Chinese Accounts Coordinator

Role Overview

This position sits at the intersection of Savannah Cement 2025 Limited’s sales operation and its Mandarin-speaking client base in Kenya. You will act as the dedicated commercial liaison for Chinese contractors, project offices, and trading counterparts, ensuring every stage of the customer relationship—from initial inquiry to post-delivery support—runs smoothly across language and cultural boundaries. Beyond translation, this role protects the company’s commercial interests by ensuring nothing is lost in interpretation during negotiations, contract discussions, and technical site conversations, while actively managing account growth and collections.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end commercial relationship for assigned Chinese-speaking accounts, serving as their first point of contact for inquiries, orders, delivery follow-ups, and issue resolution in their preferred language.
• Provide live consecutive interpretation during price negotiations, contract discussions, plant tours, site visits, technical exchanges, and dispute resolution sessions between company management and Chinese customers.
• Translate commercial and technical documents in both directions, including quotations, supply agreements, purchase orders, delivery paperwork, test certificates, product data sheets, credit applications, statements, and formal notices—ensuring each translation is complete and faithful to the original.
• Coordinate the full order lifecycle for your accounts: verify order details and commercial terms with the customer, raise and track orders with internal sales administration, monitor dispatch and delivery, and confirm receipt and documentation with the customer.
• Maintain a current account file and rolling account plan per customer, capturing project pipeline, expected monthly volumes, contractual and pricing terms, credit status, delivery preferences, and key contacts.
• Log and drive all customer complaints regarding quality, quantity, documentation, pricing, or delivery to closure, coordinating internal responses and delivering clear explanations and outcomes to the customer in Mandarin.
• Collect and report market intelligence on Chinese contractors operating in Kenya, projects at tender or award stage, competitor pricing and supply arrangements, and evolving buying patterns.
• Prepare weekly and monthly reports on segment performance—covering volumes, revenue, collections, complaints, service levels, and pipeline—and present findings at sales review meetings.
• Support prequalification and tender submissions for Chinese-funded or Chinese-executed projects, preparing and translating company profiles, certifications, quality documentation, and pricing schedules to meet customer-specific formats.
• Arrange and host customer visits to the plant or head office, including scheduling, protocol, site induction, and follow-up communication.
• Coach internal colleagues on Chinese commercial etiquette and communication norms, and prepare them ahead of significant customer engagements.
• Establish simple segment service standards for response times, order acknowledgment, complaint turnaround, and customer feedback, then track performance against those standards.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in International Business, Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field.
• Demonstrated Mandarin proficiency at HSK Level 5 or above (or equivalent), with proven ability to interpret consecutively in commercial and technical settings.
• A professional qualification in sales, customer service, credit management, or supply chain is an added advantage.
• At least five years in a client-facing translation, account management, or customer service role serving Chinese-speaking customers in a commercial environment.
• Of those five years, at least three must be in the construction industry—building materials, contracting, civil engineering, infrastructure, or a closely related sector.
• Practical end-to-end account management experience covering order processing, dispatch coordination, invoicing, and collections, ideally within an ERP environment (SAP is a plus).
• Experience working with Chinese contractors, state-owned enterprises, or trading houses operating in Kenya or the wider region is a distinct advantage.
• Full professional fluency in Mandarin Chinese and English, spoken and written, with the confidence to interpret live during negotiations without losing nuance.
• Sound commercial judgment, strong customer orientation, patience, and composure under pressure.
• Cultural fluency in both Chinese and Kenyan business practice, with high accuracy and attention to detail in contracts, pricing, quantities, and documentation.
• Strong organizational skills and follow-through, clear concise reporting to management, and high personal integrity and discretion.
• Self-starting and mobile, willing to travel to project sites and work to customer timelines when required.