Position Summary
The Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) is responsible for defining and executing the East Africa Cluster's commercial growth strategy in alignment with the CMA CGM Group's overall strategy. The role drives profitable market share growth, customer centricity, commercial excellence, digital adoption, cross-selling, strategic partnerships and business diversification across all countries within the Cluster.
The CCO will lead the commercial transformation of the organization through data-driven decision making, customer-focused solutions, advanced account management practices and the deployment of innovative logistics and shipping offerings. The position plays a critical role in delivering the Group's growth ambitions through volume expansion, increased customer loyalty, enhanced profitability and strengthened competitive positioning across the East Africa region.
- Geographical scope: Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda.
- Duty station: Nairobi, Kenya.
- Travel requirement: Regular travel is required.
- Reporting line: Reports functionally to the Chief Commercial Officer - Africa Region and administratively to the Cluster Managing Director.
Key Responsibilities
Commercial Growth & Market Leadership
- Develop and execute a multi-year commercial roadmap aligned with the Group growth ambitions and Africa Region priorities.
- Deliver sustainable market share growth across all trades, customer segments and countries within the East Africa Cluster.
- Drive profitable volume growth through strategic customer acquisition, account penetration and contract optimisation.
- Lead the identification and development of emerging trade opportunities, logistics corridors and industry verticals.
- Establish strategic partnerships capable of accelerating growth, improving capacity utilisation and strengthening network competitiveness.
- Drive expansion into inland logistics, multimodal solutions and integrated supply chain offerings.
Customer Centricity
- Champion a customer-centric culture across commercial teams with measurable improvements in customer satisfaction and retention.
- Lead executive engagement with key strategic customers and industry stakeholders.
Digital Transformation and Commercial Excellence
- Utilize commercial analytics, business intelligence and market data to drive sales effectiveness and forecasting accuracy.
- Sponsor the implementation and adoption of the Group's commercial tools, dashboards and reporting platforms.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement through process simplification, automation and elimination of non-value-adding activities.
Cross-Selling & Group Synergies
- Maximise cross-selling opportunities across CMA CGM, CEVA Logistics and other Group solutions.
- Develop strategy to drive adoption of value-added services (VAS), TBL and integrated logistics solutions to increase customer share of wallet.
- Establish commercial plans that leverage the Group's end-to-end logistics capabilities to differentiate CMA CGM from competitors.
- Develop strategic account plans focused on multi-product penetration and long-term customer partnerships.
Performance Management & Accountability
- Develop and monitor commercial KPIs through Group dashboards and performance management tools.
- Conduct structured periodic business reviews covering revenue, margin, market share, customer performance and growth opportunities.
- Lead corrective action plans when commercial performance deviates from targets.
- Foster a high-performance culture driven by accountability, results orientation and continuous learning.
Strategic Leadership Responsibilities
- Provide inspirational leadership to commercial teams across the East Africa Cluster, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation and high performance.
- Contribute to the Cluster's overall business strategy, transformation initiatives and long-term growth agenda.
- Drive talent identification, succession planning and capability development initiatives to ensure business continuity and future leadership readiness.
- Promote change management initiatives and support the implementation of Group strategic projects.
- Foster a culture of innovation, agility, collaboration and continuous improvement.
- Lead workforce planning initiatives to ensure optimal organizational structures, skills and resources are in place to support future business growth.
- Champion employee engagement initiatives and foster an inclusive work environment where individuals are empowered to contribute and grow.
- Monitor and improve commercial team productivity, effectiveness and capability through regular assessments, feedback and targeted development actions.
Requirements and Qualifications
- Minimum 10 years of progressive commercial leadership experience within shipping, logistics, supply chain, transportation or related industries.
- At least 5 years in a senior regional leadership position with responsibility for multiple countries or business units.
- Knowledge of the shipping industry will be an added advantage.
- Proven track record of delivering transformational growth programmes, market share expansion and commercial turnaround initiatives.
- Demonstrated success in customer-centric strategy implementation and digital commercial transformation.
- Demonstrated experience in preparation of annual budgets and forecasts for future lifting volumes.
- Excellent analytical, presentation, follow up, decision-making, problem-solving, team-building, interpersonal, negotiation, conflict-management and time-management skills.
- Excellent communication (verbal and written) skills to technical and non-technical audiences of various levels in the organization; ability to explain technical features to non-technical audiences and vice-versa.
- Resourceful and proactive in gathering information and sharing ideas.
- Ability to work in an international environment including travelling abroad on assignments.
- Cultural awareness, sensitivity to culture and customs.
