Group Chief Operating Officer (Regional / Retail)

• Translate the Board and Group CEO’s strategic vision into clear business plans, operating priorities, performance objectives and actionable initiatives across the organisation.
  
  
• Work closely with Country CEOs / Business Unit Heads to develop and execute market-specific strategies while ensuring alignment with the Group’s overall objectives and direction.
  
  
• Take overall responsibility for operational execution, ensuring business units consistently deliver against revenue, profitability, productivity and other agreed financial and operational targets.
  
  
• Monitor business performance through regular reviews of key performance indicators, financial results and operational metrics, identifying areas of underperformance and driving timely corrective actions.
  
  
• Drive revenue growth by identifying new business opportunities, improving customer acquisition strategies, strengthening existing customer relationships and developing initiatives to improve customer retention and lifetime value.
  
  
• Identify operational bottlenecks, inefficiencies and structural challenges across the organisation and develop practical solutions to improve productivity, service delivery and overall business performance.
  
  
• Establish, improve and enforce robust operating processes, policies and procedures to ensure consistency, accountability and scalability across the Group.
  
  
• Work closely with functional leaders across Finance, HR, Technology, Sales, Marketing and other corporate functions to ensure effective coordination and execution of business priorities.
  
  
• Review and optimise the organisation’s systems, technology and processes to improve workflow efficiency, data visibility, automation and scalability as the business grows.
  
  
• Lead initiatives to improve cost efficiency and resource utilisation while maintaining appropriate standards of quality, customer experience and operational effectiveness.
  
  
• Establish clear accountability across the organisation by setting appropriate KPIs, performance standards and reporting mechanisms for senior management and key operational teams.
  
  
• Work with senior leadership to identify opportunities for business expansion, new markets, new business lines, partnerships and other strategic growth initiatives.
  
  
• Ensure the organisation maintains appropriate governance, risk management, compliance and internal controls across its operations and markets.
  
  
• Anticipate operational and commercial risks, develop mitigation plans and ensure critical business issues are escalated and resolved promptly.
  
  
• Build a high-performance culture by ensuring the organisation attracts, develops, retains and motivates strong leadership and operational talent.
  
  
• Partner with the Group CEO and senior leadership team on organisational design, succession planning, leadership development and other strategic people initiatives.
  
  
• Foster strong collaboration between country teams and corporate functions, ensuring knowledge, resources and best practices are effectively shared across the Group.
  
  
• Lead organisational transformation and change initiatives, ensuring new strategies, processes, systems and operating models are effectively implemented and adopted.
  
  
• Provide the Group CEO and Board with regular updates on business performance, operational challenges, key risks, strategic initiatives and recommended actions.
  
  
• Take an active role in resolving complex business and operational issues, bringing together relevant stakeholders and driving decisions through to implementation.
  
  
• Champion the Group’s values, culture and operating standards, ensuring they are embedded consistently across all markets, teams and levels of the organisation.
  
  
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve the Group’s operating model, strengthen execution capabilities and build an organisation that can scale efficiently over the long term.
  

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Management, Finance, Economics or a related discipline. MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification is an advantage.
  
  
• 12–18+ years of relevant experience in operations, general management, strategy, commercial management or business leadership.
  
  
• Proven track record in driving revenue growth, profitability, operational efficiency and business performance.
  
  
• Strong experience managing P&L, budgets, KPIs and multi-functional / multi-market operations.
  
  
• Demonstrated ability to translate Group strategy into actionable plans and drive execution across business units.
  
  
• Strong experience in process improvement, business transformation, systems optimisation and organisational scaling.
  
  
• Proven leadership experience in building, developing and managing senior teams.
  
  
• Strong commercial, analytical and problem-solving capabilities, with the ability to make data-driven business decisions.
  
  
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and leadership skills, with the ability to work closely with CEOs, Board members and senior management.
  
  
• Hands-on, commercially minded and execution-focused, with the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, growth-oriented environment.