Customer Director at Alstom

Purpose of the job:

• Manage a customer or a portfolio of customers, and be the single point of contact (outside daily project matters) for customers.  
• Grow business with his/her customer, monitor project execution and profitability and ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.

POSITION IN THE ORGANISATION

Organisation structure:  

• Country/region (Sales department)

Reports directly to:

• Country/Cluster Managing Director

Network & Links   

Internal

• Product Platforms & Sub-systems
• Project Managers
• Sales & Tendering teams
• Business Development
• Market & Strategy (M&S) function

External

• Potential or existing customers

ACCOUNTABILITIES & AUTHORITIES

Key accountabilities:

• Act as the main point of contact for customer, and the prevalent authority on all customer issues
• Champion a customer-centric culture across the company
• Secure and regularly measure customer satisfaction
• Grow business by selling existing/new products to existing customers to maximize revenue and profits
• Contribute to negotiations during tender phase
• Contribute to the success of the project execution, in partnership with Project Manager
• Manage the Profit & Loss of the project, in partnership with Platform Director & Project Manager
• Apply ALSTOM rules on ethics and compliances in all selling & customer management activities

In Opportunity Phase:

• Identify new business opportunities with his/her customers, identify customer needs, gather customers’ key data including budgets
• Share customer information with Business Development, Sales and Tendering teams, Market & Strategy and Product Platforms
• Trigger and define the frame of Sales and Tendering teams’ intervention with the customer (or Business Development for the sale of new products/services)
• Identify customer’s decision-making process and lobby main stakeholders
• Leads the Business Opportunity Review (BOR), Go/No Go, and Tender Review Meeting (TRM)
• Agree with Platform Director and MPS on Go/No Go

In Tender Phase:

• Ensure the tender team is adequately staffed
• Participate/give input to the definition of the bid strategy
• Participate fully in the DFQ process for tenders as a permanent member of the Tender Gate Review decision-making board
• Inform Tender control of tender status, progress of blocking issues
• Contribute to the negotiation phase

During project execution phase:

• Ensure efficient hand over between tender phase & contract phase
• Give input to the Platform Director on the People Management Cycle activities for Project Managers (objectives, appraisal)
• Co-define the Project Strategy with the Platform Director
• Validate selling price
• Implement the Monthly Project Review (MPR) process and participate with Platform Director and Project Manager
• Ensure, with Contract Manager(s), that contractual/legal issues are properly handled
• Prepare financial forecast on his/her project (sales, margin, cash in, variation orders, etc)
• Prepare budget and 6QRF preparation
• Negotiate and agree any variation orders or contractual change
• Ensure timely invoicing of the customer based on contractual milestones
• Collect cash

Secure project margin and overall margin trend

• Performance measurements:   (OTD, QCD, Sales, PMC, Orders, Gross margin, etc.)
• Order Intake, Gross Margin at Order Intake, Cash Curve (shared with CD and Bid Manager)
• Tender Spend Pay Back
• Sales, Gross Margin at Completion, Cash In, Customer Satisfaction (shared with PLD and PM)
• AT market share with the customer
• Variation Orders (volume, margins)

EXPERIENCE PREREQUISITES & REQUIRED COMPETENCES

Educational Requirements

Mandatory:

• Graduate Degree in Engineering or Business field

Desirable:

• Master of Business Administration or in Engineering

Experience  

Mandatory:

• At least 10 years’ experience in rail or related business, or project engineering industry.
• High proficiency in organization’s products and services.

Desirable:

• Good knowledge and connections with Transport clients / customers in the Country/Cluster/Region

Competencies & Skills 

• Relationship Development: Build strong relationships with customers, government authorities, and internal stakeholders
• Competitive Awareness: Gain knowledge of competitors’ strengths, weaknesses and offerings, to be able to defeat competition and convince the customer of ALSTOM’s value
• Planning and Execution: Identify new opportunities and lead a winning team to maximize ALSTOM’s value in those opportunities
• Excellent problem solving, critical thinking and decision making
• Proactive and efficient responses to pressing issues and challenges
• Business Acumen
• Aptitude in communicating, public speaking and interpersonal skills
• Global & Cultural Awareness
• Relationship Management
• Resilient and able to deliver operationally in a demanding and changing environment
• Strong ability to convince, influence & persuade
• Good planning and organization skills
• International mind set with good language skills