Senior Director GSBS EMEA Operations

Location: This is a hybrid role, offering a combination of being able to work remotely and from our UK offices – there will be some travel involved across our European business.

The Opportunity

The Senior Director Global Shared Business Services EMEA Operations role provides leadership and operational oversight for the overall management of the EMEA shared services function.

Key focus areas include strengthening business performance, embedding operational excellence, driving process consistency, and enhancing consistent, high quality, end-to-end service delivery across Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger and Customer Operations across the EMEA region. 

The Senior Director will implement and embed the regional GSBS service and operating model and will be accountable for integration and transition of existing service centres into GSBS in line with the regional strategy. The Senior Director will lead and drive improvement initiatives across the GSBS services.

What You Will Be Doing

Key People Management Activities

• Day-to-day management of the GSBS operations service teams specific to EMEA.
• Lead team to implement and apply the global GSBS vision in EMEA.
• Lead the development of GSBS capabilities required to deliver year-on-year efficiencies and excellent customer service (including Finance).
• Manage multiple Stakeholders across the EMEA region including the EMEA President and the wider leadership team.
• Work in collaboration with VP CoE Business Development teams.

Core Key Activities:

• Develop and manage the regional GSBS strategy and business plan, liaising with other regional GSBS teams, ensuring that operational plans are in place to deliver agreed targets for EMEA.
• Responsible for GSBS decision-making and effective resourcing to ensure timely and adequate delivery.
• Deploy and assign team members to specific activity areas as required.
• Ensure that resource plans and infrastructure support the EMEA strategic goals and business objectives.
• Lead enhancements/improvements of the services offered by GSBS EMEA through the Global Process Ownership concept driving global process design.
• Manage and monitor EMEAs GSBS budget.
• Provide overall leadership and direction to the GSBS organisation, ensuring that business plans are communicated, and targets achieved.
• Manage governance relationships, ensuring that GSBS fully supports overall business objectives and complies with all internal/external regulatory requirements.
• Ensure that customer and key stakeholder relationships are proactively managed to meet GSBS strategy, objectives and targets.
• Lead the negotiation of service transition to GSBS EMEA in-line with the agreed scope and plans.
• Manage and oversee transition of existing services into GSBS EMEA.
• Deliver improvements and efficiencies in GSBS EMEA.
• Collaborate with Functions on Global Transformation programs.

How I make a difference in this role

• Display strong operational skills to manage the teams to deliver the agreed services to the EMEA business.
• Drive performance improvement across the GSBS EMEA service catalogue.
• Provide visible leadership to the GSBS Heads of and the wider organisation.
• Strategic thinker, who can easily define long-term plans and convert into action.
• Define and promote the desired GSBS culture.
• Increase CoE competencies and ensure that GSBS team members have sufficient opportunity for development.
• Build trusted relationships with senior customers and stakeholders (markets, employees, functions, corporate & hubs) and ensure evolution of GSBS EMEA is aligned with business needs.

What You’ll Bring

Essential

• Bachelor level degree and/or equivalent relevant vocational experience.
• Robust knowledge of finance and accounting life cycle and processes.
• Experience of setting up and scaling shared business services organisations in multiple locations.
• Demonstrable experience in transformation projects in business operations.
• Proven record of standardising and optimising business processes and systems.
• Experience in project management and process improvement.
• Proven experience managing mixed function teams to deliver excellent results.
• A global thinker with experience of working in and with stakeholders across multiple geographies.
• Understanding of technology and automation in improving business performance.
• Change agent who influences stakeholders to drive the best results for the region and the group.
• Deep understanding of key performance metrics, such as quality and outcomes.

Desirable

• MBA or advanced business degree.
• Robust knowledge of some or all of Customer Services, Order Entry, HR, and Data/Analytics life cycle and processes.
• Excellent understanding of the critical success factors for GBS as a reliable, effective and efficient business service provider.
• Experience of offshoring and outsourcing.

We Are RS

We’ve been solving industry problems for over 80 years. We turn the ‘what ifs’ into the ‘why nots’, the impossible into the possible.

Our purpose? Making amazing happen for a better world.

We offer service and product solutions to over 1.2 million customers globally, shipping a parcel every 2 seconds to over 130 countries. With over 800,000 stocked and 3 million unstocked products, we’re a trusted partner to the world’s leading industries.

We’re looking for curious, driven, and empathetic professionals to join our journey. People who think differently, act with purpose, and want to make a real impact. 

Rewards

Our Reward Strategy Philosophy is designed to offer market competitive base salaries and provide all of our people the opportunity to participate in a short-term incentive, enabling them to share in the success of the Company.

Our total reward package is more than just the cash; our recognition and benefit offering provide the opportunity for us to recognise, reward and enable the wellbeing of our people at all stages of their journey with RS. Our rewards and benefits vary by country, but include:

• Financial - pension/retirement; life assurance; salary finance (payroll deduction loan scheme)
• Wellbeing - medical plans; health screening; critical illness; disability insurance; holiday / paid time off; employee assistance programme; discounted gym/health club membership
• Lifestyle - transportation assistance schemes (e.g., cycle to work, travel loans, car leasing); onsite catering/lunch vouchers; retail discounts
• Spotlight – our global recognition programme provides a platform to highlight and recognise people role modelling our values

  ---

Ready to Make Amazing Happen?

Join c. 9,000 colleagues and help us shape the future of our industry. Whoever you are, wherever you are — it all starts here.

Apply now and make RS a part of your journey.

#LI-JC1