Executive Head: Commercial Growth
Manager
Johannesburg – Gauteng – South Africa
Executive Head: Commercial Growth
Salary: Highly negotiable
Area: Johannesburg
Type: Permanent
A fast-growing fintech business is looking for an Executive Head: Commercial Growth to lead commercial strategies, revenue growth, market expansion, client value, and strategic partnerships. This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who knows how to scale revenue, open new markets, build strong commercial teams, and turn opportunities into measurable growth.
Reporting to the CEO and forming part of the Executive Leadership Team, you will lead the commercial function across sales, business development, client success, strategic partnerships, marketing alignment, and commercial operations. This role is ideal for a senior commercial leader who brings fintech, financial services, digital solutions, or technology experience, with the confidence to influence at EXCO, Board, investor, partner, and key client level.
Responsibilities
- Develop and execute the commercial growth strategy in line with business objectives and revenue targets
- Drive sustainable revenue growth across existing and emerging markets
- Identify new revenue streams, business models, customer segments, and market opportunities
- Develop pricing, profitability, and commercial optimisation strategies
- Take ownership of annual revenue, margin, profitability, and growth targets
- Lead market expansion into new industries, customer segments, and geographic regions
- Build strategic alliances, partnerships, and channel opportunities
- Evaluate strategic growth opportunities, including mergers and acquisitions where relevant
- Lead high-value negotiations, commercial agreements, and strategic client discussions
- Act as the senior commercial point of contact for key accounts and strategic clients
- Drive customer acquisition, retention, upselling, and lifetime value strategies
- Lead solution design and proposal development with cross-functional teams
- Facilitate quarterly business reviews with key clients
- Provide strategic leadership to sales, business development, client success, and commercial teams
- Build a high-performance culture focused on growth, accountability, customer value, and delivery
- Develop leadership succession pipelines and talent development plans within the commercial function
- Lead change management and transformation initiatives across commercial teams
- Contribute to business strategy as a member of the Executive Leadership Team
- Provide commercial insights, performance updates, and recommendations to the CEO and Board
- Manage key stakeholder relationships, including investors, regulators, partners, clients, and internal executives
- Ensure commercial activities remain aligned with governance, regulatory, and contractual obligations
Requirements
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management, Commerce, Marketing, Economics, Finance, or an equivalent NQF qualification
- Honours degree in a related field
- MBA or equivalent Master’s degree in Commercial Management, Strategic Management, or a related field will be ideal
- 15 or more years of progressive commercial leadership experience
- Experience in technology, financial services, digital solutions, consulting, or a related industry
- 10 or more years of senior leadership experience managing multi-disciplinary commercial teams
- Proven track record of driving significant revenue growth and market expansion
- 10 or more years of experience in sales, business development, and client-facing roles
- Strong experience within Fintech, Insurtech, start-up, or scale-up environments will be highly advantageous
- Strong experience engaging Executive Committees, investors, strategic partners, and key clients
- Proven ability to build and execute commercial strategies that deliver measurable revenue and profitability growth
- Strong negotiation, stakeholder management, and executive communication skills
- Ability to identify market opportunities and turn them into commercially viable growth plans
- Experience leading commercial transformation, team growth, and performance improvement
- Strong understanding of pricing strategy, client value, profitability, partnerships, and commercial operations
- Confident working at Board and EXCO level with the ability to influence strategic decisions
This is an executive opportunity for a commercial growth leader who wants to shape strategy, scale revenue, build strong teams, and play a central role in the next stage of a fintech business. Apply now.