Regional Head of Standardization & Ops Excellence IMEA

About the role

Maersk is looking for a Regional Head of Operations Excellence and Standardisation for the IMEA region. This is a senior regional role that shapes and embeds a consistent, measurable approach to continuous improvement across multiple facilities and product families. The leader represents IMEA in regional and global forums, turns global initiatives into locally feasible programmes, equips on-site industrial engineering teams with the right tools and skills, and delivers large-scale process improvements through standardisation and technology.

Key responsibilities

• Represent Maersk in regional and global conversations and advocate for local needs when new operations excellence initiatives are designed and approved.
• Work with area, regional and global stakeholders to adapt rollouts so they fit local facilities.
• Design and deliver tools, training and coaching for industrial engineers to carry out continuous improvement.
• Define, maintain and enforce a standard CI framework with problem statement, root-cause analysis, hypothesis testing and measurable success criteria.
• Run audits, reviews and governance checkpoints to ensure standards are applied consistently.
• Prioritise large-scale process improvements using automation, AI, robotics and digital analytics.
• Partner with local operations to implement standardised processes, work instructions and performance metrics, and lead change management and adoption.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Operations Management, Mechanical Engineering or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Proven track record of influencing regional and global stakeholders and turning strategy into operational plans.
• Strong communication skills and willingness to travel regularly across the region.

Required skills

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent; experience with Lean, Kaizen and DMAIC.
• Familiarity with automation, AI use cases and digital transformation in operations.
• Strategic thinking, analytical rigor, coaching and development, and collaboration across operations, engineering, IT, HR and procurement.