Job Details

Location: Flexible across Sub-Saharan Africa
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer / Board of Directors
Direct Reports: Country Transformation Leads, Regional Operations Heads, Human Resources Director, PMO Lead, Shared Services Heads
Travel: Up to 40% regional travel across SSA markets
Employment Type: Full-Time | Executive Leadership

We are a leading diversified private-sector conglomerate with operations across East, Central, and Southern Africa, employing over 8,000 people across multiple subsidiaries and strategic business units.

The Group has established a strong market presence across:

• FMCG manufacturing
• food and beverage processing
• logistics and supply chain services
• transport and warehousing
• industrial packaging
• infrastructure support services
• petroleum and energy distribution
• consumer products distribution
• financial and business support services

With operations spanning 10+ countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Group continues to scale through organic growth, regional expansion, strategic acquisitions, and vertical integration.

As part of its next phase of growth, the Board and Group CEO have launched a high-impact enterprise transformation agenda aimed at improving:

• operational efficiency
• margin performance
• capital productivity
• shared services effectiveness
• digital capability
• workforce optimization
• cross-subsidiary integration
• long-term shareholder value

The Executive Director – Transformation & Resources will play a central leadership role in driving this agenda.

Role Purpose

The Executive Director – Transformation & Resources will serve as a key member of the executive leadership team, responsible for leading the design, governance, and execution of the organization’s transformation strategy across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The role will provide enterprise leadership over business transformation, resource optimization, operational excellence, organizational redesign, performance governance, and strategic execution.

The successful candidate will drive cross-functional transformation initiatives that improve productivity, strengthen institutional capability, optimize resource allocation, and deliver measurable business outcomes.

This is a high-visibility executive role requiring strong strategic leadership, exceptional execution capability, and proven experience leading complex multi-country transformation programs.

Key Responsibilities

1) Enterprise Transformation Strategy & Execution

• Develop and lead the enterprise-wide transformation vision, roadmap, and multi-year strategic implementation plan aligned with Board and CEO priorities
• Translate strategic objectives into transformation initiatives, workstreams, milestones, and measurable outcomes
• Lead end-to-end transformation programs covering:
  • operating model redesign
  • organizational restructuring
  • shared services optimization
  • digital transformation
  • business process re-engineering
  • workforce productivity improvement
  • governance modernization
• Establish transformation priorities across business units and country operations
• Lead enterprise-wide change portfolios across multiple sectors and geographies
• Oversee transformation governance forums, steering committees, and executive reporting cadence
• Ensure transformation initiatives deliver measurable value, operational efficiency, and long-term sustainability

2) Resource Strategy, Allocation & Optimization

• Lead strategic planning and optimization of financial, human, technological, and operational resources across the regional portfolio
• Design and implement enterprise resource allocation frameworks to ensure efficient deployment of capital and talent
• Drive workforce planning and organizational capacity alignment against growth objectives
• Optimize shared services models, regional hubs, and country resource structures
• Lead productivity and utilization assessments across functions and geographies
• Establish resource prioritization models to align investments with strategic business priorities
• Improve cross-functional collaboration and reduce duplication of roles, systems, and processes
• Drive cost rationalization initiatives while preserving service quality and operational effectiveness

3) Operational Excellence & Process Transformation

• Lead enterprise operational excellence agenda across all SSA markets
• Introduce best-in-class frameworks including:
  • Lean
  • Six Sigma
  • Agile transformation
  • continuous improvement methodologies
  • service optimization models
• Identify operational bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and control weaknesses
• Redesign workflows, SOPs, service delivery models, and governance structures
• Drive standardization of processes across countries and business units
• Improve turnaround times, service quality, risk controls, and compliance effectiveness
• Build a culture of performance, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Oversee business continuity, resilience, and operational risk transformation initiatives

4) Performance Management, KPIs & Governance

• Design enterprise performance frameworks to track transformation delivery and business outcomes
• Develop executive dashboards and scorecards covering:
  • transformation milestones
  • resource utilization
  • cost savings
  • productivity ratios
  • ROI
  • service delivery KPIs
  • workforce efficiency
• Establish robust performance review mechanisms across regional leadership teams
• Present performance insights and strategic recommendations to CEO and Board
• Monitor execution risks and intervention requirements
• Lead governance mechanisms to ensure accountability across transformation workstreams

5) Organizational Design & Change Leadership

• Lead organization-wide restructuring and workforce transformation initiatives
• Design future-state organizational structures aligned with business strategy
• Drive culture transformation, leadership alignment, and capability uplift initiatives
• Lead change management strategies across multiple countries and diverse teams
• Develop stakeholder engagement plans to ensure buy-in and adoption
• Drive communication strategies for major structural and systems changes
• Support leadership teams in embedding new ways of working
• Mitigate transformation resistance and ensure sustainable behavioral change

6) Financial Oversight & Value Realization

• Partner with Finance leadership to align transformation investments with financial strategy
• Develop transformation business cases and investment frameworks
• Track financial impact of transformation initiatives including:
  • cost optimization
  • margin improvement
  • efficiency gains
  • ROI realization
  • budget adherence
• Lead cost-saving and resource efficiency programs
• Ensure transformation initiatives contribute to long-term profitability and sustainability
• Present value realization reports to executive committee and Board

7) Stakeholder, Board & External Partner Engagement

• Act as executive sponsor for transformation initiatives across the region
• Engage Board members, investors, donors, regulators, and strategic partners
• Build strong relationships with country leadership teams and external advisors
• Provide executive updates on transformation progress, risks, and value creation
• Represent the organization in strategic forums and leadership engagements
• Drive alignment across internal and external stakeholders

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Transformation roadmap delivery rate
• Cost savings achieved vs target
• ROI on transformation initiatives
• Operational efficiency improvement %
• Process cycle time reduction
• Workforce productivity metrics
• Resource utilization ratio
• EBITDA / margin improvement contribution
• Employee adoption and change readiness scores
• Delivery milestones achieved on time and budget
• Cross-country standardization index
• Governance and compliance effectiveness score

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a senior transformation executive with deep experience leading enterprise change, operational restructuring, and strategic resource optimization across multi-country African markets.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Strategy, Operations, Engineering, or related field
• 12–20+ years of progressive executive leadership experience across different countries
• Proven track record in transformation, strategy, operations, or enterprise resource leadership
• Significant experience in multi-country Sub-Saharan Africa environments
• Strong exposure to complex matrix organizations
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale transformation programs
• Experience in organizational design and restructuring
• Strong financial and commercial acumen
• Experience presenting to executive committees and Boards
• Expertise in KPI frameworks and performance governance
• Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills
• Consulting background (Big 4 / Strategy firms) is highly desirable
• PMP, Lean Six Sigma, Agile, or change management certifications are an added advantage

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic and systems thinking
• Executive presence and Board engagement
• High-impact change leadership
• Financial discipline and commercial insight
• Cross-cultural leadership
• Influencing and negotiation
• Data-driven decision making
• Execution excellence
• Organizational agility
• People leadership and coaching

Compensation & Benefits

Base Salary: USD 100,000 – 180,000 per annum
Performance Bonus: Executive performance-linked incentive
Benefits: Regional medical cover, pension, travel allowance, leadership development, executive mobility support

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