Commercial Partnership Manager [Cross Boarder]

The Takealot Group, a prominent e-commerce player in South Africa, is seeking a strategic and dynamic Commercial Partnership Manager with a focus on cross-border operations. This exciting opportunity, based in Cape Town, is for an individual who thrives in a fast-paced, hyper-growth environment and possesses a keen intellect, creativity, and a strong work ethic. If you are driven to build something significant and are ready to embrace challenges, this role offers a market-related remuneration package designed for flexibility, a stimulating work environment, and the promise of continuous engagement.

About the Role

As a Commercial Partnership Manager for Cross-Border initiatives, you will be instrumental in expanding Takealot's reach and facilitating international sellers' entry into the South African market. Your primary focus will be on identifying, nurturing, and managing strategic partnerships with aggregator platforms and cross-border e-commerce service providers. This involves understanding the global landscape of seller enablement platforms and creating a robust pipeline of potential partners that align with Takealot's strategic objectives for seller acquisition.

Your responsibilities will extend to the intricate details of partnership agreements. You will lead commercial and contractual negotiations, delving into aspects such as referral fee structures, co-marketing commitments, data-sharing protocols, and service level agreements. Close collaboration with Takealot's legal and finance departments will be crucial to ensure all agreements are sound and effectively executed.

A significant part of your role will involve the successful onboarding and enablement of new partners. This requires developing comprehensive onboarding programmes, creating essential training materials, and equipping partners with go-to-market toolkits. The goal is to empower aggregator partner teams to effectively present the Takealot marketplace to their seller bases and facilitate seamless onboarding.

Building and maintaining strong relationships with these partners will be paramount. You will serve as the main point of contact, conducting regular business reviews (both monthly and quarterly), managing any escalations that may arise, and ensuring partners remain actively engaged and commercially motivated. This proactive relationship management is key to long-term partnership success.

Furthermore, you will work closely with partners to develop structured seller referral pipelines. This involves meticulously tracking leads from the initial referral through to seller activation and the first sale, ensuring a smooth handover to the Takealot Sales & Account Management team.

Collaboration extends to marketing efforts. You will partner with Takealot's internal marketing team and your aggregator partners to conceptualise and execute joint acquisition campaigns, host seller webinars, participate in trade shows, and develop promotional programmes specifically targeted at international seller communities. A critical aspect of your role will be ensuring that partners are fully compliant with relevant South African Revenue Service (SARS) VAT and customs regulations applicable to cross-border sellers, liaising with Takealot's compliance and finance teams to maintain up-to-date information and materials for partners. Finally, you will be responsible for defining, monitoring, and reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs) for each partner, including sellers referred, activated, and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) generated, using this data to drive continuous improvement.

What They're Looking For

To excel in this position, you will ideally hold a Bachelor's degree in Commerce, Business, International Trade, or a closely related field, with a postgraduate qualification being an advantage. You should possess a minimum of five years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, or channel sales, with a strong preference for experience within the e-commerce, fintech, payments, or cross-border trade sectors.

A proven track record in negotiating and closing complex, multi-party commercial agreements that include structured revenue or referral components is essential. Experience working with or alongside payment platforms, cross-border payment providers, or marketplace aggregators such as Payoneer, PingPong, or Airwallex would be highly beneficial.

A solid understanding of South African import regulations, particularly concerning VAT obligations for foreign sellers (including SARS eFiling and VAT registration thresholds) and customs processes, is a prerequisite. Excellent relationship management skills, with demonstrable experience in managing senior stakeholders within partner organisations, are also crucial. The role may require occasional domestic and international travel to foster and maintain partner relationships, so a willingness to travel is necessary.

This role offers a significant opportunity within South Africa's burgeoning e-commerce landscape. While specific figures vary greatly by company and individual experience, partnership management roles within large e-commerce businesses in South Africa can command competitive salaries, often supplemented by performance-based incentives. Progression might lead to more senior partnership or business development roles, or even into broader commercial leadership within the organisation.

• Bachelor's degree in Commerce, Business, International Trade, or a related field; a postgraduate qualification is advantageous.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, or channel sales roles — ideally within e-commerce, fintech, payments, or cross-border trade.
• Proven track record of negotiating and closing multi-party commercial agreements with structured revenue or referral components.
• Experience working with or alongside payment platforms, cross-border payment providers, or marketplace aggregators (e.g. Payoneer, PingPong, LianLian, World First, Airwallex, or similar).
• Understanding of South African import regulations, VAT obligations for foreign sellers (SARS eFiling, VAT registration thresholds), and customs processes.
• Excellent relationship management skills with experience managing senior stakeholders at partner organisations.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally for partner engagement.