About the position
About the Role
This is a senior technical sales and business development position and is not a general sales role. The successful candidate will combine a strong engineering background with extensive commercial experience and a proven ability to develop, position and convert complex technical opportunities within the mining industry. The role is responsible for taking qualified opportunities and progressing them into commercially viable, executable and winnable projects. This includes leading pursuit strategy, developing client relationships, coordinating technical and commercial stakeholders, protecting margins and ensuring opportunities are sufficiently developed before progressing to formal proposal and negotiation stages.
The successful candidate will work closely with Sales, Business Development, Engineering, Proposals, Estimation and other internal stakeholders to ensure that each opportunity is technically appropriate, commercially sound and strategically positioned. A key focus will be on modular engineering and process solutions within the mining sector, making this an excellent opportunity for an experienced technical sales professional who understands both engineering solutions and the complexities of high-value mining sales.
Key Responsibilities
- Identify, develop and progress qualified sales opportunities within the mining and related engineering sectors.
- Lead the pursuit of complex technical and modular solution opportunities from qualification through to commercial and contract readiness.
- Develop a strong understanding of the client's operations, technical requirements, commercial objectives and project challenges.
- Establish and maintain relationships with key client stakeholders and decision-makers throughout the sales process.
- Define the sales and pursuit strategy for each opportunity, including positioning, differentiation and the overall win approach.
- Ensure opportunities are sufficiently developed and commercially viable before progressing into formal proposal stages.
- Work closely with technical and engineering teams to ensure proposed solutions are aligned with client requirements.
- Coordinate input from Sales, Engineering, Proposals, Estimation and other relevant stakeholders.
- Ensure alignment between the proposed technical solution, commercial strategy, pricing and client expectations.
- Lead commercial positioning and support complex negotiations through to successful close.
- Protect project margins and prevent unnecessary discounting or poorly structured commercial agreements.
- Identify risks associated with opportunities and ensure appropriate commercial and operational governance is followed.
- Participate in bid/no-bid decisions and determine whether opportunities are sufficiently developed to warrant further investment.
- Maintain an accurate and actively managed opportunity and pursuit pipeline.
- Ensure ageing opportunities are actively progressed, requalified or closed where appropriate.
- Maintain consistent client engagement throughout the pursuit lifecycle.
- Support proposal readiness by ensuring scope, client requirements, commercial positioning and technical inputs are clearly defined before formal submission.
- Drive continuous improvement in pursuit practices, sales discipline and overall conversion effectiveness.
- Contribute towards building a structured, repeatable sales process that supports predictable and sustainable revenue growth.
Ideal Candidate Profile
We are looking for a commercially driven technical professional who is equally comfortable discussing engineering solutions with technical stakeholders and negotiating commercial outcomes with senior decision-makers.
The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of the mining environment and experience selling sophisticated engineering, process, plant, equipment or modular solutions rather than transactional products.
Qualifications
- BEng or BSc degree in Chemical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering is strongly preferred.
- A diploma would generally not meet the preferred qualification requirement.
- However, candidates with a relevant engineering diploma may be considered where they have more than 10 years of substantial and directly relevant technical sales and business development experience.
Experience
- Approximately 5-10+ years of proven technical sales and/or business development experience.
- A minimum of approximately 3-5 years of relevant experience within the mining industry.
- Candidates with extensive experience exceeding 10 years will be highly regarded.
- Proven experience developing and closing complex, high-value business opportunities.
- Experience selling engineering solutions, process plants, modular solutions, mining equipment, engineered systems or similar technical solutions into the mining sector would be highly advantageous.
- Demonstrated ability to manage long and complex sales cycles involving multiple stakeholders.
- Experience engaging with engineering, operational, procurement, commercial and executive stakeholders.
- Strong exposure to commercial proposals, pricing, estimation, negotiations and contract discussions.
- Experience managing opportunities through a structured sales pipeline and CRM environment.
Key Competencies
The successful candidate should demonstrate:
- Strong technical understanding - able to understand engineering concepts, processes and client requirements and translate these into commercially viable solutions.
- Mining industry knowledge - understands the operating environment, decision-making structures and challenges experienced by mining clients.
- Commercial acumen - able to balance customer requirements, pricing, risk, margin and long-term business value.
- Business development capability - confident identifying, developing and converting opportunities.
- Strategic selling ability - able to develop a clear pursuit strategy rather than relying on transactional sales techniques.
- Relationship development - capable of building credibility and trusted relationships with senior technical and commercial stakeholders.
- Negotiation skills - confident managing complex negotiations and protecting commercial value.
- Opportunity qualification - able to determine whether an opportunity is strategically, technically and commercially viable.
- Cross-functional leadership - able to coordinate multiple internal disciplines without losing accountability for the overall commercial outcome.
- Decision-making ability - willing to challenge, rework or decline opportunities that are commercially unsuitable or cannot be successfully executed.
- Pipeline discipline - highly organised in managing opportunities, activities, deadlines and forecasts.
- Results orientation - focused on conversion, profitable revenue growth and successful project outcomes.
The ideal individual will be:
- Commercially ambitious and results-driven.
- Technically confident and comfortable engaging with engineers and mining professionals.
- Strategic rather than transactional in their approach to selling.
- Highly organised and disciplined.
- Confident engaging with senior stakeholders and decision-makers.
- Strong in both relationship development and commercial negotiation.
- Able to challenge assumptions and make sound commercial decisions.
- Comfortable taking ownership and accountability for complex pursuits.
- Collaborative while still being capable of independently driving an opportunity forward.
- Passionate about developing long-term, high-value business within the mining and engineering sectors.
***Salary - R120,000 CTC + Incentives and/or Commission (Negotiable, based on skills, experience and in relation to current package)
Desired Skills:
