RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Organisation of the long term development of the business (own and network) on all activities of the country perimeter (freight forwarding, shipping, warehousing, logistics, projects…):
- Definition of development objectives
- Implementation of a business evolution monitoring system
- Support of strategic level client, suppliers and subcontractors relations
- Convey the development priorities through different operations
- Implement the conditions of competitiveness of our service offers
- Establishing close ties with international and local partners (forwarding companies, customs, port, airport)
- Maintaining particularly close relations with client’s headquarters and coordinating all communications
- Arbitrate operating priorities
- Arbitrate internal and external disputes
- Define the credit terms to offer the clients
- Provide proactive support in debt collection operations
- Validation and replies to project offer tenders
2. Dimensioning/ Structuring the organisation and mobilize the means required to reach the objectives set:
- Adapt profession organizations (staff, structure, offices, process…) to the evolutions of the environment and activities (FDC evolutions…) with support from profession managers
- Maintain an agile spirit within all profession structures (flexibility, responsiveness…)
- Check productivity of the teams and the level of profitability (actual vs expected vs standard) per profession
- Validate the recruitment needs of the professions and submit them to GM/HRM.
- Analyse the evolution of HR turnover
- Together with HRM, implement a staff take-over plan
- Identify material and immaterial investments required to achieve the objectives
- Implement the conditions of a useful and effective QHSE action
- Steer quality certifications
- Check control of profession risks by each BU Manager (Maritime Solutions, Logistics solutions)
- Validate/arbitrate IT evolutions relative to operations
- Develop and professionalize a supplier pool (contracts, quality charter…)
- Provide the elements allowing to arbitrate between internal development and subcontracted development
- Check the existence of internal and external SOPs required, and relay on the QHSE to check their proper application
3. Manage and encourage the team according to corporate goals in order to optimize their outputs and to manage relationships:
- Regularly share information and inform the team of the strategy and development of the company
- Country Manager
- Set-out, in partnership with the HR Manager, the training scheme for team managers and ensure it runs correctly
- Actively participate in recruitment processes and in the evaluation of the department’s applications in partnership with the HR Manager
- Participate in the induction of new departmental staff in partnership with the HR Manager
- Set and communicate short/medium/ long term individual and collective goals
- Recognise/sanction/ develop the employees
4. Systematically make tangible with the clients the excellence expected of our level of service provision:
- Deliver a high level quality service, better than the competition
- Convey to clients the quality of service delivered by the entity (client audit monitoring, client follow-up meetings…)
- Steer quality of service delivered by operators (indicators, sharing meetings…)
- Coordinate, validate and monitor quality of service action plans led by operational management or support
- Check quality of service delivered by the subcontractors and ensure proper application of the sops defined with them
- Obtain minimum clients complaints (satisfaction index)
Respond promptly and effectively to operational difficulties met - Facilitate quality reviews and ensure proper application of corrective actions in case of malfunction
- Guarantee continuity of operations (leave, resignation, equipment availability)
5. Control of the risks and steering of the results (profit, revenue, cash, and quality):
- Achieving financial goals and risk control objectives
- Facilitate common operations- financial meetings (result; credit; advance charge; performance reviews…)
- Control the production and evolution of financial performance and risk control indicators
- Control investment disbursements
- Identify improvements levers and monitor action plans while questioning the principles acquired if necessary
- Develop cost-killing within organizations
- Manage and minimize exposure to HSE risk
- Manage and minimize exposure to Disbursement risk
- Manage and minimize exposure to Ownership risk
- Manage and minimize exposure to Customs risk
- Manage and minimize exposure to the Inventory risk
- Manage and minimize exposure to Equipment risk (equipment unavailability, inventory management…)
- Check proper application of internal purchasing procedures
- Check that the principles of ethics and compliance are applied
- Identify operational malfunctions/ Contribute to the improvement of operational procedures
- Notify/inform management whenever necessary
REQUIREMENTS:
- Degree in Business Administration/ Finance/ Transport and Logistics preferred
- Minimum 15 years of Experience in the Freight Forwarding industry
- Minimum 10 years of Experience in a Management role
- International Working Experience required
- Working Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa strongly recommended
- Fluent in English
- Knowledge in French is preferential
- Strong skills and proficiency in MS Software