Commercial Manager

Sulzer is a leading engineering company with a proud heritage of innovation. Join our global team to grow your expertise and develop innovative solutions that enable a prosperous and more sustainable society.

Job Summary

• The Tendering Manager is responsible for managing a team of professionals in the preparation of technical and commercial proposals. This role ensures the accuracy and competitiveness of tenders and supports the sales process with technical expertise.
• Deputizing for Regional Sales Director where appropriate
• Ensure application of Sulzer tools and policies, procedures, codes of conduct and best practice guidelines
• Mentoring, directing, motivating, supervising, and monitoring the performance of all members of the allocated team
• Identify and initiate department training on a regular basis
• Day to day review of enquiries in conjunction with the Regional Sales Director
• Support, assist and initiate new client contract agreements as and when identified
• Allocation of enquiries to the tendering resource ensuring optimum use of that resource in all groups.
• Provide support during the pre-tender process starting from evaluating/assessing tenders, assessing risk factors to arrive at bid decisions, and estimating all the required material, equipment, and manpower needs to be able to arrive at reliable cost estimates for bidding spares, service to turnkey projects.
• Study, analyze and evaluate tender documents and identify risk factors, ensure that technical terms comply with the relevant standards and coordinates with the Division Heads, and Regional Sales Director for the overall risk assessment and bid decision.
• Overall responsibility to ensure that customer requirements are satisfied whilst meeting SPZA targets
• Overall responsibility to ensure that tenders for PPR, PSC, EMS, TS & FE meet company commercial guidelines and have the necessary sign off in accordance with the delegation of authority guidelines
• Overall responsibility together with the Regional Sales Director for maintaining the profit margin on SPZA tenders
• Proactively engage with procurement to ensure competitive bidding is possible
• Review and finalize project cost estimates as prepared by the Tendering Engineer in terms of the required material as per bill of quantities (BOQ), amount of work, material/ equipment/ and manpower requirements during the tendering phase; this includes all systems, products and services to client specifications/ requirements.
• Finalize estimation of all direct and indirect costs and consolidate tender documents for management review and approval.
• Ensure in conjunction with sales that the Preliminary eTOA and eTOA tool is utilized in line with the eTOA regulation requirements for tenders meeting this criteria
• Overall responsibility to ensure that initiated projects meet company requirements in terms of selection, pricing, terms and conditions and lead time
• Overall responsibility to ensure that Order Entry Documentation is completed in accordance with handover guidelines and procedures and company KPIs.
• Ensure tender margins are accurate for order entry.
• Overall responsibility to ensure that the sales team are adequately supported and that projects are launched in a timely and professional manner
• Ensure that handover meetings with projects are effective and result in a smooth transition from pre to post order status
• Provide all the necessary project clarifications/ information upon project award to the Project Manager as per the project budget; advises the Project Manager on contractual rights, remedies which has been taken into consideration during tendering.
• Proactively engage and support company initiatives designed to promote a culture of safe working, environmental protection and continual improvement.
• All other duties as relevant to the post.

• Relevant experience within related industry and product & application knowledge
• Experience of dealing with complex tenders
• Experience of contract negotiation in a commercial environment
• Experience in drawing up contracts, monitoring and updating
• Staff management experience
• General computer skills
• SAP experience
• SF experience
• Sales & Marketing qualification
• Administration Management Diploma
• Technical qualification - minimum N6 and appropriate trade.

• Communication skills
• Negotiating skills
• Influencing and persuasion skills
• Relationship management skills
• Be able to handle conflict
• Staff management skills
• Commercial acumen
• Customer service skills
• Cultural awareness
• Organisation skills
• Ability to act independently
• Flexibility and ability to adapt to change
• Attention to detail
• Must be flexible with working hours and willing to travel globally
• Be able to report to a local and global Management structure

Medical Aid

Pension Fund

Sulzer is an equal opportunity employer. We believe in the strength of a diverse workforce and are committed to offering an inclusive work environment. We are proud to be recognized as a Top Employer 2026 in Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Switzerland, South Africa, the UK and the USA.

Sulzer is a leading engineering company with a proud heritage of innovation. By supporting water and energy security, enabling the energy transition and driving the use of circular technologies, we help our customers build a better world. With more than 13'000 employees and 160 world-class production facilities and service centers across the globe, we are a globally diverse team. We value the uniqueness of all our colleagues, and we appreciate the contributions that each of us makes to the company's success. We prioritize your health and safety and are committed to offering a work environment in which you can thrive. Join our team now to grow your expertise and develop solutions that truly make a difference! Are you interested in other oppportunities at Sulzer? Feel free to introduce yourself to our team