Manager - SME Acquiring

This role builds noqodi's SME acquiring business, Business-in-a-Box, and owns its P&L. The Manager leads a team of 10–11 Sales Executives and the Outsourced Sales Partners channel to sign, onboard and grow micro and small merchants across the UAE.

The Manager also rebuilds how SME merchants are onboarded, so a signed merchant is live within days rather than weeks. They are noqodi's eyes on the SME market: they feed competitor moves, pricing and market trends back to the Manager – Acquiring Business and the Director – Commercials

Key responsibilities

1. P&L and targets

•     Own the SME acquiring P&L: merchants signed and live, TPV, revenue, cost of sale and contribution after team cost.

•     Set monthly targets by Sales Executive and by Outsourced Sales Partner, and track delivery weekly.

•     Prepare the SME budget and forecast with Finance and Business Intelligence, and explain variances.

•     Grow revenue per merchant by cross-selling the full bundle: POS, SoftPOS, online checkout, Pay by Link, business wallet, WPS payroll and cards.

2. Sales team leadership

•     Lead, coach and manage 10–11 Sales Executives: territories, daily activity, pipeline reviews and performance management.

•     Recruit and onboard new Sales Executives in line with the hiring plan, and keep the team at full productivity.

•     Build a sales playbook: target segments, prospect lists, pitch, objection handling and the conversion from noqodi's existing government-fee payers.

•     Run sales campaigns through free zones, typing centres, business centres, accountants and associations.

3. Incentive policy

•     Design the sales incentive plan for the SME team, and for Outsourced Sales Partners, with HR and Finance, for approval by the Director – Commercials.

•     Link incentives to merchants live and transacting, TPV and revenue, not only merchants signed.

•     Review the plan every year and track its cost against the revenue it drives.

4. Outsourced Sales Partners

•     Select, onboard and manage Outsourced Sales Partners: contracts, targets, commission terms and service levels.

•     Train partner staff on noqodi's products, pricing, KYB requirements and onboarding steps.

•     Track partner productivity and merchant quality monthly, and replace partners that miss targets.

5. Merchant onboarding revamp

•     Map the current SME onboarding journey end to end, from application to first transaction, and remove delays.

•     Redesign the process with Operations, Risk and Compliance and Product: simpler KYB, digital applications, e-signatures, risk-based checks and automated MID and terminal setup.

•     Set and track an onboarding turnaround target, aiming for T+2 from complete application to live merchant.

•     Make sure faster onboarding stays within noqodi's risk, scheme and regulatory requirements.

6. Merchant activation and retention

•     Make sure signed merchants start transacting quickly; track activation within 30 days of going live.

•     Monitor inactive and declining merchants, and run re-activation and retention actions.

•     Gather merchant feedback on products and service, and act on it with Product and Operations.

7. Market and competitor intelligence

•     Track competitor offers, pricing and promotions in the SME market: banks, PSPs, fintechs and POS providers.

•     Share competitor and market feedback with the Manager – Acquiring Business every month, with Business Intelligence support.

•     Recommend changes to SME pricing, products and bundles based on what the market and the sales team see.

Requirements

Education

•     Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Engineering or a related field.

•     An MBA is an advantage.

Experience

•     8–12 years in SME or merchant acquiring sales with a bank, acquirer, PSP or fintech in the UAE.

•     At least 3 years leading a field sales team of 8 or more, with a track record of meeting merchant acquisition targets.

•     Experience managing third-party or outsourced sales agents, including their commission structures.

•     Has designed or run a sales incentive plan.

•     Has improved an onboarding, sales or operations process with measurable results.

Technical and payments knowledge

•     SME acquiring products: POS, SoftPOS, payment gateway, Pay by Link and QR.

•     Merchant onboarding requirements: KYB, documentation, risk checks, MCC and MID setup.

•     SME pricing: MDR, fixed fees, bundles and terminal economics.

•     Adjacent SME services: business accounts and wallets, WPS payroll and business cards are an advantage.

•     Working knowledge of CRM and sales dashboards.

Skills

•     Strong sales leader: sets clear targets, coaches daily and holds the team to account.

•     Process thinker: sees where a journey slows down and fixes it with the teams that own it.

•     Builds strong relationships with partners, merchants and internal teams.

•     Commercial judgement: knows when a merchant and a deal make money.

•     Fluent English; Arabic is an an advantage in the UAE SME market.