Country Manager at Hapag-Lloyd AG

This position leads the Ghana organization with the objective to optimize sales growth and contribution, also achieving operational and financial targets, creating superior value for our customers in their respective markets.

To oversee all aspects of Hapag-Lloyd operation in Ghana, while maintaining a high level of service to customers, measuring and monitoring vendor and staff performance and controlling overall operational costs.

To consciously establish a culture within the Ghana teams, that encourages customer centricity, individual development, innovation, efficiency, collaboration, and agility, achieving excellent performance, ensuring a fair, integral, compliant and sustainable behaviour and empowering his/her direct reports and all other Ghana employees so they can fully deploy their potential, nurturing an environment that triggers a continuous improvement of Hapag-Lloyd’s processes, projects and strategy.

To ensure that all Hapag-Lloyd policies and procedures as well as local applicable laws and regulations are followed.

Responsible to achieve KPI for Operations, Sales, BA and CS with special focus on operational efficiency and operational cost savings.

• Directing country sales efforts to maximize both volume and contribution levels and providing pricing policy and guidelines to assist in achieving the goals of the company
• Develop untapped markets and commodities
• Effectively manage and monitor sales performances
• Build strong customer relationships through regular visits and engagements, and excel networking to maintain a strong network of internal and external relationships
• Implementation and Management of Hapag-Lloyd organisational structure and process
• Maintain working knowledge of all governmental rules and regulations
• Provide resolution of high-level concerns
• Ensure compliance of legal/tax aspects of the processes in the area
• Ensure strict compliance of Local laws and regulations
• Ensure strict compliance of Hapag-Lloyd Guidelines & Policies
• Review and guide progress of cost saving initiatives and operational priorities
• Work closely with other area Directors on process improvement and communication flow
• Identification of additional cost saving potentials
• Keep overhead costs under control / in line with budget
• Coach and develop individual department managers and staff. Have regular performance reviews in line with company policy and management requirements
• Ascertain that the workload is balanced amongst the various disciplines within each department
• Oversee credit policy to minimize the risk of bad debt loss
• Ensure that managers and staff are maintaining department standards, measures, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for customer service, striving for consistent improvement
• Monitor and maintain close contact with shared services (GSC & QSC) to ensure customer service performance level is achieved
• Constant review of working processes and improving productivity and efficiency
• Ensure to grow the HL market position in Ghana
• Recruit, develop and retain local staff. Ensure to have the ‘right’ staff members in the right positions
  
  

Education

• University degree in Business Administration, Sales Management, Marketing or related field preferred

Experience

• 10-15 years
  
  

Specific Experience

• Several years of comprehensive experience in the liner shipping business and General Management
  
  

Success Criteria for the Position (including soft skills required to perform optimally)

• Good customer contacts/contacts with Local Authorities like customs/Terminals/ports and vendors
• Scheduled and regular customer visits and relationship management
• Regular port visits and relationship management
• Knowledge of main trade lanes, terminals, and ICDs
• Strong teamwork and interaction with Sales, Customer Service, Operations, and Business Administration departments, with a view to find synergies across departments
  
  

Management Experience And Good Organizational Skills

• Proven leadership experience, having successfully managed teams
• Exceptional ability to inspire and motivate people
• Comprehensive knowledge of user application systems (FIS, SAM, MS Office)
• Capability to fluently speak, read and write in English