Sales Operations Manager

At SolarAfrica, deals are won by vision and relationships and sustained by discipline and flawless execution. The Sales Operations Manager is the guardian of our commercial engine, ensuring every proposal, every contract, and every CRM record is accurate, timely, and trusted.

This role exists to free salespeople to sell while ensuring our data, processes, and documentation are beyond reproach. By bringing order, accountability, and system mastery, the Sales Operations Manager transforms sales chaos into commercial momentum. You will be the person who turns ambition into reliable execution and in doing so, directly accelerates SolarAfrica’s growth.

This role owns the systems, data, and processes that drive deal velocity, CRM hygiene, and pipeline visibility. Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer, the Sales Operations Manager ensures that the Onsite and Virtual sales teams are supported with timely reporting and commercial responsiveness.

**Position of the job in the organisation**: Reports to the Chief Commercial Officer

**Principal responsibilities**:
**Sales Support Team Management**
- Recruit, train, and develop a high-performing Sales Support team that proactively supports all sales activities.
- Establish clear goals, KPIs, and review structures for the team; conduct regular performance check-ins and development discussions.
- Take full ownership of sales administration — ensuring all proposals, contracts, and documentation are version-controlled, error-free, and delivered on time.
- Run a zero-defect contract process: no incorrect versions, no missing approvals, no client-facing errors.
- Monitor workloads, allocate tasks, and drive service excellence within the Sales Support team

**Sales Enablement & CRM Ownership**
- Own HubSpot end-to-end: data accuracy, pipeline integrity, user compliance, and reporting.
- Set and enforce “non-negotiable” minimum data standards (mandatory fields, activity logging, deal stage hygiene).
- Develop and maintain robust, user-friendly sales playbooks, templates, and enablement materials.
- Support sales forecasting accuracy by maintaining up-to-date and reliable pipeline data.
- Train sales staff on CRM best practices and new feature rollouts to ensure maximum adoption and impact.
- Produce transparent reports on pipeline health, adoption, and sales discipline for the CCO.

**Accountability & Enforcement**
- Hold salespeople and managers accountable for their inputs and process compliance.
- Stand firm in enforcing standards and SLAs — escalating where necessary to ensure governance is respected.
- Introduce check-ins, audits, and scorecards that make accountability visible.

**Cross-Functional Liaison with Operations, Legal & Commercial Teams**
- Coordinate review and approval processes for proposals, term sheets, and final contracts.
- Track and report on contract turnaround times, highlighting delays and implementing corrective actions.
- Maintain an organised repository of all legal and commercial templates to ensure version control and compliance.
- Facilitate communication between sales, legal, operations, and finance teams to align on deal structure, risk, approvals, reduce delays and eliminate errors.
- Be the single source of truth for commercial templates, ensuring strict version control.

**Reporting & Commercial Intelligence**
- Design and deliver real-time dashboards that track key metrics, including lead conversion rates, deal velocity, and pipeline health.
- Provide monthly and quarterly commercial performance reports that highlight risks and opportunities.
- Analyse sales data to identify trends, forecast future performance, and support strategic decision-making.
- Support the CCO and leadership team with data and insights during board meetings and strategy sessions.

**Training, Systems & Process Improvement**
- Evaluate existing sales processes and identify opportunities to automate, simplify, or enhance efficiency.
- Lead initiatives to reduce proposal turnaround times and improve the customer experience.
- Streamline handovers between Sales, Operations, and Execution teams, ensuring clear responsibilities and mínimal friction.
- Implement feedback mechanisms to continually refine sales tools and support materials.
- Ensure training and coaching are facilitated regularly, and support tool adoption
- Any other job duties associated with this role

**PERSON DESCRIPTION**

**Experience**:

- 5+ years of proven experience in sales operations, sales support, or a similar commercial operations role.
- Strong experience managing or leading a team.
- Proven track record working with CRM systems (HubSpot preferred).
- Change management experience is required in this role, as it involves driving CRM/process adoption while managing resistance.
- Training and coaching experience, particularly in supporting Sales Teams in utilising tools like HubSpot effectively.
- Legal contract familiarity, not legal expertise, but enough exposure to understand risks and