1. Role Purpose
The Social Marketing Manager is a strategic, results-driven leader responsible for the total transformation of Marie Stopes Zambia’s social marketing channel. This role is tasked with the ultimate accountability for establishing a cost-effective, scalable, and financially sustainable social marketing business. The incumbent will oversee the end-to-end commercial lifecycle, from product sourcing and registration to nationwide distribution, debt management, and demand generation. This role must balance the mission of expanding access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights with a rigorous private-sector mindset to ensure the channel generates the necessary surpluses for long-term independence.
2. Key Responsibilities
Responsibility 1: Commercial Turnaround and Financial Sustainability
- Strategic Sustainability Planning: Design, document, and execute a comprehensive three-year "Turnaround Plan" specifically aimed at making the social marketing channel financially independent of donor funding.
- Profit and Loss Accountability: Take full ownership of the department’s financial health, making certain that annual sales volumes and revenue targets for the pharmaceutical and medical device portfolio are consistently met or exceeded.
- Cost Management and Efficiency: Conduct monthly deep-dives into the department’s cost-to-income ratio, identifying and eliminating waste in the supply chain, warehousing, and marketing expenditures to maximize return on investment.
- Portfolio Diversification and Business Case Development: Lead market research efforts to identify high-potential new products. This includes drafting formal business cases for the Country Leadership Team that evaluate market size, regulatory hurdles, and projected profitability.
- Rigorous Debt and Credit Control: Establish and strictly enforce a credit management policy for all distributors and wholesalers to ensure that all sales are converted to cash within agreed timelines, eliminating the risk of bad debt.
Responsibility 2: Route-to-Market and Distribution Excellence
- National Distribution Network Overhaul: Re-evaluate the current distribution model and design a more efficient nationwide logistics system that ensures products like contraceptives and maternal health medicines are available in all ten provinces.
- Distributor Performance Management: Recruit, vet, and manage relationships with third-party wholesalers and logistics providers, implementing performance-based contracts that penalize delivery failures and reward market expansion.
- Supply Chain and Inventory Oversight: Lead the demand forecasting process to ensure accurate procurement cycles, striking a balance between preventing product stock-outs and minimizing the capital tied up in slow-moving inventory.
- Sales Force Coaching and Effectiveness: Provide hands-on leadership to the field sales team, conducting regular site visits to provide coaching on professional sales pitches, outlet mapping, and "Perfect Store" merchandising standards.
Responsibility 3: Integrated Marketing and Demand Generation
- Multi-Channel Marketing Implementation: Develop and execute annual marketing strategies that combine Below-the-Line promotions, digital engagement, and Above-the-Line media to increase brand awareness and consumer trust.
- Data-Driven Consumer Insights: Utilize research, monitoring, and evaluation data to segment the Zambian market (focusing on adolescents, rural populations, and low-income groups) and tailor marketing messages to their specific cultural contexts.
- Digital and Social Media Leadership: Oversee a dedicated social media strategy that moves beyond awareness to active customer engagement and direct-to-consumer demand generation for specific product brands.
- Pricing and Competitive Analysis: Conduct quarterly reviews of the competitive landscape, assessing the pricing and promotional activities of other pharmaceutical players to ensure Marie Stopes Zambia remains the preferred choice for consumers.
Responsibility 4: Team Leadership and Organizational Integration
- High-Performance Culture Building: Manage the sales team and implement a performance-based reward system that incentivizes high achievers while managing underperformance through structured development plans.
- Marketing and Product Visibility: Collaborate with the Marketing Officer and the Contact Centre to plan, coordinate, and execute targeted marketing and demand-generation activities that increase awareness, visibility, and uptake of MSZ social marketing products across Zambia, ensuring consistent messaging, accurate product information, and alignment with national sales and service delivery objectives..
- Cross-Functional Synergy: Work closely with the Clinical Services and Operations departments to ensure that social marketing efforts are aligned with the organization’s broader health impact goals and service delivery channels.
- External Stakeholder and Regulatory Management: Represent the social marketing channel in meetings with the Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority and other government or non-governmental partners to promote the organization’s commercial and social interests.
3. Person Specification
Qualifications
- Required: A University Degree in Marketing, Pharmacy, Business Administration, or a related commercial field.
- Preferred: A Master of Business Administration or specialized post-graduate qualification in Commercial Management or International Business.
Experience
- Minimum 7-10 years of professional experience in marketing, communications, or sales, with a significant portion spent in the private sector.
- Senior Leadership: At least 5 years of experience serving as a member of a senior management team or leading a large commercial department.
- Sector Expertise: Proven track record in the Pharmaceutical, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, or private healthcare services sector within Zambia or the wider region.
- Strategic Transformation: Demonstrable experience in leading "turnaround" projects where financial sustainability was the primary objective.
Technical Skills and Knowledge
- Advanced Financial Literacy: Expert ability to interpret financial statements, manage budgets, and calculate the profitability of complex marketing campaigns.
- Strategic Thinking: The ability to look beyond daily operations to identify long-term trends, risks, and opportunities for business growth.
- Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with the Zambian pharmaceutical regulatory environment and the legal requirements for marketing healthcare products.
- Information Technology Proficiency: High level of competence in Microsoft Excel for data analysis and PowerPoint for professional business presentations.
4. Key Performance Indicators
- Financial Sustainability Ratio: Achieving a set percentage of cost-coverage through earned income.
- Sales Target Achievement: Percentage of annual volume and value targets reached across the product portfolio.
- Market Penetration: Expansion of the distribution network into underserved geographic regions.
- Debtor Days: Maintaining an average collection period for accounts receivable within a 30 to 45-day window.
5. Core Values
- Mission Driven: With unwavering commitment, we exist to empower women and men to have children by choice, not chance.
- Client Centered: We are passionate about our clients and dedicate our efforts to delivering high-quality healthcare.
- Accountable: We take full responsibility for our actions and the financial health of the organization.
- Courageous: We recruit brave people who have the courage to push boundaries and make the tough decisions necessary for sustainability.
Note: MSI takes a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and bribery, terrorism, money laundering, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or any safeguarding issues.
Applicants will be subjected to a Police Clearance Check and Reference Checks. Applicants must ensure that their qualifications are ZAQA certified.
MSZ is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to promoting a culture of equality and diversity. MSZ will actively strive to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or beliefs.
Deadline for applications: Thursday 22nd January, 2026. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and may be required to undergo a practical assessment. Interested candidates should send their Cover Letter and updated CV to: jobs@mariestopes.org.zm
