Interim Commercial Director, Collateral Services

Price the promise being sold

An early review should compare contracted service commitments with actual site practices and costs. Customers may expect custody, quality assurance, stock certification and release control while paying for a narrower service. The director must expose those mismatches and establish a consistent basis for renewals and new business.

Choose the service boundary

First, decide which customer problems the enterprise is equipped to solve. The director will segment demand by commodity, geography, transaction complexity and verification requirements, working with operations to identify services that need investment before they can be sold credibly.

Establish the price of delivery

Second, establish a pricing approach that reflects inspection frequency, reporting obligations, exception handling and liability. Discounts should have an explicit commercial rationale and approval route. The role must prevent large but operationally difficult accounts from consuming disproportionate capacity without an appropriate return.

Make the agreement executable

Third, improve conversion from proposal to executable agreement. Commercial documents should make responsibilities, information dependencies and service exclusions understandable. Legal counsel approves legal wording; operations confirms deliverability; credit decides financing-related questions. The commercial director coordinates these decisions and cannot waive their controls unilaterally.

Leadership requirements

Candidates should have led commercial activity in collateral management, commodity logistics, warehousing or related trade services. They need evidence of improving contract economics and negotiating with customers who have substantial bargaining power. Understanding physical stock controls is essential: a purely relationship-led sales background will not provide enough depth.

The role also requires management capability, including realistic pipeline reviews, coaching and resolution of disagreements between sales and operating teams. Candidates should be able to describe when they declined revenue because the promised service could not be delivered responsibly.

The handover should leave a qualified opportunity pipeline, a usable pricing framework and an account plan for material renewals. Results will be judged through sustainable margins, service clarity and the quality of business accepted, alongside revenue development. Any unresolved capacity or liability exposure must remain visible to the permanent leadership team.