Head Of Road Freight-Kenya

Job Title: Industrial Project Product Manager

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced leader to drive growth and excellence in our Industrial Project (IP) product line. You will be responsible for managing customer relationships, strategic product development, and operational performance across the country. This role combines commercial acumen with deep logistics expertise to deliver profitable results and innovative solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Management

• Identify and develop sustainable customer relationships
• Respond to customer enquiries and complaints
• Lead engagements with key account contacts and strategic customer interfaces
• Provide leadership in product and business development, resource utilisation, and Country organization
• Support and coordinate development, implementation, and localisation of key initiatives
• Develop effective pricing strategies to sustain profitable growth
• Coordinate with departments to deliver quality service to Industrial Project customers
• Achieve Industrial Project customer business targets
• Develop sales motivation initiatives to maintain high performance toward annual targets
• Manage costs and cost structures, driving improvement measures
• Ensure development and maintenance of customer database for targeting and segmentation
• Share product knowledge and provide internal support to subordinates
• Facilitate relationships with trade bodies and government agencies
• Establish KPIs and gain agreement from Country management
• Provide guidelines for implementing security regulations and compliance programs
• Handle carrier contact/negotiation (RFR) per corporate policy and local requirements

Stakeholder Management

• Oversee the transport portal (Saloodo)
• Manage carrier contracts, relationships, and performance
• Interact with commercial teams on pricing at country level
• Define, implement, monitor, and enforce service/quality standards with product management
• Own EBIT results at country/country group level

Process Management

• Define, monitor, and enforce targets for operational units
• Select and assign key positions to achieve targets
• Analyse costs and cost structure of production; derive improvement measures
• Drive continuous improvement and optimisation of production means (make or buy)
• Define and implement ISO standards in line with corporate instructions
• Oversee operational management, production sites, traffic management, technical support, local purchasing for RFR
• Propose IT needs
• Ensure preferred carrier adherence
• Manage operational KPIs

People Management

• Determine organisation structure, roles, responsibilities, and performance targets
• Develop a culture of quality, service excellence, flexibility, and cost consciousness
• Foster team spirit and multitasking capabilities
• Plan, organise, and direct an efficient and effective function
• Develop KPIs with team members and monitor individual performance
• Conduct performance appraisals including coaching
• Allocate resources and commit staff to Global, Regional, and Country objectives
• Identify training needs to develop a highly skilled department

Industrial Project (IP) Product

• Manage and steer IP product teams in the country
• Manage all country IP P&Ls
• Develop and maintain strong customer relations and loyalty
• Drive business development for IP in alignment with Sales organization
• Join customer meetings/sales visits to present company capabilities
• Collect market profiling, customer/competitor research to identify opportunities
• Integrate IP into overall country/regional BD efforts and solution design
• Represent all non-AFR/OFR products in country management; act as go-to person for other IP country organisations
• Replicate successful business ideas from other countries/regions
• Develop IP and innovation community; incubate new ideas like niche businesses
• Manage local implementation of global and regional product launches
• Serve as contact for IP-related business cases

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree in Business Management or a related field
• Minimum 10 years in the Logistics Industry
• Minimum 5 years in Product Management / Value Added Services
• Experience in a management role
• In-depth knowledge of the logistics industry, especially Road Freight and forwarding business
• Proven success in a senior management role with experience selling to major global customers
• Commercial ability and customer-centric x-product solution design experience

Skills & Competencies

• Innovative mindset and ability to implement new ideas
• Strategic thinking skills
• Excellent country and regional geographical knowledge for cross-border routings
• Commercial astuteness and strong business acumen
• Presentation, facilitation, and training skills
• Market intelligence
• Outstanding negotiation and interpersonal skills
• Project and people management skills
• Strong customer-facing and interaction skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong leadership skills
• Systematic problem-solving ability