Head of Distribution Africa

Work Your Magic with us

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans - so do we Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe.**Co**Your Role**

**Comprehensive Supply Chain Management**: Plan, resource, develop, and implement the full supply chain strategy for the Life Science business in South, Southern, and East Africa. This includes inbound shipping, warehousing, domestic and export distribution, CMO production activities, and data management, all while considering organizational performance and local and global strategies to align business needs in both the short and long term. It also includes collaboration with other supply chain functions, notably demand planning, procurement, sourcing.

**Leadership and Direction**: Establish, guide, direct, and oversee the supply chain division to ensure alignment with overall global and local business objectives, fostering a cohesive operational framework.
**Strategic Alignment**:Align local supply chain, distribution, and quality strategies with global strategies and guidelines, ensuring that Global Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are localized and effectively implemented.

**Team Development**: Recruit, develop, and maintain a high-performance supply chain team that aligns with the organizational strategy, promoting a culture of high engagement, excellence and continuous improvement.

**Logistics and Distribution Excellence**: Ensure the development, implementation, and maintenance of optimal logistics and distribution policies and procedures. Manage supplier relationships to achieve cost-effective warehousing and distribution, negotiate local supplier contracts, and actively monitor KPIs, costs, and performance to meet service levels while driving continuous improvement for competitive advantage.

**Quality Management**: Develop, implement, and maintain quality policies and procedures for the Life Science and Performance Material divisions, ensuring compliance with ISO 9001:2008 management system standards.

**Master Data Management (MDM)**: Establish, implement, and maintain optimal MDM policies and procedures, ensuring alignment with international requirements to support efficient operational processes.

**Cost Control and Inventory Management**: Effectively manage and control all logistics, planning, production, and quality-related costs within the Life Science and Performance Material divisions. Optimize inventory levels to minimize write-offs and ensure financial efficiency.

**Education & Work Experience**:
**1**Tertiary degree in Supply Chain or a science related field /Master of Business Administration is Required

**2**Project management course is Desirable

Certificates in various courses including handling hazardous material, customs processes, permit requirements is Desirable

**1**At least 10-15 years’ experience in the supply chain or distribution environment, with a minimum of 5 years in a leadership capacity.

**2**Must have managed 3rd party service providers and suppliers for at least 8 years.

**3**Proven project management experience.

Experience in a multinational organization is preferential.

***Job Specific Competencies & Skills**

Competencies:
Purposeful (changes ways of working to add value to improve people’s lives)

Future-oriented (simplify and act with urgency in the digital world because speed matters)

Curious & Innovative (challenge our own thinking and the status quo, press for better approaches and innovative ways)

Results-driven (promotes feedback within own area by holding everybody accountable for both receiving and giving feedback, relentlessly setting high standards for ourselves)

Collaborative (encourages other experts to take the perspectives of others and confronts “silo”-thinking)

Empowering (deliver as a team, take accountability, disagree openly, decide and commit)

**Skills**:Deep understanding of the full Supply Chain processes, concepts and best practices.

Ability to develop and maintain positive employee, supplier and customers relations.

Experience in providing leadership