Business Development and Marketing Executive

As a Business Development (BD) and Market Area (MA) Support Executive, you are required to contribute to the generation and sustainment of business for the organisation in the NAVAL domain.  In this role, you will act as Product Sales Responsible (PSR) or Customer Sales Responsible (CSR) in terms of the Market Area (MA) and/or Business Area (BA) structures as well as the Win Business (WB) process within Saab.

Your role:

The External (Market) Environment Focus

• Participate in the generation of the Business Development and Marketing strategy, together with the MA, for the region/s of responsibility allocated to you, aligned with the overall company and BA strategy for those regions.
• Develop and execute capture plans for the campaigns/prospects identified in those regional strategies.
• Take full responsibility for the management of the strategic account responsibilities allocated to you. This includes management of relationships in terms of existing programmes and the development of new business.
• Follow-up on progress of submitted proposals with your customers, to chase the business as well as capture lessons learnt.
• Regular (weekly, fortnightly) liaison and synchronisation with the appropriate Market Areas CSRs / Business Area PSR’s in the execution of the strategy and capture plans.
• Together with the MA Structures and CSRs in your region of responsibility, build customer/end user relationships through regular interactions.
• Take a leadership role in the team (MA & BA) presentations to, interactions with potential and existing customers in the development of new business.
• Interact, gather competitor product knowledge as market intelligence, and accumulate this knowledge to the benefit of the company.

The Internal (Saab/SGD) Environment Focus:

• Contribute to the product development initiatives in order to keep the product offering market related and on the cutting edge of technology.
• Align with the respective Product Areas (PAs) in terms of roadmaps, goals and objectives.
• Be the bid manager in the execution of the Win Business (WB) process in all the administrative requirements thereof.  This includes the full process as described in the company procedures and checklists.
• To take responsibility for the capture and management of the relevant prospect information and CRM system inputs and relevant business information as required by the company processes and procedures.
• Responsible for the preparation of, quality control of and submission of all documentation that leaves the company under signature in support of a bid, or in the development of prospects. 
• Stand in for other BD and MA Support Executives as may be required during absences.
• Support your managers with additional tasks as delegated.
• Ensure that in all your endeavours, you comply with the ethical, legal and regulatory frameworks set by Saab and the customer/end user countries involved. 

Your profile:

• Minimum 8 years of experience in the Naval service and related industry
• Ability to communicate at all levels of MOD's, defence forces and OEM's is required
• Good working knowledge in Military and Defence Systems, particularly in the Naval and Electronic Warfare area, avionics and aircraft systems
• Lead proposal preparation teams
• Interact with stakeholders at all levels, both internally and with customers
• Confident in creating and delivering written and oral presentations aimed at informing and convincing customers
• Excellent negotiation skills

Desired skills:

• Electronic Warfare related qualifications/experience desired
• Experience as a Principal Warfare or Weapon Engineering Officer desired

Competencies:

• International marketing experience is a strong recommendation
• Service in the Defence Forces or related services/industry (especially Naval related) is preferable, which will be enhanced by an engineering/technical background
• Experience in EW and Self Protection Systems/technologies in general will be beneficial

Qualification:

• Tertiary degree in engineering/Marketing or related defence technologies

What you will be a part of

SGD has reinforced its position as a leading South African defence and security company, bringing capabilities including electronic warfare systems, sensor technology, training systems, avionics, security and support solutions to the African and international markets. These capabilities are supplied and supported over the air, land, sea and civil security domains.

With new and improved technological systems and solutions, SGD increases a country’s defence capabilities and provides innovative, effective products and services for those tasked to maintain security. The company also works with various stakeholders in gathering data and providing insight into how security threats evolve, and what the best market-customised solutions are.

If you aspire to help create and innovate whilst developing yourself in a challenging team setting, Saab may well have the perfect conditions for you to grow. We pride ourselves on a nurturing environment, where everyone is different yet we share the same goal – to help protect people.

SGD will give preference to South African citizens and we also welcome applications from individuals with culturally diverse backgrounds

Please consider your application as unsuccessful if you have not received feedback from us within 30 days after the closing date.