Regional Business Development Director and Country Head at AIfluence Inc.

About the job

About AIfluence

Join one of the fastest-growing and most disruptive tech start-ups in Africa.

AIfluence is Africa's first Artificial Intelligence-powered influencer marketing platform. We offer an end-to-end solution to optimize and scale global influencer marketing strategies. Our platform uses advanced algorithms that power influencer discovery and evaluation, campaign management, and performance measurement for influencer marketing campaigns. We solve the major pain-point experienced by most marketers in influencer marketing by accurately predicting and delivering measurable ROI on every campaign. We are growing rapidly and have supported leading regional and global brands and development institutions across the African continent and we are now solidifying our footprint with regional hubs in Nigeria, South Africa, and India. Learn more at www.ai-fluence.com.

About The Role

The role of Regional Director is critical for the success of AIfluence and will report to and work closely with the Chief Executive Officer in strategy development and execution in the Southern Africa market. We are seeking a seasoned business development leader that has cut his/her teeth, growing through the ranks in closing high ticket size deals with multinationals, and leading high-performing business development teams in the Advertising industry in Southern Africa. The ideal candidate would be coming from an ex-co position in leading advertising agencies in the region whose core responsibility would be driving business development initiatives in the region with leading advertisers, building the Southern Africa market pipeline that will grow our business, establish and strengthen our position while leading a high performing business development team through our next phase of growth across Africa.

This role is predominantly client-facing. The candidate will be a highly skilled and experienced senior or C- level business development leader preferably from an advertising background.

What you will do:

Business development and sales management

• Grow the AIfluence’s footprint in the Southern Africa region, developing business and increasing profitability for the company against set KPIs

• Build the salesforce strategy and long-term roadmap for major partnerships (e.g. new country expansion, technology, and tooling, pipeline management)

• Own end-to-end deal cycles with clients across a range of projects and countries

• Deliver exceptional relationship management to existing clients and partners

• Craft tailored content, including presentations, proposals, and budgets

• Manage and scale AIfluence's pipeline of foundations & institutions portfolio

• Build & own processes to streamline pipeline management

• Inform direction on research collaborations and thought leadership by capturing and communicating institutionsʼ requirements around data and impact insights

Strategic leadership and management of the Regional team

• Overall leadership of the regional office within the parameters of AIfluence’s global strategy.

• Recruiting and managing teams including performance monitoring, mentorship, and training.

• Creating and managing annual budgets

• Strong and supportive leadership of the regional team creating and nurturing an environment that supports high performance, learning, and teamwork at all levels

• Business operation planning, including setting and achieving ambitious KPIs

• Performance reporting

Brand Ambassador:

• Building partnerships and maintaining excellent relationships with partners, local governments, businesses, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders

• Serve as the AIfluence representative and spokesperson in all engagements that require AIfluence’s presence in the region

• Amplify the AIfluence brand at every opportunity in the region

Required Qualifications

• Extensive knowledge and 8 - 12 years experience in the Advertising Industry in the Southern Africa Region

• Background in C level business development team leader in Advertising in blue-chip agencies in the region

• Possess a strong business acumen with a deep understanding of how businesses operate both generally and in the Southern Africa region.

• Robust business relationships with the Ad agency community

• Proven track record of overachievement and hitting sales targets of USD 5 million and above

• Demonstrable ability to seek out business opportunities and drive growth

• Ability to deliver the highest standards of customer service.

• Experience in talent acquisition and development of high performing teams

• Ability to drive stakeholder mapping, develop relationships with senior stakeholders, and maintain a network of relationships to promote partnerships and fundraising goals

• The successful candidate must be based in Johannesburg, South Africa

Desired Qualifications (Added Advantage)

• Master’s degree in a business-related course

• General management experience

• Have considerable local and regional contacts in the industry, business development, and customer relationship networks.

• B2B experience in Technology/SaaS

• Fluency in the French language

• Best in breed sales training

Required Skills

• Entrepreneurial skills

• Highly organized, analytical, innovative, and result-oriented

• Excellent networking, selling, communication, and negotiation skills

• Great relationship management and interpersonal skills

• Ability to work independently and with cross-functional teams spread across different territories

Why you should join us

• An attractive remuneration package on a base plus commission structure

• Stock options will be preferred to the right candidate

• Friendly and inclusive work culture