First Line Sales Manager - Inland Region

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.
• Inland region: Gauteng, (Pretoria, Johannesburg), Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North-West, Free state

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

Bayer welcomes applications from all individuals, regardless of race, national origin, gender, age, physical characteristics, social origin, disability, union membership, religion, family status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or any unlawful criterion under applicable law. We are committed to treating all applicants fairly and avoiding discrimination.