First Line Sales Manager - Coastal

Position Summary:

• We are seeking a dynamic and results oriented First Line Sales Manager to lead a team of Customer Engagement Specialists.
• This role requires a strong, values-driven leader who can inspire high performance, develop capabilities, and drive commercial excellence.
• The successful candidate will embody Bayer’s leadership principles (VACC – Visionary, Architect, Catalyst, Coach) while ensuring alignment with the company’s values, ethics, and customer-focused mission.
• Coastal region: Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Kwazulu Natal 

Major tasks and responsibilities:

Leadership & Team Development:

• Demonstrate VACC leadership by adapting leadership behaviors to meet team needs while cultivating a high-performance and psychological safe environment that values trust, agility and results.
• Coach the team to collaboratively define their mission, goals, and success metrics, ensuring these are closely aligned with their individual sales plans and the Customer Excellence KPIs. This approach fosters a sense of ownership and relevance, drawing from field insights.
• Foster a culture of empowerment, collaboration and continuous learning, enabling team members to grow through shared experiences and best practices.
• Champion a growth and creative mindset encouraging team members to consciously own their business, innovate in their approach, and actively contribute to the goals of their Customer and Product teams.
• Actively participate in the recruitment and selection of Customer Engagement Specialists ensuring alignment with Bayer’s values, competencies and long-term capability needs to uphold Bayer’s standards.

Coaching & Performance Management:

• Mentor and coach individual team members through regular field visits, double calls, and formal In Call Quality (ICQ) assessments.
• Identify and address performance gaps using structured feedback and coaching processes.
• Utilize Veeva CRM and digital tools to track performance, support coaching, and ensure continuous improvement.
• Implement the online performance management system to set, track, and review individual goals.

Sales & Strategic Execution:

• Enable profitable sales delivery through the regional team by equipping them with commercial excellence tools such as PFI-CE, emotive selling, and deep product knowledge, empowering them to deliver on the ambitions of the Customer and Product teams.
• Contribute strategic insights to territory planning, customer targeting, promotional strategies, and ensuring alignment with market dynamics and the overarching goals of Sales Excellence.
• Embed Sales Excellence by coaching team members to meet and exceed defined KPIs and behaviours, with a focus on continuous performance improvement and excellence in customer engagement.
• Support digital transformation by enabling the team to enhance and apply digital capabilities to strengthen engagement with healthcare professional (HCPs) driving a hybrid and future ready customer interaction model.
• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration encouraging team members to take active accountable roles in Customer and Product teams to support seamless execution of strategic initiatives and shared outcomes.

Compliance & Operational Oversight:

• Ensure all sales activities comply with the South African Marketing Code of Practice, IFPMA guidelines, and Bayer compliance standards.
• Manage sales administration, reporting processes, and continuously seek opportunities to optimize systems and operations.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• University degree E.G. BCom Business Management
• A minimum of 3 years as sales manager in the pharmaceutical industry or 5 years as a customer engagement specialist in the company
• Strong communication skills
• Proven track record of success and ability to cooperate with different stakeholders
• Strong ability to coach customer engagement specialist to higher performance
• Demonstrate accurate forecast for future sales volumes
   

Job Requirements:

• Proven leadership experience in a sales or customer-facing environment, preferably in the pharmaceutical or healthcare sector.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and digital CRM platforms (e.g., Veeva CRM).
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to interpret complex data to support decision-making.

Personal Characteristics:

• Customer- and results-oriented with a passion for excellence.
• Team player with the ability to work independently and show initiative.
• High emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal skills.
• Resilient and able to lead under pressure.
• Demonstrates learning agility and an agile mindset.
• Strong leadership presence and ability to influence others positively.

Values & Culture:

• Demonstrates values and beliefs aligned with Bayer’s DSO principles and VACC leadership principles.

DSO Principles: 

• Focus on a mission to deliver outcomes for all, Customer, Product and Company
• Collaboration and teamwork
• Co-creation – create new value for customers
• Evolution – Executing, exploring and learning in rapid 90day cycles
• Authenticity – enabled by being your authentic self-functioning in a creative mindset

VACC Leadership:

• Visionary – guide teams in defining outcomes to deliver on our mission Health for All
• Architect – Create a value creating system to unleash the passion and energy of our people
• Catalysts thank remove roadblocks to facilitate connection and collaboration
• Coach – Help teams learn and build the capabilities needed to create value for customers and stakeholders
• Embodies integrity, respect, collaboration, and innovation in all interactions.
   

Work relations:

 Internal: 
 

• Pharma CDH
• Pharma Chapter Heads
• Sales Chapter Peers – FLSMs, Customer Engagement Specialists, Key customer Specialists and Business Support assistant for Sales
• Marketing & Sales Operations
• Brand Leads, Content creators
• Market Access colleagues
• Medical Affairs colleagues
• Financial Controller

External: 

• Identified Thought Leaders
• Healthcare Professionals (Targeted customers)
• Practice Staff
• Other Healthcare Stakeholders
• Public Sector stakeholders
• Wholesalers
• Stakeholders Corporate and non-Corporate Pharmacy chains in region