Product Manager - Connectivity, Security & Commercial Enablement

About the Role

Cogniblaze presents an opportunity to join a prominent ICT firm in South Africa as a Product Manager specializing in Pricing and Technical Pre-Sales. This role focuses on managing pricing governance, ensuring commercial consistency, and providing technical pre-sales expertise for Connectivity and Security solutions. Acting as a key liaison between Sales, Engineering, Product, and Executive teams, the Product Manager ensures proposals are competitive, profitable, and standardized while delivering strong support to customer engagements.

Core Responsibilities

• Develop and unify pricing models that cover multiple products, services, and customer engagements to create standardized commercial structures.
• Establish and uphold pricing frameworks, rate cards, discount mechanisms, and commercial guidelines.
• Evaluate customer quotes to ensure consistency, profitability, and strategic alignment.
• Generate pricing recommendations and commercial summaries for executive management approval.
• Analyze margin performance and pricing trends across business units.
• Collaborate closely with Finance and Sales to enhance pricing governance and controls.
• Assist with special pricing requests and strategic sales opportunities.
• Provide technical pre-sales support related to Connectivity, Network, Cloud, and Security solutions, including solution design and proposal preparation.
• Engage in customer discovery workshops and technical discussions.
• Review technical architectures for commercial feasibility and support responses to RFPs, RFIs, and RFQs.
• Create detailed solution documentation and technical proposals, working in partnership with Engineering to validate technical viability.
• Maintain product catalogs, pricing matrices, and solution documentation while monitoring market trends, competitor offerings, and new technologies.
• Recommend enhancements to products, pricing, and portfolio based on market insights.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with Sales, Product, Engineering, Operations, Procurement, and Finance teams to drive continuous improvement in pricing and sales enablement.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, IT, Telecommunications, Business, or related disciplines.
• Between 5 to 10 years’ experience in Product Management, Technical Pre-Sales, Solution Consulting, or Commercial Management within Telecommunications, ISP, Managed Services, Cloud, or Cybersecurity sectors.
• Deep understanding of commercial pricing models complemented by strong financial analysis skills.
• Proven ability in stakeholder management and presentation delivery.

Technical Expertise

• Hands-on experience with enterprise networking technologies including MPLS, DIA, Broadband, SD-WAN.
• Knowledge of network security solutions such as Firewalls, SASE, Zero Trust Networking, VPN.
• Cloud networking, managed network services, internet services, data center connectivity, routing, switching, and network architecture.
• Experience in managed security services is preferred.

Preferred Skills and Attributes

• Strong commercial insight with aptitude for balancing technical demands and profitability.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving proficiency.
• Capability to turn technical requirements into commercially sound proposals.
• Advanced Excel skills and expertise in pricing analysis.
• Skill in preparing business cases and executive-level commercial presentations.
• Effective communication and ability to navigate fast-paced, cross-team environments.

Performance Metrics

• Timeliness of pricing responses.
• Improvement of deal margins.
• Accuracy and compliance of pricing governance.
• Win rates on supported sales opportunities.
• Quality of technical proposals and positive customer feedback.
• Maintaining accurate product catalogs and pricing documentation.
• High satisfaction ratings from cross-functional stakeholders.

Success Profile

The ideal candidate demonstrates a blend of strong technical acumen and commercial mindset, confidently engaging customers on technical matters while ensuring proposals meet business goals and pricing standards. This individual serves as a trusted advisor to Sales and Management, driving commercial consistency, speeding up deal closures, and enhancing the firm's Connectivity and Security offerings.

Additional Information

Location: Hyderabad, India
Employer: Cogniblaze - a consultancy specializing in placing candidates across Telecom, Software Development, Networking, and ICT industries worldwide.
Eligibility: Any graduate can apply.