance reporting and sales culture
3. Define broad KPIs, monitoring functions and suggested roles & responsibilities across the E2E sales process 
4. Conduct a gap assessment against the standards across the 9 EEA markets 
5. Develop and obtain stakeholder sign off on an implementation plan (including key dependencies and risks) 
6. In select markets, implement standards across the organisation to create a best practice and harmonised commercial operating model 
7. Additionally, define business requirements for digital tools related to sales processes and sales team management 

Knowledge and Experience  

Experience:

• At least 8-12 years of experience in sales, with a strong understanding of a field-based sales environment in Africa
• Preferably at least 2-5 years of experience in sales operations and/or route-to-consumer, having previously performed a similar documentation exercise of core sales areas (i.e. documentation of standards, policies and leading practice)
• Experience in writing policies and procedures, with a preference for specific experience and exposure to process mapping and documentation of business requirements for technical teams 
• Strong critical thinking, analytical and research skills, to be able to research leading practice and leveraging data and analytics that incorporate into standard practices and defined thresholds, KPIs and targets 
• Strong project management capability and a strong ability to lead a project through from concept, to framing, structuring, design and execution 
• High degree of proficiency with MS tools, especially Word, PPT and Excel and ideally Visio or a similar process mapping application 
• Demonstrated ability" to map stakeholder engagement in standards development planning, to engage stakeholders appropriately in the process and solution selection, and to develop strong relationships and buy-in 

Language(s):  

• English 
• French, Portuguese or Swahili is a plus 

 ENGIE is an equal opportunity employer, promoting diversity and committed to creating an inclusive environment for all. All applications are screened based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without any regard to origin, age, name, sexual identity, orientation or preference, religion, marital status, health, disability, political opinions, union involvement or citizenship. Our differences are our strengths!