Senior Operations Manager, Digital Solutions at Iron Mountain South Africa

• In this role you will be responsible for operational thought leadership of the company’s business line across South Africa. This thought leadership will draw upon industry experience and management skills to lead through influence across the region’s Field Operations in pursuit of profitable growth and operational excellence. The role comes with expectations to be the expert in the region for operational delivery in terms of best practices, efficiency, quality and new capabilities. This position will also serve as conduit to broader organization’s functional units (HR, IT, FP&A, Sales, etc.) in support of the company’s Field Operations. You will participate in business line strategy setting, sales support, customer business reviews, financial planning, performance analysis and making adjustments as required and will support execution of business line strategy and assist across Developed Markets as directed.

What you will do (Key accountabilities)

• Leading the Operations Support effort in South Africa. Operations Support provides assistance to the company’s locations such as: planning assistance on large implementations, technical troubleshooting assistance, quality improvement initiatives, equipment & technology identification, root cause analysis, margin enhancement initiatives, capacity planning, continuous improvement efforts, best practice identification & communication, assist in resolving Customer escalations and temporary management assignments.
• Oversee Operational Excellence Program for South Africa. Program promotes desired behavior in delivery with respect to Quality, Efficiency and Service. Program should evolve as operations matures and needs of Customers and Market evolve. Responsibility to make sure appropriate metric and targets are in place and to be champion of program in eyes of leadership. Must be able to communicate effectively across organization and explain importance of metrics and validity of targets to a diverse group through a combination of data and experience.
• Oversee Deal Review Process to ensure proposals made to Customers are able to be executed by operations, will deliver the expected margins and fit our investment business model. Will need to work closely with field operations for alignment and approvals as well as Sales peers to ensure a reliable and transparent process.
• Assist in Sales Support and Customer communication as warranted. Will be called upon to lend Operational and Industry Expertise for large and/or complex Sales pursuits. Some travel to Customer locations, participation in complex solution design and discussions related to pricing strategy will be required. May serve as escalation point in Customer communication to explain root cause & remediation of issues.
• Assist in financial forecasting, budgeting and multi-year planning process in support of business line strategy. Must be able to identify trends and recommend actions to undertake in order to improve upon shortfalls or evolve business consistent with business line strategy.
• Manage vendors and partner relationships in support of business line strategy. For this business line, vendors are typically associated with offshoring efforts, technology & equipment provider and production supply vendors. Will participate in pricing negotiations, budgeting, choice of partners and in some cases day to day management of partner performance.
• Lead technology investment roadmap consistent with business line strategy. Identify needs in conjunction with operational in IT partners, set scope and prioritize efforts based upon available budget and business line strategy. Align investments and toolsets with capabilities required to execute multi-year business plan.
• Stay abreast of industry trends & news and challenge organization to evolve appropriately in order to offer competitive solutions that our target Customers will want to buy from us.
• Operate within agreed upon budgets for team.
• Actively support and Comply with all IT Governance, data protection and other compliance programs where appropriate.

People Leadership

• Management of in country operational leaders, direct or dotted line. May include additional resources in future.
• Oversee staff development where required, including recruitment, setting performance goals, conducting performance reviews, developing training plans.
• Provide consistent and clear feedback to team members on performance against goals and objectives.
• Identify critical roles and ensure succession plans are put in place to mitigate risk to the business.
• Identify, reward and promote high-potential candidates within established HR processes and frameworks.
• Identify strengths and weaknesses in field organization and partner with field leadership on proper handling of situations.
• Assist in recruiting desired talent through personal professional network.

Decision Making Authority and Budgetary Responsibility

• Responsible for determining tools and equipment necessary for delivery success. Can approve investments and purchases in line with corporate guidance.
• Managing to agree upon budget with authority over human resource actions within staff in conjunction with HR business partners and organization policies.
• Authority to approve departmental travel and normal SG&A expenses for team and cost center.

What you will bring

• Previous experience in the region of operational delivery in terms of best practices, efficiency, quality and new capabilities.
• Hands-on experience with BPM (mailroom,scanning,data capture services) in support of multiple Customers Industries.
• Ability to lead large and diverse operational teams and comfortable leading & interacting with technical teams.
• Ability to analyze financial statements,forecast and measure to budget.
• Broad knowledge and technical background in document management
• Must have demonstrated ability for independent decision making,supporting large customer groups,and managing highly visible projects.
• Must be able to deliver work efficiently through formal and informal channels and display broad understanding of business practices and policies
• Ability to work well in a globally matrixed organization that is fast paced with heavy competition for scarce resources.
• Must be able to manage programs assigned such that high-impact issues are identified, understood, communicated and dealt with in a manner that mitigates risk to the program.
• Virtual and remote teaming ability.
• Excellent Facilitation And Presentation Skills
• Strong customer and executive communication skills, written & verbal.
• Comfortable with financial analysis and operational metrics trend analysis.
• Project Management Methodology, LEAN Six Sigma experience and formal belt training a plus
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree a plus.