EVP – Supply Chain — Insurance Distribution Network

The mandate

A listed insurance distribution network is migrating sales and service from dispersed branches towards digital and partner channels. The move has revealed an overlooked supply chain: devices, document services, secure fulfilment, repair capacity, call-centre technology and field support depend on a small group of suppliers with unstable lead times. Local teams compensate with excess stock and urgent purchases, obscuring cash and continuity risk.

The new EVP – Supply Chain will steward an AED 3,850 million asset and investment perimeter and lead approximately 500 employees and material partners. Scope includes demand planning, procurement, inventory, fulfilment, supplier quality, resilience and the service-partner network supporting insurance distribution. The role carries enterprise authority across markets and functions, with outcomes expected in cash, customer service and controlled risk.

The event is a channel migration, not a manufacturing transformation. Demand signals must reflect branch closures, partner launches, device deployment and policy-service volumes. The appointee will decide which items and services require dual sources, where buffers are justified and when standardisation creates more resilience than additional inventory.

Supplier diversification must be real. Two contractual entities sharing one facility or subcontractor do not constitute dual sourcing. The executive must map lower tiers, test switching and ensure commercial terms support data, continuity and exit rights.

Inventory policy will require category-specific judgement. Security devices with long certification lead times may justify carefully sized buffers; generic equipment should not. Repair loops, recovered assets and field stock must appear in the same record so purchasing is not triggered while usable inventory sits unseen elsewhere.

Scenario planning should cover port disruption, technology failure, supplier insolvency and accelerated channel rollout. Each exercise must produce a funded action, a named owner and a retest date.

The remit also includes service capacity bought from partners. Call-centre seats, document processing and field support have demand curves and failure modes just as physical items do. Contracts must distinguish paid availability from proven throughput and define how capacity moves when the channel plan changes faster than the supplier’s staffing model.

Why this seat is open

The board created this role for the next operating model; no incumbent is being replaced. A planned four-to-six-month search allows the appointee to join before the next capital and talent cycle. Confidentiality protects sourcing and organisation choices.

What you will own

• Build demand planning tied to channel events, customer volume and rollout schedules.
• Map concentrated suppliers, shared dependencies and unstable lead-time exposure.
• Define buffers, dual-source requirements and tested switching for critical categories.
• Improve inventory accuracy, ageing, deployment, repair and recovery economics.
• Govern sourcing, contracts, supplier quality, continuity and responsible exit.
• Steward AED 3,850 million of assets, investment and board forecasts.
• Lead 500 employees and partners with clear operational decision rights.
• Create one review connecting supply, cash, customer, technology and risk outcomes.

The first 12 months

In the opening 90 days, baseline demand, inventory, lead times, supplier concentration and service failure. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to exposure, including channel leaders, technology, operations and key vendors. Trace critical categories below tier one, assess leadership and stabilise any imminent shortage. Agree board gates for sourcing, buffers and channel rollout.

Months four to nine should qualify alternatives, renegotiate critical terms and run switching tests. Align inventory and deployment with the migration schedule, fill leadership gaps and produce the first measurable cash, capacity or customer benefit. Do not count a paper secondary source until operational readiness is demonstrated.

By year end, supply assurance, inventory productivity and dual-source readiness should improve repeatably. The value case must land within 10% of baseline, with forecasts reconciling cash, customer, operating and people assumptions for three quarters. Priority issues must close on time and no severe escalation may remain unresolved for longer than 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Service continuity and lead-time reliability for critical channel dependencies.
• Inventory availability, accuracy, ageing and cash released without added failures.
• Tested dual-source readiness and concentration below contractual tier one.
• Supplier quality, continuity exercises and exit feasibility.
• Keep nine in ten business-critical people and create ready-now succession for seven in ten direct-report positions.
• Quantified improvement in the migration constraint, supported by clean data ownership.

The person

You are an EVP Supply Chain, Chief Procurement Officer or Operations Leader with 18–22 years in financial services or an adjacent complex service network. You have exercised enterprise authority across functions and markets, with measurable cash, customer or risk outcomes.

You have owned at least AED 2,250 million of P&L, budget, book or accountable portfolio and led no fewer than 500 people. Your record includes concentrated-supplier intervention and unstable lead-time recovery sustained for two reporting periods. Experience may come from another sector if regulated service continuity and partner complexity are comparable.

You understand that cheap supply can be expensive after inventory, failure and switching constraints are included. You can negotiate firmly while retaining the partners needed during migration.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is AED 1.3–1.8 million plus annual incentive. This permanent Dubai appointment is onsite, supports international relocation and can accommodate notice of up to six months. Final terms reflect confirmed scope.

Confidentiality

Client identity, footprint and supplier history will be shared only under mutual confidentiality. Composite facts must not be reverse-engineered or circulated.