Entity:

Customers & Products

Job Family Group:

Business Support Group

Job Description:

About the opportunity

bp is looking for a commercially strong, customer-focused Key Account Manager OEM/FWS to join our team in Johannesburg.

This is a strategic role for someone who knows how to grow complex customer relationships, spot new business opportunities, and turn account plans into measurable commercial results. You will manage a portfolio of key accounts across Africa, working closely with internal teams and senior customer stakeholders to deliver sustainable growth, strengthen market presence, and protect long-term value.

You will be joining a business that values safety, ethics, performance, and innovation — and a team where strong relationships, smart thinking, and disciplined execution truly matter.

Job purpose

The Key Account Manager OEM/FWS Africa is responsible for managing and growing a portfolio of strategic customers, ensuring that each account has a clear commercial plan, strong stakeholder engagement, and consistent delivery against business objectives.

The role requires a balance of strategic account leadership and day-to-day commercial execution. You will lead customer planning, drive new business development, support forecasting and performance reviews, and ensure that all activity is aligned with bp’s HSSE, ethical, product quality, and brand standards.

This is a high-impact role for someone who can operate confidently across markets, influence multiple stakeholders, and translate customer needs into practical commercial action.

What you will be accountable for

• Build and lead robust account plans for key customers, ensuring they align with business priorities, customer expectations, and market opportunities.
• Develop trusted, long-term relationships with customer stakeholders and position bp as a valued commercial partner.
• Identify, shape, and convert growth opportunities across the OEM/FWS portfolio, with a strong focus on acquisition, retention, and share growth.
• Contribute to and execute the regional prospecting strategy, including market mapping, opportunity prioritisation, and tender or offer coordination.
• Lead regular reviews of customer performance, opportunities, risks, and lost or gained business, ensuring clear visibility through the S&OP process.
• Deliver accurate monthly forecasts for key accounts, including base volumes, incremental growth opportunities, new products, and account movement.
• Monitor in-month performance and proactively respond to risks, commercial gaps, or changes in customer demand.
• Work cross-functionally with marketing, supply, operations, finance, and other internal teams to ensure successful execution of customer plans.
• Ensure customers operate in line with bp requirements across HSSE, product quality, ethics, compliance, and brand standards.
• Use Salesforce and other available digital tools to manage pipelines, customer activity, reporting, and performance tracking in a disciplined and consistent way.
• Support a culture of continuous improvement, customer focus, and commercial excellence.

Why this role matters

This role sits at the centre of customer growth and commercial delivery. Success will depend on your ability to influence, prioritise, and execute in a fast-moving environment where strong account leadership directly impacts business performance.

You will not only manage existing relationships — you will help shape how bp grows within this space across the region.

What we are looking for

We are looking for a candidate with strong commercial instincts, excellent relationship-building skills, and the ability to manage strategic accounts with discipline and energy.

Experience

• Proven experience in key account management, customer management, or channel management
• Strong track record of delivering commercial growth through customer plans and business development activity
• Experience working across functions and navigating complex stakeholder environments
• Confidence managing customer negotiations, offers, and commercial discussions
• Experience with forecasting, pipeline management, and performance reporting
• Exposure to technical, industrial, automotive, lubricants, OEM, or related B2B environments would be highly beneficial

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Commercial Management, or a related field

Skills and capabilities

• Strategic account planning
• Commercial acumen
• Customer relationship management
• Business development and prospecting
• Negotiation and deal closure
• Contract awareness and commercial discipline
• Forecasting and performance analysis
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Stakeholder management
• Digital fluency, including CRM and reporting tools
• Strong communication and influencing skills

What success looks like

In this role, success means building strong customer partnerships, delivering against account growth plans, identifying opportunities ahead of the market, and maintaining high standards of execution and compliance across your portfolio.

You will be someone who combines relationship strength with commercial focus — able to see the big picture while also driving disciplined follow-through.

Why join bp

At bp, you will be part of a global organisation going through meaningful transformation, where commercial talent, customer insight, and innovation play an important role in shaping the future.

This is an opportunity to join a respected brand, work with strategic customers across Africa, and take ownership of a role where your impact will be visible.

Travel Requirement

No travel is expected with this role

Relocation Assistance:

This role is not eligible for relocation

Remote Type:

This position is a hybrid of office/remote working

Skills:

Agility core practices, Agility core practices, Business Acumen, Business Analysis, Category spend profiling, Channel marketing activation, Coaching, Commercial performance, Consultative selling skills, customer and competitor understanding, Customer Profitability, Customer Segmentation, Customer Value Proposition, Dialogue enablement, Digital Fluency, Internal alignment, Listening, Managing strategic partnerships, market, Negotiating value, Offer and product knowledge, Operational pricing, Partner relationship management, Pricing Management, Prospecting and pipeline management {+ 2 more}

Legal Disclaimer:

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics like race, religion, color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability status. Individuals with an accessibility need may request an adjustment/accommodation related to bp’s recruiting process (e.g., accessing the job application, completing required assessments, participating in telephone screenings or interviews, etc.). If you would like to request an adjustment/accommodation related to the recruitment process, please contact us.

If you are selected for a position and depending upon your role, your employment may be contingent upon adherence to local policy. This may include pre-placement drug screening, medical review of physical fitness for the role, and background checks.