VP AF & SF Customer Excellence & Digital Transformation & Innovation (IMEA)

Role Overview

Vice President AF & SF Customer Excellence & Digital Transformation & Innovation (IMEA) at Hellmann, based in the IMEA region. This is a senior leadership role accountable for delivering seamless, differentiated customer experience while driving digital transformation across Airfreight and Seafreight.

Company Overview

Hellmann is a global logistics company with approximately 14,000 employees across more than 241 locations worldwide. The company culture is built on four core values: Caring, Entrepreneurial, Forward-Thinking, and Reliable.

Role Purpose

The Vice President combines customer implementation, operational account management, and digital innovation leadership to translate strategy into measurable business and customer outcomes. Acting as a key interface between Products, IT&D, and regional stakeholders, the role ensures Customer Excellence and digital initiatives align fully with market, customer, and growth priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Excellence & Regional Leadership

• Own the end-to-end customer journey across IMEA from quote through delivery and invoice.
• Set and enforce regional service standards.
• Conduct customer site visits, Customer Excellence reviews, and escalation resolution for strategic accounts.
• Represent the IMEA customer voice to regional global product and technology teams.
• Drive measurable adoption of customer-facing digital tools including Smart Visibility, reporting dashboards, and customer portal.

Customer Implementation

• Lead the regional Customer Implementation practice with structured onboarding from commercial handover to steady-state operations.
• Own the implementation methodology spanning RFQ to Customer Performance lifecycle, EDI/API connectivity, SOP creation, Operator Training, go-live validation, and hypercare.
• Measure and continuously improve implementation speed and quality.
• Partner with Sales to compress time-to-revenue on new wins.

Operational Account Management

• Direct leadership of Operational Account Management teams across IMEA.
• Own account assignment, service tiering, QBR cadence, and exception management for the region's key accounts.
• Build the model where Operational Account Managers operate as strategic advisors proactively managing account health rather than reacting to failures.
• Track and report Operational Account Management coverage, account health scores, and operational KPIs to regional and global leadership.

Digital Enablement & Innovation

• Govern the IMEA digital product portfolio in coordination with the regional IT VP and global CIODO office.
• Prioritize and deliver the digital roadmap together with OpsEx and IT with measurable ROI.
• Drive continuous improvement across operational processes using digital tools and automation including RPA and OCR.
• Identify and deploy technology that directly improves Customer Implementation and Operational Account Management performance, including automation, AI-assisted exception detection, milestone reporting, and customer communication.

People Leadership

• Build, coach, and develop Customer Implementation specialists and Operational Account Managers across IMEA.
• Define hiring standards, capability frameworks, and development paths for both functions.

Qualifications & Experience

• 12+ years in digital transformation, technology, or Customer Excellence leadership.
• Minimum 5 years at senior level in logistics or supply chain.
• Proven track record delivering large-scale digital programs.
• Experience with freight forwarding platforms including CargoWise, Transportation Management Systems, and APIs.
• Bachelor's degree in Technology, Business, or Engineering; MBA preferred.

Additional Information

• Strong team spirit and collaborative work environment.
• Safe, multicultural, and inclusive workplace.
• Individual opportunities for growth and development.
• Hellmann is committed to inclusion and social diversity regardless of gender, age, disabilities, religion, ethnic origin, or sexual identity.