Sales Director
Sales Director
Job Description | Obscure Technologies (Pty) Ltd
Effective FY27 · Prepared July 2026
Job title
Sales Director
Reports to
Managing Director
Direct reports
Sales team — 9 quota-carrying reps and Business Unit Managers (FY27 structure)
Location
Gauteng, South Africa. Travel across the African footprint as required.
Business unit
Sales / Go-to-Market
Employment type
Permanent, full-time
Effective
FY27 — replacing the outgoing Sales Director from 1 September 2026
Role purpose
Obscure Technologies is a two-tier cybersecurity value-added distributor (VAD) operating across 26 African markets. We sell through reseller partners to end-customers; we do not sell direct. The Sales Director owns the gross-profit (GP) number for the sales organisation and is accountable for converting our vendor portfolio into profitable, partner-led growth.
This role exists to drive the FY27 team GP target through disciplined pipeline management, a high-performing sales team, and a deliberate focus on gross profit over revenue volume. The Sales Director is measured on GP delivered and on the consistency of that delivery quarter to quarter, not on headline bookings.
What is different about this role in FY27
The compensation and accountability model for this role has been redesigned. The Sales Director is accountable for:
- Gross profit, not revenue. Variable pay is earned on GP, so chasing low-margin volume does not pay.
- Consistent quarterly delivery. GP must be delivered steadily across the year, not rescued in the final quarter.
- A self-sufficient, future-ready team. Coaching, AI-tooling adoption and bench strength are explicit deliverables, not nice-to-haves.
- Portfolio mix. Protecting and growing strategic-vendor GP, with Palo Alto Networks as the priority relationship.
Key responsibilities
1. Gross-profit accountability
- Own and deliver the FY27 team GP target.
- Forecast GP accurately in Aviso and HubSpot; manage commit, upside and pipeline coverage with a defensible methodology.
- Protect margin discipline across the team — no GP left on the table through unnecessary discounting or low-value deal pursuit.
2. Pipeline and forecast management
- Run the two-tier pipeline through its seven stages: Partner Qualified, End-Customer Identified, Solution Defined, Commercial Validated, Partner Proposal Submitted, Verbal/Commit, Closed Won/Lost.
- Enforce deal hygiene — single-threaded deals, stale deals and slippage surfaced and actioned weekly.
- Own the weekly forecast cadence and the mid-month and month-end review rhythm with the MD.
3. Team leadership and development
- Lead, coach and develop the quota-carrying team using the Challenger Sale methodology (channel-adapted: Teach, Tailor, Take Control).
- Raise the floor on deal-qualification discipline across the team so deals are qualified, multi-threaded and defensibly forecast.
- Build individual development plans and a managed bench; grow future-ready sales talent.
- Drive adoption of AI tooling and modern sales workflows so the team works faster and smarter, not just harder.
- Manage performance fairly and decisively under the SA Labour Relations Act, with the MD and HR.
4. Vendor and partner relationships
- Act as the senior sales sponsor for strategic vendor relationships, with Palo Alto Networks treated as the priority.
- Protect and grow GP across the active vendor portfolio: Palo Alto Networks, Okta, Proofpoint, Tenable, Forescout, Sendmarc, Pentera, Arista, Radware, Rubrik, Netscout and Splunk.
- Partner with vendor field teams and channel partners to build joint pipeline and co-sell motions across the footprint.
5. Executive and customer engagement
- Engage and influence CISO, CIO and IT-director-level decision-makers at end-customers, alongside partner principals, as the senior commercial voice for Obscure.
- Support major partner proposals and complex end-customer engagements where director-level weight is required to advance or close.
- Work with the CTO and presales on solution positioning and competitive differentiation.
6. Go-to-market execution
- Translate company strategy into a clear, executable GTM plan for the sales team.
- Lead sales across a multi-country, multicultural African footprint — set territory focus, allocate coverage and understand route-to-market by market.
- Provide regular performance, market and competitive insight to the executive team.
Key performance indicators
Measure
FY27 standard
Team GP delivered
Deliver the FY27 team GP target in full
Consistency of delivery
GP delivered steadily quarter on quarter, not back-loaded into Q4
Forecast accuracy
Commit within agreed tolerance, quarter on quarter, in Aviso and HubSpot
Pipeline coverage
Maintained above the agreed multiple of remaining target
Team attainment
Majority of reps at or above quota; managed, developing bench
Strategic vendor GP (PAN)
Palo Alto Networks GP protected and grown versus prior year
Team capability
Measurable lift in qualification discipline and AI-tooling adoption across the team
Candidate profile
Essential
- 10+ years in technology sales, ideally cybersecurity or enterprise IT, with 5+ years leading and scaling quota-carrying teams.
- Direct accountability for a GP or margin number, with a track record of consistent attainment.
- Strong commercial acumen — understands and manages to gross profit, not just revenue.
- Experience in a channel or two-tier distribution model, or a credible, demonstrable ability to operate in one.
- Executive presence — able to engage and influence CISO / CIO / IT-director stakeholders and partner principals.
- Disciplined forecaster, fluent in CRM and revenue-intelligence tooling (HubSpot, Aviso or equivalent).
- Familiarity with a structured sales methodology — Challenger Sale exposure preferred.
- Multi-country, multicultural operating capability suited to a 26-market African footprint.
Desirable
- Existing strategic vendor relationships, particularly Palo Alto Networks.
- Demonstrated adoption of AI and modern sales tooling to lift team productivity.
- Bachelor's degree in Business, IT or a related field; an MBA is an advantage, not a requirement.