Manager – Retail Business Excellence needed at Astron Energy Ltd.

Job Description

Business Excellence & Retail Strategy: Provide input into the overall Astron Energy strategy and collaborate with the Strategy, Sustainability and Operational Excellence team on the broader Astron Energy strategic ambitions process.

• Develop for Retail both the tactical and key strategic initiatives to optimize existing business and identify new growth opportunities. Be actively involved in the Retail business planning cycle and support to enable retail deliver approved strategic initiative goals.           

PMO / Project Leadership: manage high value complex projects across multiple functional disciplines / interfaces, cognisant of senior stakeholder management and involvement with high visibility at Exco GM & Glencore Group level.

• Establish strong partnerships with key Retail and Enterprise-wide (EBM, Org Effectiveness etc.) project managers. Leverage retail, marketing, operations, network, engineering, finance, and other cross functional resources for a sustained on-time and within budget programme execution.

Organisational Change Management: Retail change champion working collaboratively with the Astron Energy corporate team to enhance & improve Retail business culture through delivering results with integrity, transparency, and collaborative management.

• Manage the post Retail restructuring and key projects related organizational change management process and effectively lead the competence assessment, knowledge management and best practices sharing of learnings across the business for continues team high performance.

Business Improvement Process (BIP): manage Business Improvement within Retail and with Astron Energy Enterprise cross functional teams as well as end-to-end business process mapping.

• Own the process of functional mapping, planning, and optimizing the movement of fuel marketing, deregulation, and strategic initiatives across the value chain with focus on business improvement, efficiency, reliability, and profitability, coordinating sales and marketing. 

Accountable for the end-to-end P&L and the value chain activities required to deliver it cross-functionally

Financial Perspective

• Manage capex & opex to deliver key retail strategic initiatives on time, within cost and in line with strategic business goals.
• Responsible for delivering the Retail strategic initiatives by adhering to the Astron Energy project delivery process (PDP) with standard performance reports to steerco members.
• Monitor and benchmark market trends including competitor activity, regulatory changes, industry trends and new business opportunities to deliver the Retail Business P&L.
• Develop and support with the consistent application of economic analysis for the preparation and submission of business cases.
• Develop and support with Pricing strategies for the various product channels and Retail business units.
• Provide price, supply and market updates as required on current market dynamics and/or competitor behaviours that may affect volume, product purchases, distribution and/or profitability.
• Manage the transfer pricing system for all products between business units and across countries.

Customer Perspective

• Facilitate analysis, identification, and prioritization of key strategic markets in collaboration with Corporate Affairs, E2E fuel supply chain, Finance and other cross functional teams.
• Assess market trends, customer behaviour and competitors.
• Conduct research and analysis of fuel regulation, policies, and external market forces.
• Keep abreast of retail industry and socio-economic conditions as they relate to the retail business and asses their impact on Retail’s game plan
• Organize periodic stakeholder workshops and programme development sessions for internal and external stakeholders to inform them of retail trends and the retail business strategic priorities.
• Ensure that all policies and procedures for governance are adhered to and that appropriate internal controls are in place for management and reporting compliance

Business Excellence

• Manage the Retail functional mapping exercise to set priorities and develop a structured onboarding process, systems, and documents data base.
• In collaboration with Astron Energy Strategy team, manage the development of Retail strategic initiatives from concept to execution including the Astron Energy deregulation strategic opportunities.
• Align departmental goals, processes, and resource allocation with the long-term retail business strategy whilst managing operational compliance with terms and conditions to include the creation and management of SLA’s and KPIs
• Prepare and implement annual work plans, including strategic or innovative initiatives, covering but not limited to mergers & acquisition, E2E fuel supply chain etc. with set delivery and financing targets.
• Report monthly on programme implementation status, including annual monitoring reporting, financial reporting, audit, and update of the relevant PDP database.
• Undertake monitoring and evaluation of the retail strategic initiatives.

People Management

• Develop High Performing teams within Retail with the ability to deliver on a broad range of business priorities.
• Build and nurture strong advisory relationships with key internal and external senior stakeholders including influencing executives and shareholders.
• Collaborate with HR to drive the retail business team functional competence assessment and team capacity building process to deliver goals.
• Influence people from diverse backgrounds, embed new ways of working and help shape the ‘ONE’ Retail culture.
• Set annual performance parameters and learning objectives, assess performance and provide feedback to business.
• Document programme lessons learnt and best practices and facilitate their dissemination and incorporation into the business.
• Support capacity building and networking of retail and cross functional teams to facilitate knowledge exchange and promote collaboration.
• Work closely with PMs to ensure projects fit with the overall retail strategic programme and the broad Astron Energy strategic initiatives
• Support and guide senior executive decision-making processes

Professional Qualification and Certifications:

• A master’s degree in business administration, project management, marketing, social sciences, or other relevant related fields.
• Programme / Project Management Professional certification (PMI PMP, PRINCE2 or similar) is desirable.

Work Experience:

• 15+ years of cumulative experience in project and change management including managing diverse portfolios.
• 12-15yrs Retail industry experience of Fuels & Convenience retailing in SA or similar developing market
• Demonstrated knowledge & experience in managing Business Improvement Process and cross functional teams with mastery level understanding of end-to-end process mapping – Ideally six sigma trained professional.
• Hands on knowledge & experience in dealing or leading Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) related business acquisitions opportunities.
• Demonstrated knowledge of end-to-end Fuels Industry supply chain including terminals/depots operations.
• Track record in leading and developing cross functional business teams across multiple locations and in different geographical areas.
• Strategic and managerial leadership preferably in the Oil industry with a good understanding of the South Africa market is desirable.
• Entrepreneurial or startup experience is a plus.

Competencies:

• Strong business, commercial and financial acumen
• Managing complexity and change with mastery level in managing high value complex projects across multiple functional disciplines.
• Managing upwards with Exco members and shareholder stakeholders.
• Deep knowledge and understanding of the fuel industry and customer insights.
• Results driven, takes initiative to act on opportunities by maximizing available resources for positive business commercial impact.
• Develops and implements sustainable business strategies, thinking long term and externally to positively grow the Retail organisation
• Agile, open to change, flexible in a fast-paced environment and effectively adapting his/her approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements.
• Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs, and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles and contributing to the overall business team spirit.
• Excellent teamwork, stakeholder management and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent analytical, writing, and communication skills
• Strong negotiation, conflict resolution and problem-solving skills. 
• Builds and maintains strong internal and external relationships