BRETT THOMAS
Cape Town
Summary
Senior commercial and general management executive with 20+ years of leadership experience across RecTech, Recruitment, BPO, SaaS, AI-enabled platforms, and technology services. Proven builder and scaler of people-led, recurring revenue businesses, with deep expertise in revenue ownership, go-to-market execution, sales leadership, partner ecosystems, and delivery-aligned growth. Extensive experience operating in founder-led, PE-backed, and venture-aligned environments, owning P&L up to $45M ARR, stabilising revenue engines, improving retention, and scaling commercial operations across EMEA, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. Execution-focused, low-ego leader who operates close to customers and frontline teams, resolves revenue friction early, and builds durable, scalable commercial engines.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Managing Director (EMEA)
QSXL Connect (Remote)
London
08.2022 - Current
- Co-founder and operating Managing Director responsible for building and scaling QSXL's partner and franchise commercial model across EMEA.
- Designed and owned the end-to-end commercial operating model, including GTM strategy, partner economics, pricing, onboarding, enablement, and performance management.
- Personally sold and onboarded initial partners, clients and franchises, validating the commercial model prior to scale.
- Held full P&L ownership, including revenue growth, cost control, partner profitability, and long-term scalability.
- Built a repeatable, people-led, services-based recurring revenue model aligned to an AI-enabled platform for recruitment delivery.
- Acted as the commercial bridge between partners, clients, and product teams, feeding market intelligence into platform evolution.
- Led sales execution, partner enablement, and commercial governance across multiple geographies (U.S., U.K., S.A., N.L.).
Chief Sales & Marketing Officer (Contract)
Apex BI (Remote)
Durban
10.2020 - 03.2022
- Stabilised and scaled revenue across EMEA, Africa, and opened up new international markets.
- Designed and executed a multi-year go-to-market strategy spanning direct sales, partners, and services-led revenue.
- Transitioned the business from informal sales motions to a structured partner and channel model.
- Aligned sales, marketing, and delivery teams to reduce friction and improve forecast reliability.
- Built sales discipline, pipeline governance, and CRM-led execution using Microsoft Dynamics 365.
- Mentored and coached commercial leaders and frontline sellers to raise execution quality and consistency.
Managing Partner (EMEA)
QSXL
Cape Town
11.2015 - 10.2020
- Co-founded and scaled the EMEA region from startup to a self-sustaining, multi-country operation.
- Led all sales, business development, and commercial strategy across three countries.
- Built direct, channel, and services-led revenue streams with strong unit economics.
- Owned financial management, including budgeting, forecasting, and commercial planning.
- Played a hands-on role in enterprise sales, strategic accounts, and key partnerships.
- Drove a SaaS-led strategy alongside services to support scalable growth.
Managing Director (MEA)
Unison
Johannesburg
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Held full regional P&L ownership with accountability to shareholders.
- Rebuilt the leadership team and introduced commercial and operational discipline.
- Led change management initiatives to stabilise revenue and improve retention.
- Drove sales and market expansion while aligning delivery capability to growth.
- Led the development of SaaS-enabled billing and reporting products.
Education
Marketing & Management - Incomplete
Institute of Marketing & Management
High School Diploma -
Glenwood High School
DurbanSkills
- Revenue Leadership
- P&L Ownership
- Go-To-Market Strategy
- Sales Leadership
- Coaching
- Enterprise Sales
- Mid-Market Sales
- Recurring Revenue Models
- Retention Models
- Partner Models
- Channel Models
- Franchise Models
- Sales-to-Delivery Alignment
- Forecasting
- Pricing
- Commercial Discipline
- Founder Engagement
- Board-Level Engagement
- CRM Systems
- Revenue Systems
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
Locations
- Remote
- London, UK (Citizen)
- Cape Town, SA (Citizen)
Timeline
Managing Director (EMEA)
QSXL Connect (Remote)
08.2022 - Current
Chief Sales & Marketing Officer (Contract)
Apex BI (Remote)
10.2020 - 03.2022
Managing Partner (EMEA)
QSXL
11.2015 - 10.2020
Managing Director (MEA)
Unison
01.2009 - 01.2012
Marketing & Management - Incomplete
Institute of Marketing & Management
High School Diploma -
Glenwood High School