Sales Manager, E-Commerce

Kora is the marketplace for everything payments. We offer a robust payment API for payment collections, disbursements and conversions for businesses anywhere in Africa. 

Our vision, which is at the core of what we do every day, is to create a world void of digital financial barriers. We are committed to delivering reliable, secure, and easy-to-use digital financial solutions to every single customer with a guarantee that it is improving their lives. To achieve this mission, we need people like you. 

We strongly believe in our ability to find Water in the Desert and pick the Sands in the Ocean.

We value positive energy, and clear communication and are committed to building an inclusive environment for people from every background.

About the role

As a Sales Manager at Kora, you will be responsible for expanding our clientele, and identifying new opportunities in the e-commerce industry in order to generate revenue, improve profitability and help our business grow. You will also be responsible for identifying new business prospects and selling our products to them. In this role, you will maintain relationships with current clients and build and maintain relationships with new clients.

You’ll be driving our growth machine, reaching out to businesses, meeting clients, pitching, negotiating, and closing deals with high-value customers in the industry. Hence, we seek a tenacious and vibrant salesperson who is self-motivated and has the passion to sell as well as to grow a career in sales in the payments industry.

Outcomes

1. By your third month, grow monthly transactions on our platform by 100% (and beyond then grow it by 10%, MoM).

• Increase our monthly revenue by 10% MoM.
• Grow our high-value merchants (HVM; Customers with over 20,000 transactions per month) by 50%.

2. Grow our international business.

• Grow our customer base across the E-commerce vertical.

Here are a couple of things you'll be doing:

• Managing and maintaining relationships with new and existing clients.
• Building a pipeline of prospective partners, and then aggressively pursuing the highest value relationships to close.
• Selling our APIs to High Volume Merchants (HVMs), medium-level merchants, and institutions and collecting APIs from all banks/fintech and other strategic partners for a more robust infrastructure.
• Managing your own sales pipeline: prospecting, leading meetings/negotiations, and deal closing with business stakeholders in all industries.
• Deep understanding of how to create a new business offering from scratch via different forms of partnerships, and strategic investments while keeping a laser focus on revenue, profitability, and market share growth.
• Recommending and implementing appropriate strategies and design tactics to improve B2B sales.
• Understanding the industry, business, and/or technology trends and competitor strategies to make effective decisions and compromises.
• Maintaining an expert level of understanding of the company so as to provide knowledgeable support to top clients and potential partners both externally and internally.
• Collaborating with other teams to negotiate on behalf of the business to relentlessly deliver solutions that will serve evolving customer needs and drive an exceptional customer service culture.
• Researching and identifying new business opportunities - including new markets, growth areas, trends, customers, partnerships, and services - or new ways of reaching existing markets.
• Think strategically - seeing the bigger picture and setting aims and objectives in order to develop and improve the business and implement sales strategies that will further drive enhanced revenue generation for the business.
• Presenting sales and revenue forecast to the Head of sales. Since it’s your pipeline, you’ll be able to inform and update the team on your progress and successes.
• Giving market feedback to the Product team regarding solutions and how we should develop since you’ll be seeing and hearing what businesses need.
• Working closely with the Product, Merchant Success, and Operations teams to translate relevant data and insights into actionable strategies that will drive sales and lead to the achievement of targets.

Requirements

Here's what are we looking for:

• A minimum of 5 years experience as a Sales Manager, Business Development Officer, or similar role experience in the e-commerce industry, and a fast-paced B2B payment infrastructure.
• Strong network in the key industry (e-commerce) with a strong influence on your current clients.
• In-depth knowledge and technical understanding of the organization’s business, product, and service offerings.
• Tenacity and drive to seek new business and meet or exceed targets.
• A self-starter, who understands how to build and manage their pipeline of opportunities.
• Strong business sense and industry expertise in selling business services to large businesses.
• Interpersonal skills for building and developing relationships with clients and an ability to influence stakeholders.
• Great written and verbal communication skills - needed for communicating with a range of people, both internally and externally, and good presentation skills.
• Finally, someone with the ability to sell water to a drowning man!

Reporting Structure: This role reports to the Head, Sales

Interview Process 

Below is the interview process you can expect for this role. It may look like a lot of steps, but rest assured that we move quickly and the steps are designed to help you get the information needed to determine if we’re the right fit for you… Interviewing is a two-way street, after all! 

We expect the interview process to take a maximum of 3 weeks and an average of 2.5 hours in total. Please note that the interview is virtual.

👋Introduction Stage - we have initial conversations to get acquainted with you and overall experience.

[15m] Recruiter Screen - Abayomi Ishmael 

Feedback from the Recruiter (Abayomi Ishmael)

🧑‍💻 [60m] Team Interview Stage (Sales Team) - We proceed to explore your professional background in greater detail and facilitate introductions to team members, including those from various cross-functional areas.

🧑‍💻 [5 Days] Sales Manager Assessment (Sales Team) -  We proceed to evaluate your ability to understand the product and our market, understand the problem, find a solution and execute on your plan based on the take-home assessment/project.

[60m] Cultural Fit Interview  (Our Core Values)- At this stage, you'll engage in a conversation with the CEO, the Head of People and Culture, and the head of the team you’re being considered for. The aim is to understand you better and assess the alignment of your beliefs and values with Kora's distinctive culture. We'd like to emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers expected. However, we encourage you to maintain a positive attitude during this session.

Please note that you are welcome to ask questions and inquire during this process. We assure you of complete transparency throughout the interview process.

Working hours

Given that we are an all-remote company and hire almost anywhere in the world, we don’t have a location requirement for this role. However, your working hours must coincide with 9:00 am - 5:00 pm WAT for at least 40 hours/week.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Kora is an equal-opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, experience, and business needs. We strongly encourage applications from underrepresented communities and diverse ethnic groups to apply.

Please feel free to inform us if you need any accommodations to facilitate your participation in the recruitment process. Any details you share will be used solely to ensure we can support and accommodate your needs appropriately

If you require more information on our HR Data Privacy, please visit here.

• Health insurance
• Sponsored and tailored training
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time-off
• Flexible work style
• Annual performance bonus
• Low-interest loans
• Employee assisted programs
• Day off on your birthday 🎂 🎁 🎉
• Employee resource groups that provide supportive communities within Kora
• Great company culture and the opportunity to work with a highly collaborative team building something great!

Note: We recognize imposter syndrome is real - any candidate who does not perfectly fit every characteristic of this role is still strongly encouraged to apply.