Process Excellence Manager

As the regional Custodians of Process Excellence (PX), your primary role will be to drive value creation across the regional process landscape, enhance productivity and overall efficiency at Hapag-Lloyd. In close collaboration with the Global Quality & Process Excellence (GQ-PEX) team, our joint objective is to foster PX by acting as navigators and setting clear guardrails for the organization. Your main focus will be to manage cross-functional PX initiatives within RME, with a special focus on Process Improvement and Offshoring & Bundling initiatives.

Reports to: Director Regional Process Excellence

• Act as the regional anchor for the PX framework and actively drive the PX mindset of region middle east (RME).

• Maintain regional ownership of project management frameworks and methodologies to drive capability building and skill development in RME.

• Manage and support cross-functional process initiatives in RME along the DMAIC cycle, in collaboration with and as the standard point of entry for the Global Process Owners and GQ-PEX, as well as the Regional Functions and other relevant stakeholders in RME:

  1. Global cross-functional improvement initiatives (specifically End-to-end process projects, Global Speedboats and Quality Promise initiatives).

  2. Regional cross-functional initiative (specifically regional process Speedboats such as TREX).

• Conduct root cause analyses and performance gap deep dives using tools such as Celonis to identify and recommend solutions for process improvement in close collaboration with the Regional Functions and the RPX Performance Manager.

• Collaborate closely with GQ-PEX and other worldwide operating RPX teams and track progress and generate transparency on ongoing initiatives and dependencies.

• Drive ideation of new cross-functional regional and global PX initiatives in close alignment with Senior Leadership .

• Identify bundling and offshoring opportunities across the regional entities (e.g., to GCC, ITSC or Academy) and coordinate with ongoing projects (specifically Strategy 2030 projects) in close collaboration with GQ-PEX.

• Prepare and present updates on PX initiatives to regional Senior Leadership, highlighting progress, challenges and opportunities.

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in business administration, Operations Management, or a related field
• Relevant experience in Operations, BA, Commercial, or Project Management, ideally with exposure to transformation or strategic initiatives
• Applied knowledge of process improvement methodologies, with practical experience in tools such as Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt is a plus)
• Strong experience with project management and expertise for project management methodology (e.g., DMAIC approach)
• Analytical skills with a good understanding of process improvement and data driven decision making utilizing relevant technology and tools (experience is advantageous, interest is a pre-requisite):
  1. Data analysis and visualization (e.g., with QlikSense)
  2. Process mining (e.g., Celonis)
  3. Workflow mapping (e.g., BPMN 2.0/ARIS)
  4. Process automation (e.g., RPA or Alteryx)
• Strong problem-solving abilities with attention to detail
• Good stakeholder management skills, working in cross-functional project settings across different organizational levels
• Experience working on multiple projects and balancing competing priorities
• Collaborative team player with cultural awareness and adaptability
• Strong communication skills with ability to synthesize information and create clear storylines with experience presenting to (senior) management
• Knowledge of the maritime industry, shipping, or terminal operations is a plus
• Fluent in English, both spoken and written
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, particularly Teams, PowerPoint and Excel
• Willingness to travel occasionally (20-30%)