Business Development Manager

Location: Mowbray, Cape Town (Hybrid)

The Business Development Manager drives new business growth for redPanda Software within the South African retail sector by identifying and converting opportunities.

The role focuses on positioning the company as a trusted partner delivering modernization, innovation, integration, AI driven solutions, and software engineering services.

The key function of the role includes lead generation, opportunity management, sales execution, and developing proposals in collaboration with the internal team.

• Proactively identify and generate new business leads across Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 retailers.
• Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of prospective opportunities aligned to redPanda's offering.
• Conduct targeted market outreach, relationship development, networking and prospect engagement to open new opportunities.
• Build relationships with key decision makers, influencers and stakeholders within target accounts.
• Maintain awareness of market trends, retailer priorities and competitor positioning to inform business development efforts.

• Present prospective leads and opportunities to redPanda's opportunity management team for review and qualification.
• Work closely with the Marketing and People Director, Technology Director, Managing Director and Operations General Manager to assess the suitability, viability and strategic fit of each opportunity.
• Help shape the opportunity strategy, positioning and next steps following qualification discussions.
• Ensure opportunity information is clear, accurate and sufficiently developed to support effective internal decision making.

• Manage the full sales process from initial lead generation and first engagement through qualification, proposal, commercial discussions, negotiation and closure.
• Drive momentum within opportunities and ensure agreed next steps are actively followed through.
• Coordinate internal resources required to support pursuit activities, discovery discussions, client meetings and proposal development.
• Maintain clear visibility of sales stage, probability, risks, dependencies and commercial outlook across active opportunities.

• Engage clients in a consultative manner to understand their business challenges, operational frustrations, priorities and constraints.
• Position redPanda's services in terms of business outcomes and practical value, not only technical delivery.
• Translate client needs into solution opportunities across modernization, innovation, integration, AI Focused Delivery & Consultancy, and software engineering services.
• Build client confidence in redPanda's ability to deliver practical, modern, sustainable solutions that create real business results.

• Lead or coordinate responses to client RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, RFXs, RFDs and other formal procurement or sales processes.
• Write, compile and refine high quality sales proposals, capability submissions and commercial documents.
• Work with internal stakeholders to ensure proposals are accurate, compelling, practical and aligned to redPanda's delivery capability and commercial principles.
• Ensure proposals and formal submissions are completed to a professional standard and within required deadlines.

• Keep opportunity, pipeline and sales activity information accurate and up to date.
• Provide regular reporting and feedback to the Managing Director on lead generation activity, pipeline quality, conversion progress and market developments.
• Contribute to the strengthening of redPanda's sales discipline, opportunity management process and go to market effectiveness.
• Support the improvement of sales tools, messaging, templates and proposal quality over time.

• Strong understanding of consultative and value based selling.
• Good understanding of software services and solution based selling.
• Appreciation of how software and technology can be used to solve business problems in practical ways.
• Understanding of retail operating environments, challenges and buying dynamics will be advantageous.
• Strong commercial acumen.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong proposal writing and business writing ability.
• Strong relationship building and networking capability.
• Ability to engage credibly with both business and technical stakeholders.
• Structured and disciplined approach to opportunity management.
• Self driven, proactive and outcome oriented.
• High levels of accountability, professionalism and personal ownership.

• Proven experience in business development, sales or consultative solution selling within a technology, software services, systems integration or digital services environment.
• Demonstrated success in generating leads and building a pipeline of qualified new business opportunities.
• Experience managing the full sales cycle from prospecting through to commercial close.
• Experience selling into business and technology stakeholders at a mid to senior level.
• Experience responding to RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, RFXs or similar formal client processes.
• Experience writing or contributing meaningfully to sales proposals and commercial submissions.
• Exposure to retail, enterprise software delivery, custom software development, systems integration or digital transformation initiatives will be highly advantageous.