Senior Named Account Executive, South Africa

This role offers a significant opportunity to drive growth within Cloudflare's enterprise client base in South Africa. As a Senior Named Account Executive, you will be instrumental in shaping and executing sales strategies, with a primary focus on both expanding existing relationships and acquiring new enterprise customers. The position demands a sophisticated blend of advanced sales expertise and a strong technical understanding, enabling you to engage effectively with stakeholders at all organisational levels, from C-suite executives to technical leadership in networking and security.

The Strategic Impact of Your Role

Your core responsibility will be the strategic generation of revenue. This involves developing and implementing detailed territory and account plans designed to not only meet but consistently surpass multi-million Rand sales targets. A significant portion of your efforts will be dedicated to securing new business and expanding Cloudflare's footprint within complex enterprise environments.

Success in this role hinges on meticulous pipeline management and forecasting. You will lead proactive initiatives, demonstrating a deep comprehension of sales cycles and customer purchasing behaviours. The ability to deliver highly accurate forecasts, coupled with strategic insights for sales leadership, will be crucial.

A profound understanding of customer IT architectures, including their applications and third-party integrations, is essential. You will be tasked with architecting and aligning Cloudflare's reference architectures to these environments, thereby driving comprehensive platform solutions. This requires orchestrating and managing multiple intricate customer engagements concurrently across various business units within an organisation. You will need to adeptly connect disparate needs, thereby strengthening Cloudflare's platform-based sales approach and actively influencing key technical decision-makers at the executive level.

Furthermore, you will lead virtual teams comprising specialists, product managers, deal desk, and legal personnel. This collaborative leadership will be vital for managing and closing complex customer opportunities. Proactively identifying and navigating challenges, addressing the needs of colleagues and customers, and escalating issues appropriately will ensure efficient delivery and drive urgency.

Driving Digital Transformation and Value

You will act as an authority on digital transformation, understanding the key drivers and market trends that influence these strategic shifts. Positioning Cloudflare as a critical enabler of these transformations will be a key aspect of your role. This requires articulating highly compelling value propositions for Cloudflare's services, directly linking them to customer business outcomes and strategic objectives. A focus on communicating the overarching "why" to both internal and external stakeholders will be paramount.

Successfully navigating and leading complex contract negotiations to achieve win-win outcomes is also a core expectation. You will demonstrate advanced closing skills across both new business acquisition and expansion opportunities. Building long-term, executive-level strategic relationships will ensure deep customer adoption, retention, and ongoing expansion.

Beyond client interactions, you will contribute to the growth of your colleagues. This involves providing clear, constructive feedback, coaching them to refine their communication, learn from their experiences, and enhance their overall work quality. Proactively sharing your learnings will foster trust across the organisation. You will also contribute significantly to the broader organisational goals by focusing on long-term team and business needs, understanding the impact of decisions on other departments, and sharing these insights. Leveraging company-wide learnings to improve departmental and team execution will be highly valued, as will bringing diverse perspectives and strategic, long-term thinking to elevate the work of others.

The ideal candidate will possess at least eight years of experience in selling complex technology solutions to enterprise accounts within South Africa, particularly in Gauteng and the Western Cape, with a proven track record of consistently exceeding multi-million Rand sales quotas. Deep expertise in cloud networking, security, and edge computing technologies is required, along with the ability to articulate features, benefits, and use cases across diverse customer segments. Exceptional strategic communication and presentation skills are a must, as are advanced negotiation abilities demonstrated by closing large, complex deals. A strong understanding of digital transformation trends and their impact on enterprises, along with the ability to position Cloudflare as a key enabler, is essential. Coaching and mentorship abilities, coupled with a self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and resilient approach to thrive in a fast-paced environment, are also key requirements. Proficiency in sales and business intelligence platforms like Salesforce and Tableau is expected.

In South Africa, senior account executive roles in the technology sector often come with competitive remuneration packages, typically including a base salary and significant commission potential tied to sales performance. Employers in this space range from multinational tech giants like Cloudflare to local enterprises and specialised IT service providers. Career progression often involves moving into sales leadership roles, managing larger territories, or specialising in specific industry verticals.

• 8+ years of advanced experience selling complex technology solutions into enterprise accounts across South Africa, particularly Gauteng and the Western Cape, with a significant track record of consistently exceeding multi-million dollar quota targets.
• Deep expertise and fluency in Cloud Networking, Security, and Edge Computing technologies, with an exceptional ability to articulate features, benefits, and use cases across diverse customer segments (e.g., SMBs, enterprise, vertical markets).
• Proven ability to deeply understand complex customer IT architectures and effectively map them to Cloudflare Reference Architectures for successful platform sales.
• Demonstrated success leading and influencing virtual cross-functional teams (e.g., Solution Engineers, Product Managers, Legal) to drive complex deals to closure.
• Exceptional strategic communication and presentation skills, with a focus on articulating the "why" and conveying the whole picture to executive leadership and technical decision-makers (C-level minus one).
• Advanced negotiation skills with a track record of closing large, complex, six-figure and multi-million dollar deals.
• Expert-level sales acumen: unparalleled proficiency in discovery, positioning, competitive selling, negotiation, closing, and expansion strategies within enterprise accounts.
• Authority on digital transformation trends and their impact on enterprise customers, with the ability to position Cloudflare as a key enabler of strategic business outcomes.
• Strong coaching and mentorship abilities, with a passion for helping colleagues grow and improve.
• Highly self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and resilient, thriving in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with a consistent focus on long-term goals.
• Proficiency in advanced sales and business intelligence platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Tableau, G-suite, MSFT suite, MEDDPICC framework application).
• Bachelor's degree required, with a technical background (e.g., engineering, computer science, MIS) highly preferred.
• Ability to travel as required to engage with key customers and internal teams.
• Language Skills: English