About the position
The specification clearly establishes this as a senior strategic leadership role responsible for the entire Southern African Aftersales business, including Service, Conversions, Training, Spare Parts, Order Management and Key Account Management. It also confirms that candidates should have an engineering degree, at least 10 years' engineering services or manufacturing experience, five years leading multidisciplinary teams, and proven experience in packaging machinery, beverage, liquid filling or hard packaging environments.
However, I would strengthen the advert by placing the following near the top:
Non-Negotiable Experience
Applicants must have proven experience leading service or aftersales operations within the packaging machinery industry, specifically involving liquid filling technology and hard packaging equipment. Candidates from general FMCG manufacturing or process industries without direct packaging machinery exposure will not be considered.
This aligns perfectly with Maria's clarification and will dramatically reduce unsuitable applications.
Technical Sales
The specification describes a pre-sales engineering position responsible for quotations, machine design, technical specifications, project schedules, presentations and plant concepts. It requires experience in technical sales within mechanical and plant engineering, preferably in food and beverage industries, together with SAP, MS Office and international travel.
Again, I would add the client's clarification prominently:
Essential Requirement
Candidates must have direct experience selling or supporting packaging machinery, liquid filling equipment and hard packaging solutions. Experience limited to production processes or general manufacturing without packaging machinery exposure is not suitable.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Develop and execute the Southern African Aftersales strategy aligned with global business objectives.
- Identify opportunities to grow service revenue, aftermarket sales and profitability.
- Develop business plans, budgets, forecasts and strategic initiatives.
- Present business performance and strategic recommendations to local and international leadership.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives across all service functions.
Commercial Leadership
- Assume full accountability for the regional Aftersales Profit & Loss.
- Drive revenue growth across service contracts, spare parts, conversions, upgrades and technical services.
- Develop pricing strategies and commercial agreements.
- Support new equipment sales through technical expertise and market intelligence.
- Identify new business opportunities within existing customer accounts.
- Ensure long-term profitability through effective commercial management.
Customer Relationship Management
- Build and maintain executive-level customer relationships.
- Act as the escalation point for major customer issues.
- Improve customer satisfaction and customer retention.
- Lead Service Level Agreement (SLA) development and implementation.
- Ensure world-class customer service across the entire equipment lifecycle.
- Strengthen strategic partnerships with key customers throughout Southern Africa.
Service Operations
Provide leadership across all Aftersales functions, including:
- Field Service Engineering
- Installations
- Commissioning
- Preventative Maintenance
- Corrective Maintenance
- Machine Upgrades
- Equipment Conversions
- Customer Technical Support
- Technical Training
Ensure operational excellence through effective planning, resource allocation and performance management.
Leadership & People Development
Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary management team responsible for:
- Service Management
- Service Key Account Management
- Technical Training
- Spare Parts
- Conversions
- Order Management
Drive a high-performance culture through:
- Leadership coaching
- Performance management
- Succession planning
- Technical capability development
- Employee engagement
- Continuous improvement
Spare Parts & Supply Chain
- Oversee regional spare parts operations.
- Optimise inventory strategies.
- Improve parts availability.
- Strengthen order management processes.
- Balance inventory investment with customer service requirements.
Governance & Compliance
- Ensure compliance with company policies and engineering standards.
- Drive Health, Safety and Environmental excellence.
- Ensure contractual compliance.
- Improve utilisation of ERP, CRM and service management systems.
- Maintain accurate operational reporting and business governance.
Minimum Requirements
Applicants should possess:
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related Engineering discipline.
- Minimum 10 years' experience within engineering services, manufacturing or Aftersales operations.
- Minimum 5 years' experience leading multidisciplinary engineering or service teams.
- Proven experience developing and implementing Aftersales or Service strategies.
- Demonstrated responsibility for departmental budgets and Profit & Loss.
- Experience leading service operations within the packaging machinery, beverage, liquid filling or hard packaging industries.
- Experience managing customer service operations, contracts and Service Level Agreements.
- Strong commercial and financial management skills.
- Experience negotiating contracts, pricing and commercial agreements.
- Knowledge of spare parts management and inventory optimisation.
- SAP and Microsoft Office proficiency.
- Valid driver's licence and passport.
- Ability to travel locally and internationally.
Desired Skills:
- Service Operations
- Customer Relationship Management
- Commercial Leadership
