ICT Sales Lead

What we’re looking for;

In keeping with our current business needs, we are looking for a person who meets the criteria indicated below

Reporting to the Chief Enterprise Business Officer , the role purpose is as highlighted below;

The ICT Sales Lead is strategically accountable for driving end-to-end commercial execution, revenue growth, and market leadership across ICT solutions within the Enterprise Business Unit (EBU). The role leads the development and execution of a high-performance ICT sales strategy across Large Enterprise, SME, and Public Sector segments, ensuring delivery of integrated, customer-centric solutions spanning connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, managed services, IoT, digital platforms, and enterprise applications.
The role translates the Enterprise strategy into disciplined go-to-market execution, structured account management, and solution-led selling, ensuring strong alignment between customer needs and the organization’s converged ICT offerings. The Lead owns the full ICT sales lifecycle—including pipeline generation, deal conversion, contract closure, and revenue realization—while ensuring profitability, pricing discipline, and margin protection.

Operating as the single point of accountability for ICT sales performance, the Lead ensures sustained pipeline health, bid excellence, and execution rigor across all segments. The role champions consultative and solution-based selling, driving cross-sell and upsell of ICT solutions by orchestrating internal teams across product, technology, solution architecture, and delivery functions.
The role works in close partnership with Converged Business Solutions, Systems Integration & Enterprise Platforms, Enterprise Operations, Commercial Excellence, Financial Services, Technology (TES), and external partners to ensure seamless Lead → Order → Delivery → Care execution, safeguarding both revenue realization and superior customer experience.

A strong emphasis is placed on industry verticalization, ensuring that ICT offerings are tailored to sectors such as Government, BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Transport, enabling the organization to deliver differentiated, value-driven solutions. The Lead also drives capability development within the sales organization, building strong commercial acumen, solution-selling capabilities, and execution discipline.
Ultimately, the role ensures that ICT solutions become a key driver of enterprise transformation, delivering scalable, secure, and future-ready technologies that enable customers to achieve operational efficiency, innovation, and growth.

Thus, the Lead is strategically accountable for:
• ICT Revenue Performance & Growth Execution: Drive delivery of annual and multi-year ICT revenue, bookings, and margin targets across all enterprise segments through disciplined pipeline management, conversion optimization, and profitability control.
• Unified ICT Go-To-Market Execution: Lead centralized ICT sales execution, embedding structured account management, vertical-specific playbooks, and data-driven targeting to drive scalable growth.
• Converged ICT Solution Selling: Champion integrated solution selling across cloud, connectivity, cybersecurity, IoT, managed services, and digital platforms to maximize cross-sell and customer value.
• Strategic Account & Executive Relationship Management: Provide strategic leadership for ICT sales by driving solution-led growth, shaping complex opportunities, overseeing commercial execution, and enabling effective collaboration across Account Management and cross-functional teams to deliver revenue growth and customer business outcomes.
• Public Sector & Large Deal Ownership: Lead complex ICT bids and proposals, ensuring strong governance, competitive positioning, and successful deal conversion in Public Sector and large enterprise accounts.
• Vertical Industry Penetration: Drive sector-specific growth strategies by aligning ICT solutions with unique industry needs, supported by specialized sales capabilities and tailored offerings.
• Sales Governance & Commercial Discipline: Embed strong forecasting, deal governance, pricing discipline, and margin protection mechanisms in collaboration with Commercial Excellence.
• Pipeline Development & Conversion Excellence: Ensure sustainable pipeline growth, improved win rates, and reduced sales cycle times through structured sales processes and performance management.
• Cross-Functional Orchestration: Coordinate effectively with product, technology, solution architecture, and operations teams to deliver end-to-end solutions and seamless execution.
• Capability Development & Sales Excellence: Build a high-performing ICT sales organization through coaching, training, and strengthening solution-selling and commercial competencies.
• Innovation & Market Leadership: Continuously evolve ICT propositions by leveraging market insights, emerging technologies, and partner ecosystems to maintain competitive advantage.

Anchored in Safaricom’s purpose of Transforming Lives, the role ensures that ICT and digital solutions are widely adopted, commercially scalable, and deeply integrated into the operations of enterprises, SMEs, and public sector institutions. It drives digital transformation by enabling organizations to leverage connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, IoT, and data-driven platforms to improve efficiency, unlock new revenue streams, and enhance customer experiences, while fostering inclusive growth, innovation, and sustainable expansion of the digital ecosystem.
 

Key accountabilities and decision ownership:

Revenue Strategy, Growth & Commercial Performance

• Own full P&L accountability for ICT revenue, bookings, margin, and long-term value creation across Enterprise, SME, and Public Sector.
• Drive forecast accuracy, pipeline coverage, and conversion efficiency to ensure predictable and sustainable performance.
• Enforce pricing discipline, deal quality, and margin optimization across all commercial activities.
• Make critical decisions on revenue trade-offs, investment priorities, and strategic deal participation.

Go-To-Market Strategy & Execution Excellence

• Design and continuously evolve a unified, data-driven ICT go-to-market model across segments and regions.
• Own prioritization of target markets, accounts, and opportunities based on analytics and business impact.
• Ensure alignment between sales, product, and customer requirements to maximize commercial success.
• Decide on GTM investments, coverage models, and strategic sales motions.

Solution Portfolio Leadership & Integrated Selling

• Lead the shift from product-led to solution-led selling across connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, IoT, and managed services.
• Define portfolio positioning, bundling strategies, and value propositions that drive customer transformation and ROI.
• Sponsor consultative selling methodologies and ensure adoption across the sales organization.
• Own decisions on solution prioritization, packaging, and cross-sell/upsell strategies.

Strategic Accounts & Executive Engagement

• Provide strategic leadership for ICT sales engagement across key enterprise customers, ensuring alignment of solutions with customer business priorities and digital transformation objectives. 
• Direct the development and execution of ICT sales strategies in collaboration with Account Management teams to drive revenue growth, solution penetration, and market share expansion. 
• Champion the organization's ICT value proposition by guiding customer-facing teams on industry trends, emerging technologies, and business outcomes that strengthen the company's position as a trusted technology partner. 
• Oversee ICT sales resource allocation, opportunity prioritization, deal shaping, and executive escalations to maximize conversion of strategic and high-value opportunities. 
• Establish governance and performance frameworks that enable effective collaboration between ICT Sales, Account Management, and cross-functional teams in pursuing complex enterprise opportunities.

Large Deal Governance & Complex Bid Leadership

• Lead governance and execution of large, complex, and strategic ICT deals (including public sector tenders).
• Own bid/no-bid decisions, competitive positioning, and commercial structuring of high-value opportunities.
• Oversee contract negotiations, risk management, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Ensure high win rates through strong cross-functional orchestration and executive sponsorship.

Industry Vertical Growth & Market Leadership

• Define and drive sector-specific strategies (e.g., BFSI, Government, Healthcare) to deepen market penetration.
• Align ICT solutions with industry needs and emerging trends to capture new revenue streams.
• Build differentiated positioning and thought leadership within priority sectors.
• Decide on vertical investment focus, specialization models, and partnership strategies.

Sales Governance, Pipeline Integrity & Operational Discipline

• Establish robust governance frameworks covering pipeline management, deal qualification, and performance tracking.
• Ensure transparency, accountability, and consistency across all sales operations.
• Drive CRM adoption, data integrity, and performance insights for decision-making.
• Own policies on deal approvals, commercial controls, and sales effectiveness improvements.

Cross-Functional & Ecosystem Leadership

• Lead orchestration across product, technology, delivery, and partner ecosystems to deliver integrated solutions.
• Build and leverage strategic partnerships to accelerate growth and innovation.
• Remove execution bottlenecks and ensure seamless alignment from sales through service delivery.
• Own decisions on partner strategy, ecosystem roles, and collaboration models.

Sales Capability, Culture & Organizational Leadership

• Build and lead a high-performing, future-ready ICT sales organization.
• Embed a performance-driven culture anchored on OKRs, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Champion capability development in solution selling, industry expertise, and emerging technologies.
• Lead organizational transformation, change management, and leadership development across teams.

Innovation, Technology Adoption & Strategic Differentiation
• Drive innovation in ICT offerings, business models, and customer solutions leveraging AI, cloud, IoT, and emerging technologies.
• Position the organization as a leader in digital transformation and enterprise ICT.
• Monitor market trends and competitor activity to inform strategic pivots.
• Own decisions on innovation investments, new solution development, and strategic differentiation.
 

Must have technical / professional qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Commerce, Economics, Engineering, ICT, Telecommunications, or a related field from a recognized institution
• Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Strategic Management, Finance, Technology Management, or a related discipline
• Minimum of 12–15 years’ progressive experience in enterprise/B2B ICT sales, telecommunications, cloud services, cybersecurity, or digital solutions, with at least 5–7 years in a senior leadership role managing large enterprise and channel sales teams
• Demonstrated track record of consistently delivering large-scale revenue growth, market share expansion, and margin targets within complex and highly competitive ICT markets
• Proven experience in solution and consultative selling across connectivity, cloud computing, cybersecurity, IoT, managed services, data centres, and digital platforms
• Strong commercial acumen with hands-on experience in complex deal structuring, bid and tender management (including public sector), pricing strategy, contract negotiations, and full P&L accountability
• Experience operating in highly matrixed organizations with cross-functional collaboration across Technology, Product Development, Finance, Legal, Risk, Operations, and Regulatory functions
• Demonstrated experience engaging and influencing C-suite executives, Boards, and government stakeholders, with the ability to manage long sales cycles and strategic enterprise accounts
• Strong understanding of the ICT ecosystem, including digital transformation trends, cloud adoption, AI-driven solutions, platform-based business models, and enterprise technology architectures
• Professional certifications in sales leadership, key account management, project/program management, or cloud and ICT technologies (e.g., PMP, ITIL, AWS/Azure, Cisco, TOGAF, or equivalent) will be an added advantage
• Member in good standing of a recognized professional body relevant to sales, marketing, ICT, or commercial leadership
• Demonstrated ability to embed governance, compliance, and risk management frameworks in enterprise sales operations, including regulatory and data protection requirements
• Strong analytical and strategic capability with proficiency in CRM platforms, sales pipeline management, forecasting tools, and performance analytics dashboards
• Proven leadership experience managing large, diverse, and geographically dispersed sales teams, with strong focus on talent development, coaching, succession planning, and building high-performance cultures
• Demonstrated commitment to integrity, accountability, and ethical business practices in alignment with corporate governance standards and regulatory frameworks

How to apply If you feel that you are up to the challenge and possess the necessary qualification and experience, kindly click on the apply button. Remember to attach your resume

Safaricom is the leading technology company in East Africa. Our purpose is to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information. We keep over 60 million customers connected across Kenya and Ethiopia, and play a critical role in the society, supporting over 1.13 million jobs both directly and indirectly while our total economic value was estimated at KES 1.1 trillion ($ 8.5 billion) for the 12 months through March 2025.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and with annual revenues of close to KES 388 billion as at March 2025, Safaricom provides connectivity through wide range of technology. Our 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network in aggregate covers over 99% of Kenya’s population.

We run the world’s largest mobile payment system and Africa’s largest Fintech, M-PESA, the world’s first mobile money transfer system. By empowering millions of customers to transact, save or borrow money through their mobile phone, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to 84.8% of the adult population in 2024, from a low of 26.7% in 2006, and generated over KES 161 billion in revenue as at FY25.

Our subsidiary, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, has deployed world class network and services to contribute to Ethiopia’s digital transformation.

Safaricom is an equal opportunity employer, actively recruiting staff from different backgrounds reflecting the communities that we serve. We are committed to equal gender representation at all levels.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we continue to work towards improving energy and resource efficiency in our network and facilities to reduce carbon emissions and our fuel consumption. We remain committed to becoming a Net Zero carbon-emitting company by 2050.