We're retained to find an exceptional Sales Manager for Manufacturing, based in Athi River, Nairobi.
About the Role
The Sales Manager will grow enterprise B2B, project and channel sales while building a disciplined, capable and customer-focused sales team. The role covers project customers, hardware partners, distributors, direct sales, affordable housing and export markets. You will spend time with the team in the field, coach them through real customer conversations and strengthen how they manage opportunities. A key part of your mandate will be helping the business move from price-led selling towards value, product performance and long-term customer outcomes.
You will also connect sales with marketing, projects, customer experience, production and inventory planning. This is a leadership and execution role not only a sales role.
What you will be responsible for
Lead and develop the sales team
- Set clear commercial priorities, performance expectations and accountability across the sales function.
- Coach the team through field visits, customer meetings, pipeline reviews and development conversations.
- Build capability in value selling, product knowledge, negotiation, account management and closing.
- Create a culture of humility, collaboration, learning and consistent execution.
Grow project and enterprise B2B sales
- Identify and convert opportunities across water, construction, infrastructure, industrial and housing projects.
- Manage complex sales cycles involving engineers, consultants, contractors, developers, procurement teams and institutional customers.
- Strengthen project identification, specifications, tenders, proposals, strategic accounts and commercial follow-up.
- Build customer proposals around technical performance, lifecycle value, operational savings and return on investment.
Strengthen hardware and channel sales
- Grow relationships with hardware outlets, distributors, dealers, installers and other channel partners.
- Develop practical channel plans covering partner activation, product availability, training and account performance.
- Help the team compete in price-sensitive markets while protecting value, margins and commercial discipline.
- Build the confidence of hardware partners, plumbers and installers to understand and recommend the company’s products.
Improve commercial operations
- Strengthen the process from customer inquiry and quotation through to follow-up, order confirmation and fulfillment.
- Improve quotation accuracy, turnaround time, conversion and visibility over lost opportunities.
- Use CRM, ERP and sales reporting to improve pipeline management, forecasting and accountability.
- Align demand forecasts with inventory, procurement, factory planning and customer delivery commitments.
What you bring
- Strong experience in enterprise B2B sales involving organisational customers and multiple decision-makers.
- Proven project-sales experience, including long sales cycles, proposals, specifications, tenders or complex negotiations.
- Experience leading and developing a sales team in a demanding commercial environment.
- Exposure to distributors, dealers, hardware outlets, contractors, installers or other channel partners.
- Experience in manufacturing, water solutions, hardware, building materials, packaging, industrial products or another technical-product environment would be valuable.
Direct experience in the piping industry would be useful but is not essential. What matters most is your ability to lead complex B2B sales, understand technical products and manage both projects and channels.
You should also be comfortable with quotations, pricing, margins, account planning, forecasting and return-on-investment discussions. Experience using a CRM and ERP system is important.
How you lead
- With humility: You listen, ask questions and remain open to learning from customers, colleagues and technical specialists.
- In the field: You are willing to join customer meetings, coach the team and demonstrate effective selling.
- Commercially: You understand customer value, pricing, margins, working capital and the operational impact of sales decisions.
- As an integrator: You connect teams, clarify priorities and follow actions through to completion.
- Through relationships: You build trust while remaining firm on value, commitments and accountability.
This role is not for you if...
- Your experience is mainly transactional or retail sales, with limited exposure to enterprise B2B customers, complex projects or multiple decision-makers.
- You prefer managing from the office and are not comfortable coaching the team in the field or joining important customer conversations.
- Your default response to competition is to reduce price rather than sell value, protect margins and build long-term customer relationships.
Why join?
- Shape and develop a sales function rather than simply maintain an existing structure.
- Lead across project, enterprise, hardware, export and direct-sales channels.
- Work closely with senior leadership and influence both strategy and execution.
- Build a stronger value-selling culture in a highly competitive market.
- Contribute to water, construction and infrastructure solutions with practical impact.
Get in touch to discuss the role in confidence, or apply below to register your interest.
