Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL) is the leading manufacturer and distributor of wines and spirits in Kenya, Eastern and Central Africa region. The Local DDE Project Manager (Product Owner) is responsible for leading the full deployment of the Distributor Data Exchange (DDE) solution in Kenya and for owning the product operationally after go-live. The role ensures that KWAL distributors adopt the DMS/ERP and Field App solutions, comply with agreed data standards, and generate reliable, high-quality data that drives Numeric Distribution growth, improved forecasting, distributor capability uplift, and stronger commercial performance. The role is explicitly accountable for ensuring a user-centric and distributor-centric solution, driving high adoption across distributor back-office teams and field sales users. The Local DDE Product Owner acts as the in-market face of the product, ensuring that distributor and field feedback continuously informs improvements to the solution and ways of working.
Key Responsibilities
Phase 1: Deployment
Deployment Planning & Coordination: Lead Kenya’s DDE rollout plan, aligning scope, timelines, and readiness across KWAL, distributors, and regional teams. Coordinate closely with implementation partners on configuration, testing, and deployment activities. Ensure alignment with the regional DDE framework, standards, and deployment sequencing.
Distributor Onboarding & Training: Assess distributor readiness and ensure foundational operating elements are in place (territories, segmentation, roles, basic processes). Lead distributor onboarding activities and manage expectations around new ways of working. Deliver training for distributor back-office teams and sales reps on DMS/ERP and Field App usage.
System Setup, Testing & Go Live: Support functional configuration, data preparation, and user acceptance testing across selected distributors. Validate that system setups reflect Kenya’s commercial rules and distributor operating models. Lead distributor go-live execution and ensure a smooth transition into daily operational use. Manage the hyper-care period to stabilize the system, data flows, and user adoption.
Phase 2: Post Go-Live (Daily Operations)
Data Quality & Daily Operations: Monitor daily distributor data flows, including sales out, stock, coverage, routes, and transactions. Troubleshoot and resolve issues related to data completeness, accuracy, and timeliness. Ensure system configurations and master data remain current and fit for purpose.
System Ownership & User Support: Act as the Kenya DDE “super user” and primary in-market functional owner. Provide ongoing support and refresher training to distributor teams and KWAL stakeholders. Coordinate fixes, minor enhancements, and issue resolution with vendor and D&T teams.
Dashboard Validation & Insight Adoption: Validate dashboards and reports to ensure data accuracy and consistency. Partner with Sales, RTC, Supply Chain, and Finance teams to operationalize DDE data in decision-making.
KPI Tracking & Value Realisation: Track key indicators such as Numeric Distribution growth, transaction capture, stock visibility, and distributor capability uplift. Identify performance gaps and work with distributors and internal teams to drive corrective actions.
Stakeholder Engagement: Maintain strong working relationships with KWAL leadership, distributor owners, and cross-functional teams. Act as the single point of contact for all Kenya DDE matters. Provide regular performance and progress updates to local and regional stakeholders.
Continuous Improvement: Own structured feedback loops with distributors and internal users to identify usability gaps and enhancement needs. Translate recurring issues and improvement opportunities into clear enhancement requests and user stories for the regional/global DDE backlog.
Requirements
Qualification: BA/BSc/HND degree.
Experience: 3–5 years’ experience in Commercial, Route to Market / RTC, Sales Operations, or Distributor Management.
Technical Skills: Experience working with ERP, DMS, or SFA systems preferred.
Industry Knowledge: Strong understanding of distributor operations and sales execution models.
Analytical Skills: Strong analytical skills and comfort working with operational data.
System Translation: Ability to translate business needs into practical system usage.
Communication: Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should apply online via the Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL) careers portal on the Heineken company website.
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