Country Manager at Control Union

The Managing Director (MD) is responsible for providing strategic, operational, financial, and leadership oversight for the country entity. The MD ensures alignment with regional and global strategies, drives commercial growth, manages risk and compliance, and fosters a culture of excellence, accountability, and sustainability across the organization.

Key Focus and Responsibilities

Regional Strategy

• Adapt and implement regional strategies within the company aligned with local execution needs and goals, ensuring alignment with global objectives.
• Establish and track KPIs for the country entity in alignment with subregional and regional targets.
• Coordinate the implementation and enhancement of PCU Group services at local level, ensuring alignment with regional standards.
• Collect, monitor and report country sustainability performance and support clients in ESG initiatives as guided by regional directives.

Operational

• Ensure service delivery in country meets quality, timeliness and efficiency KPIs aligned with regional expectations.
• Allocate and manage national resources to support efficient service delivery.
• Implement standardized processes locally and encourage a culture of continuous improvement.
• Identifies and communicates applicable local laws and support local ICT systems and project execution.
• Champion digital tool adoption to improve national operations and client experience.

Commercial

• Lead business development efforts and key account relationships in the country aligned with regional strategy.
• Prepare and support tenders and bids at national level, contributing to regional proposals when required.
• Maintain country-level client and authority relationships and coordinate with region for multinational engagement.
• Ensure compliance with procedures in the selection of local subcontractors and suppliers and review of performance.
• Implement pricing strategies and monitor margins at national level.

Risk & Compliance

• Ensure local compliance with all relevant standards, policies, regulations and PCU Management System
• Maintain required accreditations and certifications for local services.
• Lead or support country-level risk assessments and manage incident investigation processes.
• Assumes local accountability for risk management. Develops mitigation plans.
• Ensures audit follow-up. Supports internal audits.
• Oversees HSEQ system/policies implementation, maintenance and training.
• Conducts annual management review and ensures proper execution.

Financial

• Own P&L for the national entity and ensure financial performance against targets.
• Prepare and manage national budgets, forecasts, and local risk controls.
• Apply standardized financial practices and monitor performance and reporting deadline locally.
• Initiate and seek approval for investments and cost controls at the country level.
• Oversees local tax affairs and ensures compliance with PCU Tax Policy.
• Entity tax compliance checklist; local authority filing confirmations; risk assessment on tax exposure and documentation.

Human Resources

• Build and maintain high-performance leadership teams at the national level.
• Foster integrity, engagement and performance excellence across country operations.
• Promote national talent development, diversity and skills-building programs.
• Conduct capacity planning to ensure workforce availability and suitability.
• Align staffing plans and personnel budget with country financial targets.
• Ensure national organization structure supports business strategy and manage necessary changes.
• Implements HR principles locally across the employee lifecycle.

Cross-functional / Global

• Coordinate communication and implementation of global/regional directives at national level.
• Lead country-level execution of global and regional programs.
• Represent national interests in regional discussions; support global forums as delegated.

Qualifications & Experience

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business/Operations/Agriculture or related field; postgraduate qualification advantageous.
• Working knowledge of accreditation and compliance requirements inspection/certification/ logistics.

Experience

• 8–12+ years in operations or general management, including 3–5+ years at senior level with P&L ownership.
• Demonstrated delivery of KPIs (quality, timeliness, efficiency) and client satisfaction improvement.
• Hands-on experience with audits, incident investigations and corrective actions.
• Experience building and leading cross-functional teams; capacity and workforce planning.