Commercial Manager - Africa at GE - General Electric

Job Summary

• Exciting new opportunity for a dynamic & high performing individual to join the GE Digital Grid Software team, which is a fast paced and evolving business at the leading edge of digital products & solutions. 
• The Commercial Manager must be fluent in French and English language and is responsible for delivering high quality proposals to meet the customer’s requirements, understanding, and mitigating risks and deriving pricing that reflect the full solution value to secure new business and enable profitable growth. 
• This is an new position, working closely with the customer base to support the growing opportunity pipeline in Africa as well as engaging customers throughout Europe . 
• You will be involved across the full software product portfolio including ADMS, EMS, Smallworld GIS, WAMS and Grid APM as well as complex turnkey opportunities.

Job Description

• You'll be responsible for proposal generation activities, leveraging the tendering processes to deliver compelling and compliant solutions to the customer base in a timely manner, whilst at all times managing and mitigating the commercial and contractual risks to GE. 
• You'll drive and lead core teams through influence and collaboration, engaging with Product, Services and Support peer organisations to ensure both the technical and commercial requirements are accurately captured and translated. 

You'll be accountable for functional, business and broad company objectives. As part of your daily activities, you will:

• Own the generation of customer proposals across the Grid Software portfolio including Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS), Energy Management Systems (EMS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Wide Area Management Systems (WAMS)
• Ensure 100% compliance and adherence to all Tendering Policies, such as GE’s Policy 5.0, achieving efficient approvals while mitigating the risks to the business.   
• Drive solutions that are priced to capture and deliver the full value viewed by the customer and the market, thereby enhancing operating margin.
• Ensure the proposal encompasses all commercial (contractual and pricing) and technical aspects and is delivered to meet customer Tender Due Dates (TDD) while positioning the solution in the most competitive way
• Drive an improved Order to Remittance (OTR) handover process to the project delivery teams, ensuring proper control of contract flow-down requirements and contractual commitments
• Maintain a complete record of approvals on terms and conditions within the approved GE tools.
• Conduct and lead negotiations with customers and partners to appropriately resolve contractual and commercial issues in order to secure projects.
• Take personal responsibility for quality and accuracy of proposal response related to terms and conditions and commercial risk management, and for winning business with integrity and within the strategies set forth for the opportunity
• Work to implement, improve and drive consistent processes, tools and methodologies.

Your Profile

• Bachelor's Degree in Business or Technology field.
• Relevant professional work experience.
• Excellent communication skills with fluent French & English language essential. German or other languages highly desirable.
• Experience of reviewing and negotiating contractual terms and conditions.
• High commercial IQ, with a good understanding of value pricing, competition dynamics and proposal writing
• Strong customer experience and negotiation skills, comfortable engaging directly with customers.
• Product management methodology and experience highly beneficial

Desired Characteristics:

• Highly motivated self-starter who is comfortable with remote management / working and can work independently when needed.
• Team player who leverages collaborative approach with strong work ethic and commitment to the role
• Strong organizational skillset with an ability to manage personal bandwidth, work to deadlines and deliver under pressure.
• Can do attitude with desire to learn, succeed and get the job done.
• Experience of LEAN methodologies and a continuous improvement mindset
• Knowledge of SCADA or Telecom software solutions
• Understanding of Software and licensing solutions.
• Knowledge of the Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution (T&D) industry and customers
• Experience in generating complex systems proposals