VP, Operations Leader SSA

About the role

The Vice President, Operations Leader for Services is based in Johannesburg and is responsible for the P&L and execution of service obligations for locomotive service agreements across South Africa, Guinea, Mozambique, Angola and Liberia. It is a business with approximately $150M annual turnover.

Key responsibilities

• Achieve business financial targets, including revenue, profitability and cash collection for regional contracts
• Develop and lead the execution of the Services growth strategy for SSA
• Resolve customer issues promptly and build long-term relationships with key customers and industry stakeholders
• Lead field resource management, operations and maintenance processes, and service engineering
• Manage cost control, quality and customer communications, and implement operation safety policy in line with local EHS regulations
• Support salary planning, performance appraisals, career coaching and disciplinary actions
• Lead Lean processes and work closely with the commercial team on growth initiatives and new service offerings

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in engineering from an accredited institution
• Minimum of 5 years of P&L leadership experience
• People leadership experience across multiple countries in the SSA region
• Demonstrated experience in a matrix international organization
• Fluent English; French and Portuguese are advantageous
• South African citizenship, permanent residency or legal right to work in South Africa
• Medical fitness for frequent domestic and international travel and field work

Required skills

• Business and finance acumen
• Problem analysis and resolution, and program/project leadership
• MBA degree preferred
• Experience managing multi-year service agreements (rail industry experience is a bonus)