Job Details

Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Geographical Scope: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and other regional markets
Industry: Diversified Business Group / Logistics / Distribution / Business Services
Reporting To: Group Chief Executive Officer
Direct Reports: Country Managers, Operational Excellence Lead and Regional Shared Services Lead

About the Company

Our client is a diversified regional business group with operations across multiple East African markets. Its businesses operate in sectors such as logistics, distribution, commercial services and other operationally intensive industries.

The group has reached a stage where consistent execution, stronger performance visibility and better coordination across subsidiaries are critical to its next phase of growth.

The organisation is therefore seeking a Group Director of Business Operations to strengthen the operating model, improve performance across its businesses and ensure that group strategy translates into measurable results at country and subsidiary level.

Role Purpose

The Group Director of Business Operations will lead the design, implementation and continuous improvement of the group’s operating model across its regional businesses.

The role will establish consistent performance-management frameworks, improve operational efficiency, coordinate strategic initiatives and support country leaders in achieving their commercial and operational objectives.

The Director will work closely with the Group CEO, subsidiary managing directors, Finance, HR, Technology, Commercial and other corporate functions.

This is not a role intended to replace the authority of country managing directors. Instead, it will establish the standards, visibility, coordination and execution discipline necessary for subsidiaries to operate effectively as part of a larger group.

The successful candidate will combine strategic thinking with strong execution capability, ensuring that operational improvement is translated into sustainable financial and organisational results.

Key Responsibilities

1. Group Operating Model and Governance

• Develop and maintain a group-wide operating model aligned with the group’s corporate strategy.
• Define the roles and responsibilities of group functions, subsidiaries and country leadership teams.
• Establish common operating standards while allowing for legitimate market-specific differences.
• Review organisational structures and identify opportunities to improve accountability and decision-making.
• Establish governance frameworks for operational performance, transformation initiatives and group-wide priorities.
• Clarify escalation processes for cross-subsidiary and cross-country issues.
• Work with the CEO and subsidiary leaders to ensure that operating structures support growth and profitability.
• Monitor implementation of approved operational policies and group standards.

1. Group Performance Management

• Establish a consistent group performance-management framework.
• Develop dashboards covering financial performance, operational efficiency, service quality, productivity and strategic priorities.
• Work with Finance to ensure group reporting aligns with approved financial measures.
• Coordinate regular performance reviews with country and subsidiary leadership teams.
• Identify underperformance and work with responsible leaders to develop corrective action plans.
• Monitor execution of agreed actions and escalate unresolved issues.
• Improve the quality, timeliness and comparability of operational information across the group.
• Provide the Group CEO with clear analysis of performance trends and recommended interventions.

1. Operational Excellence and Process Improvement

• Review core business processes across subsidiaries and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Lead initiatives to reduce waste, duplication, avoidable costs and process delays.
• Establish a structured continuous-improvement programme.
• Develop common process standards for activities that can be effectively harmonised across the group.
• Identify opportunities to improve procurement, inventory management, logistics, distribution, service delivery and resource utilisation, according to each subsidiary’s business model.
• Work with operational teams to redesign inefficient workflows.
• Establish baselines and measure the financial and operational impact of improvement initiatives.
• Ensure improvements are embedded into daily operations rather than remaining isolated projects.

1. Strategic Execution and Transformation

• Translate group strategy into cross-business operational initiatives.
• Develop implementation plans, milestones, responsibilities and performance measures for major programmes.
• Coordinate initiatives involving multiple subsidiaries or corporate functions.
• Monitor programme progress, risks, dependencies and resource requirements.
• Ensure initiatives remain aligned with approved business cases and strategic priorities.
• Identify implementation barriers and work with accountable executives to resolve them.
• Establish post-implementation reviews to measure realised benefits.
• Provide regular reports on strategic execution to the Group CEO and executive leadership team.

1. Regional Coordination and Country Leadership Support

• Work with country managing directors to strengthen operating performance and execution.
• Identify opportunities for knowledge-sharing and replication of successful practices across markets.
• Coordinate cross-border initiatives where group-wide alignment creates measurable value.
• Support resolution of operational dependencies between subsidiaries.
• Ensure regional initiatives reflect differences in local market conditions and regulatory requirements.
• Facilitate structured operational reviews with country leadership teams.
• Provide support to underperforming businesses while maintaining clear accountability with their management teams.
• Strengthen coordination between group functions and local operating teams.

1. Cost Management and Resource Optimisation

• Work with Finance and subsidiary leaders to identify opportunities for sustainable cost optimisation.
• Review operating expenditure and identify areas of avoidable duplication.
• Evaluate opportunities for shared services and centralised support where commercially appropriate.
• Improve visibility of resource utilisation, productivity and operational cost drivers.
• Develop business cases for operational investments and efficiency initiatives.
• Monitor savings against approved baselines and ensure benefits are independently validated where appropriate.
• Ensure cost-reduction initiatives do not undermine safety, service quality, customer experience or necessary controls.
• Support better allocation of group resources to high-priority growth opportunities.

1. Shared Services and Functional Integration

• Assess opportunities to standardise or consolidate selected corporate and operational services.
• Work with HR, Finance, IT, Procurement and Legal to improve service delivery to subsidiaries.
• Establish service expectations and performance measures for group support functions.
• Clarify ownership of shared processes and cross-functional responsibilities.
• Improve the efficiency of internal service requests and escalation.
• Ensure centralisation decisions are supported by appropriate financial and operational analysis.
• Monitor the effectiveness of shared-service arrangements and recommend adjustments where necessary.

1. Risk, Controls and Operational Resilience

• Work with Risk, Finance, Legal and Compliance to strengthen operational control frameworks.
• Identify systemic operational risks affecting multiple subsidiaries.
• Monitor the implementation of agreed corrective actions.
• Ensure critical operating processes have appropriate continuity and contingency arrangements.
• Support management of material disruptions affecting regional operations.
• Promote consistent incident reporting and escalation.
• Ensure operational improvement initiatives incorporate appropriate risk assessments.
• Report material cross-group operational risks to executive leadership.

1. Technology and Data-Enabled Operations

• Work with Technology and Data teams to improve operational visibility and reporting.
• Identify opportunities to automate repetitive processes and improve workflow efficiency.
• Support implementation of group-wide operational systems where appropriate.
• Establish consistent definitions for key operational performance measures.
• Improve the reliability of management information used by subsidiary leaders.
• Ensure technology investments are aligned with operational requirements.
• Monitor adoption of new systems and the operational benefits achieved.

1. People, Leadership and Change Management

• Build operational capability across country and subsidiary leadership teams.
• Establish clear accountability for delivery of group-wide operational objectives.
• Coach leaders on performance management, continuous improvement and execution discipline.
• Work with HR to identify critical skills gaps and leadership-development needs.
• Support change management for major operational transformations.
• Promote collaboration, transparency and constructive challenge across the group.
• Develop succession plans for key operational leadership positions.
• Foster a culture in which business leaders take ownership of performance and improvement.

1. Executive and Board-Level Reporting

• Prepare group-level operational performance reports for the CEO and executive leadership team.
• Present analysis of performance gaps, operational risks and improvement opportunities.
• Develop evidence-based recommendations for strategic and operational decisions.
• Support preparation of Board materials relating to operational performance and transformation.
• Ensure reports distinguish between completed activities and measurable business outcomes.
• Maintain visibility of major operational commitments, risks and dependencies.
• Provide clear updates on the progress and benefits of group-wide initiatives.

4. Key Performance Indicators

Performance will be assessed against agreed group objectives, including:

• Operational performance across subsidiaries.
• Delivery of group-wide strategic initiatives.
• Cost optimisation and validated savings.
• Productivity and resource utilisation.
• Operating-margin improvement where applicable.
• Reduction in process delays and operational inefficiencies.
• Quality and timeliness of management reporting.
• Closure of agreed operational improvement actions.
• Effectiveness of shared-service arrangements.
• Cross-country initiative delivery.
• Operational risk remediation.
• Implementation of common operating standards.
• Leadership capability and accountability.
• Benefits realised from transformation programmes.

5. Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Engineering, Economics, Finance or a related field.
• MBA or postgraduate qualification in Business, Operations or Strategy is advantageous.
• At least 12 years of progressive professional experience.
• At least five years in senior operations, transformation, general management or regional leadership.
• Experience working across multiple business units, subsidiaries or countries.
• Demonstrated success improving operating performance and delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of operational KPIs, financial performance and process improvement.
• Experience managing complex, cross-functional transformation programmes.
• Ability to influence senior leaders without unnecessarily undermining their operational authority.
• Experience developing executive dashboards and management-reporting frameworks.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Experience within East African markets is highly desirable.

Experience in logistics, distribution, manufacturing, business services or other multi-site operational environments will be advantageous.

6. Leadership Competencies

• Group-level strategic thinking.
• Operational excellence.
• Financial and commercial judgement.
• Performance management.
• Change and transformation leadership.
• Cross-country stakeholder management.
• Executive influence.
• Data-driven decision-making.
• Process governance.
• Organisational development.
• Problem-solving and execution discipline.

7. First-Year Priorities

First 90 Days

• Conduct a group-wide operational diagnostic.
• Meet country managing directors and functional leaders.
• Review performance reporting, operating standards and major transformation initiatives.
• Identify the most material operational risks and performance gaps.
• Establish priorities for the first year with the Group CEO.

Months 3–6

• Introduce a consistent group performance-review framework.
• Establish common definitions for critical operational KPIs.
• Launch priority cost-optimisation and process-improvement initiatives.
• Develop action plans for underperforming operational areas.
• Assess shared-service and cross-country integration opportunities.

Months 6–12

• Demonstrate measurable improvement in selected operational KPIs.
• Establish stronger accountability for execution across subsidiaries.
• Deliver validated savings and productivity improvements.
• Improve the quality and timeliness of group operational reporting.
• Implement repeatable frameworks for cross-country initiatives.
• Present a longer-term operating-model improvement roadmap to executive leadership.

8. Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a commercially minded regional operations executive who can connect corporate strategy with execution across multiple businesses and countries.

They will have the credibility to engage with managing directors, the analytical ability to identify performance gaps and the practical leadership skills required to deliver change. They must understand the distinction between setting group-wide standards and taking over responsibilities that properly belong to subsidiary management.

The successful candidate will be measured not by the number of initiatives launched, but by the sustainable improvement in business performance, operational discipline and execution across the group.