Branch Manager

_**PURPOSE OF POSITION**_

To verse all finance, accounting, forecasting, budgeting, treasury, tax and corporate insurance functions. This role directs all financial activities and advised and assists CEO in meeting or exceeding the overall financial and strategic objectives of the company.

**PRINCIPLE ACCOUNTABILITIES**
- **Staff Leadership**:

- Optimize individual employee performance through effective leadership, coaching, development and training, motivating and supporting staff
- Manage the change process with your Business units
- Monitor and optimize utilization and performance of all resources
- Create ideas to streamline processes and ensure increased efficiencies and effectiveness
- Create solutions to resolve staff / resource problems
- Ensure that the team’s Job Descriptions and performance KPI’s are in place and managed
- Create a strong team spirit amongst the team
- Encourage and develop multi skilled staff
- Remunerate staff according to the market norm, job description and their performance
- Performance manage staff where need be
- **Operational Management**:

- Ensure the effective running and co-ordination of the Operational Functions within the Branch.
- Continuously review the operational and process guidelines (ISO 9001:2000)
- Co-ordinate the ISO audit process in your respective Branch
- Ensure operational effectiveness, efficiency and quality control
- Develop and maintain best practices to timeously inform customers of their cargo status
- Ensure full adherence to the prescribed policies and procedures within the business units
- Identify potential risk areas and implement mitigation strategies
- Make sound commercial business decisions, within given mandates.
- Ensure an effective and efficient Insurance Claims process is in place within the Branch
- Manage asset utilisation within the Branch to industry standards
- Using the business systems, set up reports and tools in which you can see performance, bottle necks and inefficiencies, put action plans in place to resolve these
- Gain a full understanding of the operational system
- Ensure that the Customs entry team are appraised or new Customs initiatives, tariff changes and add value to the client
- Initiate Customs Consultancy opportunities where possible
- **Financial Management**:

- Manage the Profit and Loss of the Branch
- Investigate and implement ways in which to reduce costs and increase margins
- Prepare the Branch and Business Units budgets
- Present budgets to management
- Approve expenses as per the limits of authority
- Manage the margins of clients and implement ways in which to optimise the margins within the branch
- Ensure bottom line growth of the Branch year on year, through cost management and revenue recognition
- Minimise the company risk through client exposure and Customs exposure
- Manage the Customs deferment cut off
- Ensure timeous resolution of outstanding debtor queries, foreign debtors queries, creditor reconciliation queries and foreign account queries.
- **REQUIREMENTS**_

**Knowledge & Experience**
- Matric or Senior Certification equivalent
- An appropriate tertiary qualification (Degree or National Diploma). Additional qualifications in the field of supply chain management, freight forwarding, or operations management would be preferable
- 10 years’ experience within the Logistics and Supply Chain Industry - Customs Clearing knowledge is preferable.
- Experience in leading managers and multi skilled teams
- Experience in leading change management initiatives is preferable
- Superior communication skills, both written and verbal
- Computer Literate with good Excel, Outlook and Word skills

**Skills**
- Leadership skills with the enthusiasm to develop the team members
- Strong focus on continuous improvement
- Commitment in developing of staff
- Ability to problem solve
- Client centric focus
- The ability to handle conflict resolution
- The ability to work with little supervision, to use initiative (self-starter skills) and sound judgement is essential
- A logical, analytical approach to problem solving and decision making
- High energy levels and the passion to succeed
- Level headed, flexible and the ability to adapt to a changing environment/ situation
- The ability to achieve results by working with people

**Attributes**
- **Managing conflict**:Dealing effectively with others to reduce tension or conflict
- **Planning & organising**:Establishing courses of action to ensure that work is completed efficiently
- **Contributing to team success**:Actively participating as a member of a team to move the team towards completing a goal
- **Customer focus**:Develop and sustain productive internal & external customer relationships
- **Tenacity**:Staying with a position or plan of action until the desired objective is obtained
- **Communication**:Setting up ongoing procedures to collect and review information needed to manage activities
- **Managing work**:Effectively managing one’s time an