Role Purpose

The Head of Sales is accountable for rebuilding and leading a disciplined, high-performance commercial engine for Manifold Computers Ltd (MCL). Reporting to the Chief Sales Officer, the role owns revenue conversion, gross-profit delivery, pipeline quality, strategic-account growth and sales-team effectiveness across MCL’s core practices: Communication & Connectivity, Data Centre Infrastructure, Cybersecurity and Managed Services.

The role must translate MCL’s strategy and Board-approved financial plan into sector-led go-to-market programmes, executable account plans and predictable monthly and quarterly outcomes. For FY2026, the current planning anchor is US$16.5 million revenue and US$3.3 million gross profit, subject to approved revisions. The Head of Sales is expected to maintain sufficient qualified pipeline coverage to close the gap to target while protecting margin and cash quality.

Key Accountabilities

1. Revenue, Gross Profit and Commercial Plan

• Own the annual commercial plan. Translate Board-approved revenue and gross-profit targets into quarterly, monthly, sector, account and individual quotas.
• Drive profitable growth. Prioritise opportunities that deliver sustainable gross profit, cash conversion and strategic relevance—not revenue at any cost.
• Lead corrective action. Identify performance gaps early and present clear recovery actions, owners and timelines through the MCL operating rhythm.
• Maintain commercial visibility. Provide accurate reporting on bookings, billings, revenue recognition dependencies, margin, collections risk and forecast confidence.

2. Go-to-Market and Sector Leadership

• Set sector strategies. Build and execute focused plans for BFSI, Energy, Manufacturing, Telecommunications and Public Sector, with differentiated value propositions and priority accounts.
• Strengthen account planning. Establish executive-sponsored plans for strategic accounts, whitespace expansion, renewal, cross-sell and competitive displacement.
• Diversify the portfolio. Reduce over dependence on individual sectors, OEMs or large transactions by improving new-logo acquisition and recurring/managed-services revenue.
• Convert market insight into action. Track customer priorities, competitive moves and technology trends and convert them into campaigns and qualified opportunities.

3. Pipeline, Forecast and Sales Execution Discipline

• Build qualified coverage. Maintain a minimum 4x qualified pipeline against the remaining target, with clear stage criteria, value, probability, decision process and close plan.
• Improve forecast accuracy. Run weekly pipeline and deal reviews; distinguish committed, probable and upside opportunities; eliminate unsupported optimism.
• Raise win rates. Improve discovery, qualification, bid/no-bid discipline, proposal quality, executive sponsorship and negotiation planning.
• Institutionalise CRM discipline. Ensure all material opportunities, activities, next steps and risks are current and auditable in the approved CRM and dashboards.

4. Strategic Accounts and Customer Leadership

• Lead executive engagement. Build trusted relationships with customer CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, CFOs, procurement leaders and business sponsors.
• Protect and grow installed accounts. Drive retention, renewals, service expansion, cross-sell and structured account reviews in partnership with delivery teams.
• Own customer recovery. Personally, sponsor recovery plans for strategic accounts at risk, ensuring commitments are realistic and tracked to closure.
• Strengthen customer success. Ensure post-sale handover, expectation management and value realisation support repeat business and referenceability.

5. OEM and Ecosystem Commercial Leadership

• Act as commercial executive sponsor. Build senior relationships with priority OEMs and distributors and align joint account, campaign and pipeline plans.
• Improve commercial leverage. Use deal registration, rebates, incentives, MDF, financing and competitive pricing support to improve win probability and margin.
• Drive measurable partner outcomes. Ensure certifications, partner status and OEM engagement translate into pipeline, customer meetings, differentiated solutions and revenue.
• Rationalise effort. Prioritise partnerships based on strategic fit, market potential, profitability and execution capacity.

6. Pricing, Margin and Deal Governance

• Enforce pricing discipline. Work with Finance, Supply Chain and Technology to validate cost, foreign-exchange exposure, taxes, logistics, support obligations and delivery assumptions.
• Protect gross margin. Target at least the approved gross-margin threshold, with explicit approval for exceptions and a documented strategic rationale.
• Lead deal governance. Ensure material bids receive timely commercial, technical, legal and credit review before commitment.
• Improve cash quality. Consider payment terms, working-capital exposure, credit risk and collection plan as part of every major deal decision.

7. Sales Leadership and Organisational Capability

• Build a performance culture. Set clear standards, scorecards and consequences; coach actively and address underperformance promptly and fairly.
• Develop the team. Build sector, account, negotiation, solution-selling and executive-engagement capability through structured coaching and learning.
• Clarify ownership. Ensure each strategic account, opportunity and partner motion has one accountable commercial owner and defined support roles.
• Strengthen succession and retention. Build bench strength, identify successors and sustain at least 90% retention of effective performers, subject to business needs.

8. Executive Collaboration and Governance

• Partner with the Chief Sales Officer and GCOO. Translate commercial direction into disciplined execution, align sales priorities with the operating plan, and ensure cross-functional accountability for revenue, gross profit, delivery readiness and customer outcomes.
• Partner with the Head of Technology. Shape credible, implementable and differentiated solutions; jointly manage presales capacity and pursuit risk.
• Partner with the GCFO. Align pricing, margins, credit, working capital, revenue recognition and commission governance.
• Represent Sales. Provide concise, evidence-based updates through the CSO to EMT and, when required, support Board reporting; escalate material risks early and maintain transparent performance visibility.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Technology or a related discipline; MBA or equivalent executive education is advantageous.
• Minimum 12 years’ progressive enterprise technology sales or commercial leadership experience, including at least five years leading a significant sales function.
• Proven leadership within an IT systems integrator, enterprise technology vendor, OEM, cloud/managed-services provider or technology consulting business.
• Demonstrable ownership of a sizeable revenue and gross-profit target, complex enterprise deals and multi-sector account portfolios.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise networking, data-centre infrastructure, cybersecurity and managed services, with the ability to sell integrated business outcomes.
• Established senior relationships across enterprise customers, OEMs, distributors and channel ecosystems in Nigeria or comparable markets.
• Evidence of disciplined forecasting, CRM governance, margin protection, team development and commercial turnaround or scale-up.