SALES / FINANCIAL ENGINEER

at  Abantu Staffing Solutions

Integrated within the Sales Organization of a given Customer Business Unit (“CBU”), the Sales Engineer is responsible for the Sales development of the assigned portfolio of products, for a delimited perimeter (Program, Serial Life, Acquisitions) within a Division / Region.

This role involves client liaison and negotiations with a very strong emphasis on the financial side. We’re looking for someone who has a very good economics understanding, to include things like:

• Daily cost analysis/ forecasting
• Year-on-year inflation
• Calculating base cost on year of economics
• Market/ financial trends – both in SA and internationally
• Acquisitions
• Commercial claims

Preference will be given to candidates with an automotive/ technical background.
The main missions of the role are to:

Prepare the commercial offers to answer on due time to the Customer requests :

• Get a good understanding of the costing files
• Propose and get validated the targeted pricing and the negotiation path / tactics to convince the customer
• Formalize the offer with the appropriate wording
• Understand and apply the guidelines proposed by the hierarchy regarding contractual management

Serial Life :

• Be part of the Program core team
• Prepare and negotiate the commercial answers to the customer ECRs (“Engineering Changes Requests”)
• Detailed understanding of piece price, tooling and D&D impact
• Follow the Variable Cost Margin of the products
• Prepare and follow commercial productivity proposals
• Understanding and commercial management of local economics (inflation, exchange rate)
• Understanding and rigorous implementation of the Sales Administration guidelines & processes (purchase orders, invoices, terms of payment, overdues…)
• Commercial management for Spare Parts

Programs :

• Be part of the Program core team
• Get a good understanding of the costing files
• Propose and get validated the targeted pricing and the negotiation path / tactics to convince the customer
• Prepare the commercial offers to answer on due time to the Customer requests
• Prepare and negotiate – on a proactive manner – the commercial answers to the customer ECRs
• Detailed understanding of piece price, tooling and D&D impact
• Follow the Variable Cost Margin of the products
• Understanding and commercial management of local economics (inflation, exchange rate)
• Understanding of the Program Business Plan and associated commercial levers
• Follow the profitability of the Program
• Develop the appropriate intimacy with his/her Customer contacts (Purchasing, Engineering, Programs)
• Build relationships with key staff and program team in the organization
• Monitor the level of customer satisfaction at regular intervals or after each significant step

Essential for the position:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Management / Financial Management
• Business international mindset
• Good understanding of client business, products and key competitors
• Results oriented with strong written and oral communications skills
• Good analytical skills and rigor, agile with figures
• Appetite for negotiation
• Fluent in English
• Proficiency in Excel, Power Point, MS Word
• Ability to work in a matrixed organisation
• International and Entrepreneurial mind set
• Strong analytical skills

• Daily cost analysis/ forecasting
• Year-on-year inflation
• Calculating base cost on year of economics
• Market/ financial trends – both in SA and internationally
• Acquisitions
• Commercial claim