Head of Sales

 HEAD OF SALES (SaaS)
Johannesburg

 

ABOUT THE ROLE

 

A well-established South African compliance software and professional services business is looking for a Head of Sales to lead and build out its new business function. The business as a whole is profitable with a strong client base, but new business growth in new logo accounts has not kept pace with the opportunity in the market. This role exists to bring the sales strategy, team structure, and hands-on leadership that will change that. You will inherit a small, capable team and take full ownership of building it into a structured, high-performing operation.

 

THE COMPANY

 

The company is a market leader in compliance software and professional advisory services, serving companies across the private sector from SMEs through to large corporates. The business has approximately 65 people, a strong recurring revenue base, and a product suite that spans SaaS compliance softwares and professional advisory (non software) services.

 

THE ROLE

 

You will own the new business number, the strategy behind it, and the function that delivers it. This is not a role for someone who needs a built commercial machine to operate within. The team exists, but the structure, strategy, and discipline need to be built and improved around it.

You will report directly to the CEO. The mandate is clear: take a capable but underdeveloped new business function, and build it into something that performs consistently and grow it.

 

• Own and grow the new business revenue target.
• Define and execute the new business sales strategy: market segmentation, account prioritisation, outreach approach, sales process design.
• Lead and develop a small team of Business Developers and Solution Consultants, and hire as needed while maturing, improving and growing the function.
• Build conversion discipline and forecasting rigour across the new business function.
• Ensure warm and cold leads are being effectively converted into demos and demos into deals, with the right team structure and process to support this at volume.
• Manage a high-volume, multi-product sales environment spanning SaaS software and professional services.
• Navigate a solution-oriented sales process across multiple products and buyer types.
• Identify gaps in the current team structure and address them through coaching, development, or hiring.
• Contribute to commercial strategy at leadership level.

 

THE PERSON WE ARE AFTER

 

You have built and led new business sales teams, and improved them, not just managed them. You know what a high-performing new business function looks like and you know how to create one. You are comfortable in a smaller business where your fingerprints are on everything, and you thrive when given the mandate to do things properly.

 

• Proven experience leading a new business sales function, owning the number and the strategy, not just the team.
• Track record of building or significantly improving a sales function, including process design, team structure, and performance discipline.
• Experience managing high volume across clients, products, deals, and conversion stages simultaneously.
• Comfortable with solution selling in a complex, multi-product environment spanning software and professional services.
• Player-coach by nature: you lead from the front, you are present in deals, and you develop the people around you.
• Experience in a smaller or mid-sized business where resourcefulness and ownership matter.
• Strong conversion discipline and forecasting rigour. You hold yourself and your team to the same standard.
• Background in SaaS, compliance technology, professional services, or a multi-product B2B environment is advantageous.
• Knowledge of the compliance landscape is a plus, not a requirement.