The Candidate will lead the development and growth of the Solutions business across the Middle East markets by fulfilling the role of product champion for all business development, marketing and sales activities in cooperation with DRBG, Sales Team, Marcoms & Partners.

What we give

With Canon, you'll get the support and encouragement you need to grow, from people who share your ambition. We'll invest in your professional development to help you learn and progress in your role with us. You'll find leaders who give you the freedom to explore new things and a team where knowledge is shared openly. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES The Candidate will be responsible for promoting Canon Products & Solutions awareness and profile across the regions via events, PR, Marcoms activities, internal promotion, and partner collaboration. He / She should look at market demand and expand Canon portfolio of Solutions by recruiting new partners/suppliers. He / She will also be responsible for designing action plans for country support and regional marketing / sales activity to stimulate market awareness and sales achievement. The candidate will also be responsible for:

Market Analysis and Strategy

• Conduct market research related to products and solutions and stay up to date with trends and future customer needs.
• Stay up to date with new regulations that affect digital transformation market and identify market potential and opportunities; identify related solutions and create supporting value propositions to expand the Solutions business line.
• Conduct competitive analysis (features + pricing) and generate battle cards that help the sales force convince customers to go with Canon solutions vs competition.

Pricing / Product positioning

• Manage pricing update, price campaigns, discounts, rebates, and incentives; manage and monitor gross profit and discount requests from Europe/Suppliers
• Decide product pricing and positioning based on competitive landscape.
• Support the Sales team for Tender pricing, Key accounts & Special deals. Also, responsible for Tender Pipeline management in co-ordination with Area sales.

Product Launch & Promotion

• Co-ordinate the planning and schedule of new product launches together with internal staff in order to support the timely and successful launch of new products into African markets.
• Manage the Product Life Cycle for the products from Launch to End of Life through required strategy, promotions & schemes.
• Define Go-To-Market strategies, and lead on the action plan with account managers and stakeholders.
• New products introduction: research new partners, products and solutions, conduct business case analysis, introduce the product and own the full product lifecycle from internal back-end processes to interfacing processes with the suppliers.
• Develop Solutions value propositions, train pre-sales and sales team, lead necessary activities with back-office support (finance, business operations, service, etc…) to enable proper launching.

Product Training & Development

• Attend to training courses on nominated products and create/carry out the local training courses for internal teams & Canon distributors.
• Evaluate knowledge levels of trainee, maintain and update training records.

Sales & Marketing Budget preparation & Implementation

• Fix the Sales budget with Area Sales, discuss and agree annual targets and termly sales plans, together with the requisite marketing plan/budget (products/pricing/promotion etc).
• Discuss and advise Sales Team about proper product strategy in order to realize stronger business structures and market coverage.
• Monitor and review monthly sales performance for assigned product group to ensure smooth sales movements in line with the agreed sales plan, and take appropriate remedial action
• Lead efforts on proposals write-up and issuance and tenders response preparation.
• Monitor revenue recognition for timely and accurate revenue posting.

GP (Gross Profit) Management

• Monitor and control of GP through tracking of special promotion pricing and tender deals at the point of:

1) agreeing special pricing with the sales group 2) follow up at actual delivery period for tracking of incoming (from Europe) and outgoing (to customer) support.

• Conduct pricing support negotiation with Europe/Suppliers to achieve required pricing
• Manage the ordering process towards suppliers (get quotations, ensure PO is issued, ensure PO is delivered by supplier, etc…)

Marketing / Business Development Activities

• Plan, manage and co-ordinate the execution of various market development activities within company guidelines and to meet the agreed quality standards, time planning and budgets.
• Lead products marketing activities including creating relevant content, presentations and setting promotions.
• Partnerships: Find new System Integrators/Resellers and agree on financials, GTM and legal famework
• Reporting: Perform periodic (monthly/quarterly) reporting towards management, regional management and Europe, in relation to sales, forecast & profitability

Co-ordination with HQ
Ensure smooth & continuous communication with HQ for all activities related to Budget preparation, Support discussions, Product launches, Monthly performance management, other reports & submissions in line with requirements.

What we ask

Interpersonal Requirements

• Excellent analytical skills and a logical mind.
• Motivation and aptitude to continue learning as new technology is introduced
• Able to communicate, at times involving complex technical information, to technicians, service and marketing personnel in all Canon Locations, and distributors.

Previous Experience/ Education

• High level of relevant knowledge and experience coupled with the ability to relate technical information to non- technical people at all levels.
• High level of written and spoken communications required
• Professional appearance, attitude and communication style.
• Very good handling of MS Office Applications, i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Experience in software industry pre-sales, sales and product management.
• Experience in customer requirements analysis, scoping and pricing for software solutions.

Other Requirements

• Overseas travel and periods away from home.
• Able to work on own initiative and meets targets whilst under pressure.
• Flexibility to respond to travel needs at short notice.

You will need

• Drive for Results
• Focus on the Customer
• Apply Business Acumen
• Communicate Effectively
• Plan & Organize Effectively
• Financial analysis and ROI calculations

Canon is enriching lives and businesses in incredible new ways. You can play a part in shaping the future of a company that’s visionary, innovative and bold. As the world's best imaging company, we're living and working together for the common good.