Sales & Marketing Head – Edible Oils & Fats

Sales & Marketing Head – Edible Oils & Fats 
Location: Kiambu, Kenya
Reporting to: Customer Response Team (CRT) Head 
Direct Reports: Regional Sales Heads, Trade Marketing Lead, and Sales Operations
Role Summary
The Sales & Marketing Head – Edible Oils & Fats leads the commercial agenda for our client largest and most strategic business.
The role owns the full P&L and is responsible for driving sales growth, market share, pricing discipline, and brand health across Kenya and regional markets. It combines strong sales leadership, deep category understanding, and marketing strategy to ensure our client retains and grows its leadership in the Oils & Fats segment.
The ideal candidate brings strategic depth and operational excellence — equally adept at managing market realities, leading large teams, and driving innovation and transformation across the commercial value chain.
Key Responsibilities
1. Commercial & Category Leadership
•    Define and implement the commercial strategy for the Oils & Fats category, aligned to our client profitability and growth goals.
•    Own category P&L, driving performance across pricing, mix, margin, and volume.
•    Lead business planning and forecast alignment with Production, Supply Chain, and Finance.
•    Balance market defense (core brands) with innovation-led growth (value-added and premium subcategories).
2. Sales & Route-to-Market Excellence
•    Lead national sales teams and regional heads to achieve revenue and distribution targets.
•    Optimize route-to-market models to strengthen coverage, availability, and cost efficiency.
•    Reinforce sales execution discipline through KPIs, dashboards, and structured reviews.
•    Build distributor partnerships with focus on profitability, performance, and loyalty.
3. Marketing & Brand Development
•    Manage portfolio strategy for leading brands ensuring relevance across consumer segments.
•    Drive integrated marketing and communication plans to reinforce category leadership.
•    Partner with R&D and DRT to identify new growth opportunities (healthier oils, value packs, regional formats).
•    Strengthen consumer trust and brand differentiation through consistent storytelling and innovation.
4. Trade Marketing & Channel Development
•    Oversee trade marketing programs, ensuring brand visibility and price-pack relevance.
•    Build channel activation strategies that optimize ROI and strengthen share of shelf.
•    Partner with Finance and Sales Ops to measure trade spend efficiency and profitability.
5. Digital & Data Enablement
•    Champion adoption of BI tools, CRM systems, and digital dashboards to enhance decision-making.
•    Use data analytics to guide pricing, promotions, and customer segmentation.
•    Promote e-commerce and digital trade initiatives for select product lines.
6. Leadership & Capability Building
•    Lead, coach, and develop a large commercial team with clear performance standards.
•    Build a culture of accountability, discipline, and customer obsession.
•    Strengthen cross-functional collaboration with Supply Chain, Finance, and Transformation Office.
Ideal Candidate Profile
Education:
•    Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field.
•    MBA or advanced qualification preferred.
Experience:
•    12–15 years in FMCG commercial leadership, including at least 5 years managing a major category P&L.
•    Proven track record in edible oils, fats, or related consumer staples.
•    Strong background in both General Trade and Modern Trade execution.
•    Experience integrating marketing, trade, and sales for category profitability.
•    Demonstrated success leading large, diverse commercial teams.
Competencies:
•    Strategic thinker with operational discipline.
•    Strong analytical and financial acumen.
•    Excellent stakeholder and distributor management.
•    Data-driven, digitally literate, and results-oriented.
•    Collaborative leader with high integrity and execution focus.