Chief Talent and Capability Officer — Fleet-Operations Network

The mandate

A European fleet operator is concentrating vehicles, maintenance and control capability in stronger urban clusters. Critical technicians and dispatch leaders sit in locations being reduced, while priority depots rely on contractors and overtime. Employees do not yet know which skills can move, which work will disappear or how selection decisions will be made. The Chief Talent and Capability Officer will create a credible bridge between portfolio strategy and workforce execution.

The remit spans approximately 725 employees and material partners across the Netherlands and the wider operating region. It includes strategic workforce planning, talent acquisition, capability academies, succession, internal mobility and leadership assessment. Employee relations and reward have established owners, with whom this executive must work closely. The role is not authorised to announce restructuring independently; it owns the evidence, processes and capability build that make agreed changes fair and executable.

Fleet operations need specific combinations of technical certification, local knowledge, language, shift availability and incident judgement. A headcount spreadsheet cannot show whether those combinations will exist after city exits. The appointee must map work and competence at role level, preserve apprenticeship pipelines and use external hiring only where mobility and development cannot close the gap.

Knowledge transfer needs to be planned before departure dates are agreed. Withdrawing depots hold informal understanding of vehicle histories, recurring route defects and partner capability that is rarely captured in learning systems. The officer will pair transfer with documented practice, supervised shifts and receiving-manager sign-off, ensuring redeployment moves usable knowledge rather than merely changing an employee's cost centre.

Why this seat is open

The workforce consequence of city rationalisation was greater and faster than anticipated, creating an urgent unplanned need for dedicated capability leadership. Existing HR teams are absorbed by consultation and employee support. The new officer will take an enterprise view while those responsibilities continue, with immediate access to the executive sponsor.

What you will own

• Translate the retained city and fleet plan into demand for technicians, dispatchers, depot leaders, planners and specialist safety capability.
• Create a verified skills inventory based on assessment and certification, not manager confidence alone.
• Design transparent selection, redeployment and relocation routes with employee-relations, works-council and legal input.
• Build conversion programmes for adjacent skills, including electric-vehicle maintenance and data-led fleet planning.
• Protect apprenticeships and early-career pipelines from short-term reductions that create later dependence on contractors.
• Establish succession and readiness standards for depot and regional leadership roles.
• Reconfigure talent acquisition around priority clusters, realistic shift conditions and quality of hire after six months.
• Govern strategic labour partners by competence, safety and retention rather than filled requisitions.

The first 12 months

Within 60 days, map work and skills across every affected city, validate critical roles through field observation and identify people whose capability can transfer. By day 90, provide relocation, reskilling and external-hiring scenarios with cost, timing and consultation dependencies. Communicate process before individual outcomes and ensure managers cannot make informal promises outside it.

By month six, launch priority conversion cohorts, complete leadership assessments and fill urgent retained-city gaps through internal moves where possible. Provide affected employees with documented options and decision dates. Establish workforce reviews that compare operating demand with productive competence, not budgeted positions.

At twelve months, fill 70% of priority roles through internal movement or development, achieve 85% completion and certification in conversion programmes, and reduce contractor dependency in retained depots by 20%. Critical-role vacancy time should fall by 30%; regretted attrition among designated mobile talent should stay below 8%; and every depot leadership role should have an assessed successor or documented external plan.

What the board will measure

• Operational capability present when and where the retained city portfolio needs it.
• Fairness and uptake of redeployment, relocation and reskilling routes.
• Certification and observed competence, not learning attendance alone.
• Sustainable contractor, apprenticeship and external recruitment mix.
• Succession depth in depot and regional leadership.
• Employee trust in process through clear timing, criteria and manager conduct.

The person

You have 22–28 years in talent, workforce planning or capability leadership within fleet, transport, engineering services, industrial operations or another location-bound network. You have redistributed work after site closure or portfolio concentration and understand works-council, consultation and privacy constraints in Europe.

Your experience includes at least 500 employees and partners and complex technical or operational job families. You can show which workers moved, completed reskilling and remained productive after a year. The assessment will test how you handled employees unable to relocate, whether selection criteria survived challenge and how you protected future pipelines during cost pressure.

This hybrid Amsterdam role entails travel to retained and withdrawing cities and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor.

Compensation and terms

The base range is €240,000–320,000 plus annual incentive, assessed against workforce readiness, internal movement, competence, succession and fair implementation. This permanent hybrid appointment is centred in Amsterdam with regional travel and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor. Availability will be balanced with proper notice and consultation obligations.

Confidentiality

The employer, cities, workforce groups and consultation plans are confidential. Detailed organisation data follows mutual suitability, conflict review and a written undertaking. Locations and numbers are deliberately approximate; applicants must not canvass works councils, unions, depots or industry contacts to identify the business.