The Regional Operations SME Manager leads a team of Regional SMEs to drive the successful implementation, adoption, and stabilization of global solutions across the region. The role ensures that global standards, operating models, and platform capabilities are effectively translated into regional execution while maintaining alignment with business priorities and operational realities.

Acting as a key partner to business leadership, Global Solution SMEs, xPOs, Platform, and Technology teams, the role provides governance, prioritization, and direction across regional transformation initiatives, SCP migrations, platform adoption, and process improvement programs.

The role is accountable for building regional SME capabilities, driving solution adoption, ensuring implementation readiness, and establishing strong feedback mechanisms that continuously represent frontline realities and improve the effectiveness of global solutions.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and develop a team of Regional SMEs to support solution adoption, operational excellence, and business transformation across the region.

• Ensure successful implementation, adoption, and stabilization of global solutions, operating models, and platform capabilities within regional operations.

• Oversee regional SCP migrations and transformation initiatives, ensuring operational readiness, stakeholder alignment, and successful business outcomes.

• Drive regional process standardization and governance by promoting adherence to global standards while appropriately addressing regional business requirements.

• Establish portfolio-level visibility of initiatives, dependencies, risks, and resource requirements to support effective prioritization and delivery.

• Partner with business leadership, customer experience teams, Global Solution SMEs, xPOs, Platform, and Technology stakeholders to align transformation priorities and execution plans.

• Lead regional adoption strategies, capability-building efforts, and change management activities to enable sustainable business transformation.

• Ensure operational insights, adoption challenges, process gaps, and improvement opportunities are systematically captured and translated into structured feedback for global solution enhancement.

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives through data-driven analysis, operational performance reviews, and structured problem-solving approaches.

• Promote knowledge management, best-practice sharing, and capability development across Regional SMEs, Super Users, and business teams.

Primary internal stakeholders:

• XPOs and Platform team/ Tech

• GSC/AREA CI

• Ops Heads and Ops managers

• GSC Regional SMEs/AREA SMEs

Primary external stakeholders:

• Customers/Shippers

• Suppliers

Required qualification, experience  & skills:

Experience

• 7+ years of experience in operations, customer experience, process excellence, business transformation, continuous improvement, or related fields, preferably within Lead Logistics or other operationally intensive environments.

• Experience leading teams and developing capabilities within process, operations, transformation.

• Proven experience leading process improvement, platform adoption, migration programs, or transformation initiatives across multiple teams or geographies.

• Experience managing cross-functional stakeholders within matrix organizations and influencing decisions.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Strategic & Systems Thinking:Ability to understand regional business priorities, identify recurring patterns across multiple teams or operations, and translate them into scalable improvement opportunities, capability plans, and transformation initiatives.

• Process & Operational Excellence Mindset:Ability to balance operational realities with standardization objectives, ensuring regional execution aligns with global process frameworks while delivering sustainable business outcomes.

• Advanced Analytical & Decision-Making Skills:Ability to leverage operational data, adoption insights, and performance trends to identify risks, prioritize actions, evaluate solution effectiveness, and drive fact-based decisions.

• Transformation Leadership & Execution Governance:Ability to oversee multiple concurrent initiatives, establish delivery priorities, manage dependencies and risks, and ensure successful implementation, migration, adoption, and stabilization outcomes across the region.

• People Leadership & Capability Development:Ability to lead, coach, and develop SME teams by building process expertise, analytical capabilities, and execution discipline while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.

• Stakeholder Management & Organizational Influence:Ability to navigate complex matrix organizations, align business, operations, platform, and technology stakeholders, and drive decisions and commitments across functions without relying solely on formal authority.

Required Business/ Technical Knowledge:

• Strong knowledge of Lead Logistics operational processes, including Supply Chain Management (SCM), Booking Service, Customer Experience, exception management, and associated operational workflows.

• Strong understanding of process management, process standardization, operating model deployment, governance frameworks, and continuous improvement methodologies.

• Knowledge of SCP capabilities, platform adoption principles, migration governance, operational readiness frameworks, and business enablement practices.

• Understanding of change management, stakeholder adoption, transformation delivery, and organizational capability development methodologies.

• Strong knowledge of operational performance management, productivity improvement methodologies, process controls, and data-driven decision-making principles.

• Working knowledge of automation, workflow solutions, AI-enabled capabilities, and their application within operational environments to support business outcomes.

• Understanding of implementation planning, deployment governance, risk management, dependency management, and solution stabilization approaches.

Key measures / Success criteria:

Specific:

• Regional platform adoption effectiveness and business value realization across SCP, HWA, and other strategic capabilities.

• Successful delivery of SCP migrations and regional transformation initiatives, measured through readiness, quality, adoption, and stabilization outcomes.

• Process standardization and compliance with global operating models, governance requirements, and business standards across the region.

• Regional SME team capability, succession readiness, and overall effectiveness in supporting business transformation and operational adoption.

• Continuous improvement impact, including process simplification, operational efficiency improvements, reduction of process variation, and sustainable business outcomes.

Shared:

• Customer satisfaction (e.g. KCXi & NPS)

• Productivity

• Business growth