Commercial Manager

Job Title: Commercial Manager    
Department/Group:Sales & Marketing    
Location: Nairobi    
Travel Required: Nairobi, Kenya (with regional travel across Kenya)
Level: Senior Management    
Position Type:Full-time
Line manager/ supervisor: Chief Executive Officer     
Functional manager: Managing Director    
Term: Permanent
Immediate subordinates: Key Accounts Manager, Regional Sales Managers, Technical sales officers, Marketing officer, Customer Service Lead, Social Media Manager

Key relationships:
Internal
•    CEO and Group Executives
•    Peers- Feed Mill Manager 
•    Key Accounts Manager, Regional Sales Managers, Technical sales officers, Marketing officer, Customer Service Lead, Social Media Manager, External Auditors
Job Summary:
To lead the commercial agenda — sales, pricing, channel development, customer management, and market expansion — across our clients poultry and feed portfolio, with a primary focus on the Kenyan market and forward positioning for potential future export and regional expansion. The role is accountable for top-line revenue growth, gross margin delivery, debtor health, market share, and brand positioning, and acts as the primary commercial interface between the business, customers, and distributors across both the DOC - poultry segment and the commercial feed segment.
Duties:
The Employee shall be responsible for the following functions of the Company:
Sales & Revenue Delivery
•    Own the annual sales budget and deliver monthly, quarterly, and annual revenue, volume, and margin targets across both business lines: 
o    Poultry: day-old chicks (DOCs), hatching eggs.
o    Feed: all feed variants, and specialty feed for third-party commercial farms.
•    Translate commercial strategy into regional and channel-level sales plans with clear SKU, customer, and geographic targets.
•    Drive new customer acquisition, existing account growth, and SKU penetration across Nairobi, Central, Rift Valley, Western, Coast, and Eastern regions.
•    Lead key account management for top-tier customers — commercial farmers, poultry aggregators, and institutional buyers.
Pricing & Margin Management
•    Own the price list architecture across channels, customer tiers, and SKUs for both poultry and feed.
•    Lead monthly price reviews in response to input cost movements (maize, soya, DCP, premixes, FX, energy, logistics), ensuring gross margin targets are protected.
•    Approve trade discounts, rebates, and promotional spend within delegated authority; escalate beyond threshold to the CEO/CFO.
•    Drive product mix optimisation toward higher-margin SKUs and specialty feed lines.
Channel & Route-to-Market
•    Design and manage the route-to-market model — direct distribution, distributors, dealers, agro-vets, van sales, and e-commerce partners.
•    Optimise distributor/dealer coverage, credit terms, and performance scorecards.
•    Lead trade marketing execution: visibility, merchandising, shelf share, farmer field days, demo farms, and promotional cycles.
Customer & Farmer Engagement
•    Build deep relationships with commercial and emerging farmers, providing technical support jointly with the veterinary and nutrition teams.
•    Drive farmer loyalty programmes, extension services, and aggregator partnerships to secure feed and DOC offtake.
•    Lead customer satisfaction tracking and NPS where relevant.
Debtor Health & Credit Control
•    Own commercial debtor performance — DSO (target ≤ 30 days), overdue %, and bad debt provisioning.
•    Chair the monthly debtors review with Finance, driving collection actions for aged receivables.
•    Approve customer credit limits within delegated authority jointly with the CFO.
Market Intelligence & Strategy
•    Track competitor pricing, promotions, new product launches, and market share shifts across poultry and feed (key competitors: Kenchic, Kenbrid, Sigma, Unga, Pembe, Tarime, Yara, Farmer's Choice in adjacent categories).
•    Deliver monthly commercial intelligence reports to the executive team and board.
•    Identify category white spaces, new product opportunities, and adjacent market entry options (e.g., further-processed poultry, specialty feed, private label).
•    Scope and monitor export and regional expansion opportunities beyond Kenya (EAC, COMESA, and the Gulf) across DOCs, hatching eggs, and feed — covering regulatory requirements, logistics feasibility, and potential customer or distributor partners — to build an options pipeline ahead of any future strategic decision to expand outside Kenya, notwithstanding that this is not an immediate priority.
Brand & Marketing
•    Partner with Marketing (or own the function where no separate Marketing Manager exists) to drive brand equity, ATL/BTL activation, digital presence, and farmer/consumer engagement.
•    Manage marketing budget and ROI reporting.
Cross-functional Liaison
•    Interface daily with Production/Operations (feedmill, hatchery, breeder farms, broiler farms, processing) on demand planning, forecast accuracy, and order fulfilment.
•    Work with Finance on credit control, pricing, profitability analysis, and monthly commercial reporting.
•    Work with Supply Chain and Logistics on cold chain integrity, delivery performance, and fleet utilisation.
People & Leadership
•    Lead, coach, and develop the commercial team across sales, key accounts, trade marketing, and customer service.
•    Set KPIs, run monthly performance reviews, and build a succession pipeline.
•    Design, implement and monitor Commission based incentives for Regional sales teams

PERSON SPECIFICATION
QUALIFICATIONS
1. Qualifications
•    Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, Agribusiness, Animal Science, or related field. MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification is a strong advantage.
•    Professional certification in sales/marketing (CIM, MSK) preferred.
2. Experience
•    Minimum 10 years in commercial/sales leadership, with at least 5 years at senior management level in poultry, animal feed, agribusiness, or FMCG food.
•    Proven track record in a similar capacity managing multi-channel sales (modern trade, general trade, Agro-vet/dealer networks, institutional) in Kenya.
•    Demonstrated experience selling into the commercial farming community — DOCs and Feed
•    Experience managing debtors, pricing, and trade spend in a high-volume, margin-sensitive environment.
•    Exposure to poultry value chain product commercialisation is a strong advantage.
3. Technical Skills
•    Strong command of sales analytics — volume, value, mix, distribution, pricing elasticity.
•    Proficiency in ERP sales modules (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage), CRM platforms, and advanced Excel.
•    Sound financial literacy — gross margin, contribution margin, working capital, and ROI analysis.
•    Familiarity with KEBS labelling standards, Kenya Veterinary Board and DVS requirements, and halal certification where applicable.
•    Understanding of poultry and feed technical fundamentals — FCR, flock performance, feed specifications — sufficient to engage credibly with commercial farmers.
4. Behavioural Competencies
•    Commercial hunter — bias for growth, deal-making, and market expansion.
•    Strong negotiator across buyers, distributors, and farmer customers.
•    Data-driven decision-maker with executive presence.
•    Resilient under price and margin pressure; can balance volume and profitability.
•    High integrity, particularly in pricing, rebate, and credit decisions.
•    Strong communicator — comfortable at board level and on the farm.
5. Language Skills
•    Strong and effective communicator in both English and Swahili Languages

Job context
•    Working hours are 8 hours a day (excludes Lunch hour), 5 days a week + 5 Hours on Saturdays
•    Location is Nairobi, HQ.
•    Manager level
•    Airtime & Internet