Regional Transport Manager

Function:

The Regional Transport Manager provides strategic leadership and governance for road transport across the region, ensuring the safe, reliable, compliant and cost-effective distribution of fuels, lubricants and LPG.

The role is accountable for establishing regional transport standards, driving operational and commercial performance, strengthening transport partner capability and ensuring effective management of transport risk across all operating markets.

The incumbent serves as the transport subject matter expert, providing leadership and assurance to country transport operations while driving standardization, capability development, continuous improvement and transport network optimization.

Key Responsibilities:

Transport Strategy & Operational Excellence.

• Develop and implement the regional transport strategy aligned with business growth, customer service, cost and HSSE objectives.
• Establish regional transport standards, policies, procedures and operating practices to support safe, reliable and efficient transport operations.
• Drive operational excellence across transport planning, scheduling, dispatch and customer delivery.
• Drive continuous improvement in transport safety, reliability, efficiency and cost.
• Monitor regional transport KPIs and lead improvement initiatives where required
• Provide strategic input into transport network, capacity and fleet planning
• Lead the regional transport economics framework to establish a robust and consistent approach to transport cost and rate management.
• Drive transport rate efficiency and cost optimization across the region, identifying opportunities to eliminate structural cost inefficiencies and improve cost-to-serve.
• Provide technical leadership and operational support to country transport and logistics teams.

Transporter & Commercial Management

• Establish regional standards for transporter selection, qualification and performance management.
• Accountable for the implementation of a robust Transporter Assessment and Assurance Program.
• Ensure transporters meet required HSSE, operational, technical and regulatory standards.
• Monitor transporter performance against agreed KPIs and service-level requirements.
• Support tendering, contract development and commercial negotiations with transport providers.
• Develop strategic relationships with key transport partners.

HSSE, Risk and Compliance Management

• Provide visible leadership for road transport HSSE and risk management across the region.
• Establish and assure consistent standards for journey management, driver management, fleet management and dangerous goods transportation.
• Ensure effective management of significant transport risks, incidents and business continuity requirements.
• Maintain oversight of regulatory and compliance requirements across operating markets.
• Identify and manage regional transport risks relating to road infrastructure, security, and border crossings.
• Monitor regulatory developments affecting road and dangerous goods transportation.
• Ensure appropriate compliance with country-specific and regional requirements.
• Support cross-border transport strategy and operations where applicable.

Product & Distribution Management

• Establish standards for product handling, loading, in-transit and delivery.
• Maintain oversight of product quality, loss prevention and transport-related service performance.
• Support investigations into product losses, delivery discrepancies and transport-related quality issues.
• Ensure transport capability is aligned with evolving business and customer requirements.

Transport Technology & Digitalization

• Drive adoption and effective use of Transport Management Systems, telematics and fleet tracking technologies.
• Develop transport dashboards and data-driven performance management to improve real-time visibility of fleet, journeys, deliveries and transporter performance.
• Identify opportunities for automation and digital transformation.
• Promote data-driven decision-making across transport operations.

Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead and develop transport capability across the region.
• Coach and support country transport operations teams.
• Establish appropriate regional transport competencies and succession capability.
• Build a culture of safety, accountability, operational excellence and continuous improvement in transport operations.

Stakeholder Management

Influence stakeholders to achieve alignment on transport priorities, safety, service and cost objectives.

Build strong relationships with:

• Country General Managers
• Country Operations Managers
• Supply & Logistics teams
• HSSE
• Commercial teams
• Regulatory authorities
• Industry associations

Requirements:

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, logistics, transport management, or related discipline.
• Professional certifications in HSSE and/or Transport
• A postgraduate qualification (MBA or master’s degree) is added advantage

Experience:  

• Mandatory Requirement:
  • 12–15 years of relevant professional experience, gained within Transport Operations, Transport HSSE, Contractor management or a related discipline.
  • At least 5 years of experience in a Transport-related regional, multi-country, multinational or equivalent enterprise-level role
• Experience within downstream oil & gas, fuels, LPG, lubricants or another hazardous-products environment is highly desirable
• Demonstrated hands-on experience managing transporters and third-party logistics providers.
• Proven experience managing transport costs, budgets, contracts and supplier performance
• Demonstrated hands-on experience managing Road Transport Contractor Assurance programs
• Strong experience in fleet planning, vehicle specification, journey management and road transport HSSE.
• Experience with transport technology, telematics, TMS and data-driven performance management.

Core Skills:  

• Strong computer and IT skills, including digital and technology adoption

• Budgeting and Cost control

• Contract and supplier management

• Risk management
• Negotiation and influencing
• Decision making
• Problem solving

Technical Competencies:

• Road transport and fleet management
• Journey management
• Driver management
• Vehicle management
• Road transport HSSE
• Dangerous goods transportation
• Transport economics
• Product quality and loss management
• Transport technology and analytics
• Regulatory and compliance management

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic leadership
• Safety leadership
• Strong business acumen
• Stakeholder influence - Influencing without authority
• People leadership
• Change leadership