Job Title: East Africa Commercial Director

Location: Nairobi, Kenya, with regional East Africa scope
Department: Commercial & Growth
Reports To: Global Growth Lead
Direct Reports: Regional Commercial Leads & National Marketing Lead

About the Opportunity

Our client is a fast-growing, mission-driven technology and healthcare organisation transforming how medicines and health products move across African markets.

The organisation works with public and private healthcare systems to strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains, improve product availability, and ensure medicines are managed and delivered safely and efficiently.

As part of its continued expansion across East Africa, the organisation is seeking an accomplished East Africa Commercial Director to lead regional revenue growth, pharmaceutical commercialisation, strategic market expansion, and institutional business development.

This is a senior leadership opportunity for a commercially driven executive with deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical and healthcare ecosystem across East Africa, particularly institutional sales, government procurement, hospital networks, pharmaceutical distribution, and new product market entry.

The Role

The East Africa Commercial Director will take overall responsibility for driving commercial growth across East Africa, leading both recurring service revenues and the commercialisation of new pharmaceutical portfolios.

The successful candidate will manage the regional commercial function through Regional Commercial Leads while developing high-value opportunities across government agencies, institutional healthcare organisations, hospitals, wholesalers, distributors, insurers, donor-funded programmes, and other strategic partners.

The role will also lead major commercial negotiations, new market entry initiatives, pharmaceutical product launches, regional sales performance, pricing strategy, demand forecasting, and strategic account development.

A key mandate will be to build a scalable and high-performing regional commercial engine capable of delivering sustainable revenue growth across multiple East African markets.

Key Responsibilities

1. New Product Commercialisation & Market Expansion

• Develop and execute market-entry strategies for new SRA-vetted generic and specialised pharmaceutical portfolios across East Africa.
• Build high-value institutional and B2B pipelines across multiple commercial channels.
• Lead commercial engagement with government agencies, national medical supply organisations, public health programmes, and institutional procurement teams.
• Develop opportunities with private insurers, donor-funded health programmes, corporate healthcare networks, hospitals, teaching institutions, and large clinical facilities.
• Identify and establish strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical distributors and wholesalers to expand regional market reach.
• Develop compelling commercial value propositions around quality, affordability, availability, and healthcare cost optimisation.
• Lead the successful introduction and market penetration of new pharmaceutical products.

2. Regional Commercial Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and direction to Regional Commercial Leads and their respective sales teams.
• Own and drive achievement of quarterly and annual commercial targets across East Africa.
• Establish clear regional sales priorities, targets, KPIs, and accountability structures.
• Develop a disciplined, performance-driven commercial culture across the regional sales organisation.
• Monitor commercial performance and intervene quickly where markets, territories, products, or teams are underperforming.
• Build scalable commercial processes capable of supporting continued expansion into new East African markets.

3. Strategic Business Development & Key Accounts

• Develop and maintain senior-level relationships with C-suite hospital executives, government and ministry officials, procurement heads, distributors, insurers, key opinion leaders, and industry associations.
• Identify and convert strategic institutional and enterprise opportunities.
• Lead complex commercial negotiations and close high-value B2B and institutional contracts.
• Negotiate long-term supply agreements, strategic partnerships, and Master Service Agreements (MSAs).
• Strengthen existing strategic accounts while identifying opportunities for account expansion and increased revenue.

4. Commercial Strategy, Pricing & Forecasting

• Use CRM data, market intelligence, epidemiological insights, customer information, and trade data to forecast pharmaceutical demand across East African markets.
• Develop territory and customer segmentation strategies to prioritise the highest-potential commercial opportunities.
• Collaborate with finance and global fulfilment teams to establish competitive local pricing strategies while protecting gross margins.
• Monitor market trends, competitor activity, customer behaviour, pricing movements, and emerging commercial opportunities.
• Maintain strong visibility of regional pipelines, forecasts, conversion rates, and revenue performance.

5. Cross-Functional & Regulatory Alignment

• Work closely with Pharmacy, Quality Assurance, Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory Affairs, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations teams.
• Ensure pharmaceutical launches, imports, tenders, distribution arrangements, and commercial activities are aligned with applicable regulatory requirements.
• Support adherence to relevant frameworks including PPB, KEBS, and Good Distribution Practices (GDP).
• Ensure commercial commitments made to customers can be effectively supported by operational and supply-chain capabilities.

Key Performance Indicators

Success in this position will be measured against:

• Achievement of regional pharmaceutical product sales and service revenue targets.
• Growth in contracted institutional and hospital accounts.
• Successful government and institutional tender acquisition.
• Growth and performance of active pharmaceutical distributor accounts.
• Market penetration and adoption of newly introduced pharmaceutical portfolios.
• Strength and conversion of the regional commercial pipeline.
• Customer acquisition efficiency and long-term account value.
• Regional sales-team performance against agreed targets.
• Sustainable revenue and margin growth across East African markets.

Experience & Track Record

The ideal candidate should have:

• 10–15+ years of progressive commercial experience, preferably within pharmaceuticals, healthcare, medical distribution, or closely related sectors.
• At least 5 years in a senior commercial leadership position managing teams and markets across East Africa.
• Demonstrable experience generating significant revenue through institutional and B2B channels.
• Strong experience dealing with government procurement, institutional healthcare organisations, hospital networks, pharmaceutical distributors, and wholesalers.
• Deep understanding of pharmaceutical supply chains, trade networks, institutional procurement, and hospital formulary adoption.
• Demonstrated success introducing and commercialising new generic and/or specialised pharmaceutical portfolios.
• Proven ability to build and manage regional sales teams and hold senior commercial leaders accountable for results.
• Experience negotiating and closing complex, high-value commercial agreements.
• Strong understanding of cross-border commercial, import, distribution, and market-entry dynamics within East Africa.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Economics, Pharmacy, or another relevant discipline.
• An MBA, Master’s in Health Economics, Business Strategy, or related postgraduate qualification will be an added advantage.

Core Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Executive commercial leadership
• Regional sales strategy and execution
• Pharmaceutical commercialisation
• Institutional and government business development
• Key account management
• High-value contract negotiation
• New market entry and expansion
• Pharmaceutical distribution and channel development
• Commercial forecasting and pipeline management
• Pricing and margin management
• Strategic relationship development
• Cross-border commercial management
• Data-driven decision-making
• Team leadership and performance accountability

Who We Are Looking For

We are particularly interested in a commercial builder, not simply an account manager.

You should be comfortable entering new markets, developing commercial strategies from the ground up, opening senior-level institutional relationships, launching pharmaceutical portfolios, negotiating complex contracts, leading regional teams, and carrying direct accountability for significant revenue targets.

You should combine a strong understanding of the East African pharmaceutical ecosystem with the commercial discipline required to turn market opportunities into sustainable revenue.

If you have successfully built pharmaceutical markets, developed institutional accounts, managed distributors, launched new products, and led high-performing commercial teams across East Africa, we would be interested in hearing from you.

Application Deadline;

Interested candidates should submit their CV to Our Website by latest Friday 9th October 2026.

For any inquiries, please contact us at +254 784 155 512.

Gap Recruitment Services Limited does not charge candidates at any stage of the recruitment process. We are committed to equal opportunity hiring. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted