SVP – Commercial Growth — Contract-Logistics Portfolio

The mandate

A contract-logistics portfolio has reached an automation decision that will shape its commercial model for years. Customer demand is strong, but opportunities differ materially in process stability, labour economics, contract duration and willingness to share investment. Past proposals have treated automation as either a sales differentiator or an engineering programme. The SVP – Commercial Growth will make it a disciplined customer-value and capital choice.

The role is based in Singapore under a hybrid arrangement and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive-committee sponsor. It spans commercial strategy, key accounts, pricing, solution design and growth governance across Singapore and the wider international operating region. The successful executive will inherit a substantial employee and partner network whose commitments must be aligned before new growth is signed.

The central question is where automation improves whole-life economics. A compelling demonstration can still fail if volumes vary, integration is fragile, customer processes remain unstable or contract terms do not recover capital. You will establish the evidence and commercial structures required to scale selectively.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement supported by an orderly incumbent handover. The board has protected sufficient time for diligence and continuity because major customers and automation commitments cannot be disrupted. Communication will follow an agreed sequence once the preferred candidate and transition plan are confirmed.

What you will own

You will segment the growth portfolio by customer problem, contract economics and automation readiness. Every priority pursuit should show demand quality, process repeatability, site constraints, implementation risk, capital need and accountable benefit. Solutions that depend on unverified throughput or continuous manual intervention must be challenged before proposal.

Commercial design needs consistent gates. You will define when the company funds automation, when customers contribute and when risk is shared through volume, duration or performance terms. Pricing should reflect implementation, change, support and exit costs, not merely steady-state labour savings. Finance and operations must sign the same assumptions.

Key-account leadership is a direct responsibility. You will engage senior customers on the operating outcomes they value, ensure decision makers understand dependencies and protect trust when evidence argues against a fashionable solution. Growth should include expansion of strong contracts and selective new logos rather than a volume race.

Solution design and delivery must operate as one system. You will clarify decision rights across commercial, engineering and site leadership, introduce a handover that preserves the value case and track realised outcomes after launch. Lessons from live sites should alter qualification, pricing and design across the portfolio.

Renewal governance should examine whether automated sites continue to earn their original assumptions after ramp-up. You will require a periodic comparison of contracted volume, actual throughput, service credits, maintenance, labour substitution and customer expansion. Where the case weakens, account leaders must act through repricing, process correction or capital restraint rather than wait for renewal negotiations.

The team requires stronger commercial capability in consultative selling, contract economics and operational technology. Assess leaders, develop successors and align incentives with contribution and retained customer value. Partners and equipment suppliers should be governed against implementation and service outcomes.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, review the automation pipeline, major accounts, signed commitments and existing site performance. Test volume, labour, capital and contract assumptions on representative cases. Meet key customers, assess commercial leaders and present a prioritised opportunity map, investment gates and urgent interventions.

Between months four and nine, progress the strongest automation cases, reset weak commercial terms and stop pursuits that cannot earn their capital. Install integrated solution governance and demonstrate an early contract or expansion whose economics remain credible under downside volume. Fill pivotal capability gaps.

At year end, the portfolio should show a repeatable link between automation, customer value and profitable growth. The next plan must reconcile pipeline, capital, implementation capacity and talent. Present a three-year scenario with explicit responses to adoption delay, customer-volume change and technology underperformance.

What the board will measure

Commercial delivery should stay within 10% of the approved value case, with likely variance surfaced early. Forecasts over three quarters must align qualified pipeline, revenue, cash, capital, implementation and workforce. A defined automation decision constraint should improve measurably from an agreed baseline.

Priority customer and implementation risks must close on time with proof that correction endures. Critical-talent retention should meet 90%, while 70% of direct reports have ready successors. No severe account escalation may drift beyond 30 days without explicit disposition.

The person

You are an SVP Commercial, growth leader or contract-logistics business executive with 22–28 years in logistics, warehousing, automation or an adjacent service environment. You have owned consequential commercial portfolios and can show how solution and contract choices changed contribution, cash and retention.

Your evidence includes automation investments approved, reshaped and rejected. You understand operating design, customer negotiation and capital governance, and can maintain confidence while challenging an attractive proposal. References should confirm sustained outcomes rather than pipeline creation alone.

Compensation and terms

The package will follow the exact indicative compensation published above and be calibrated to confirmed scope and candidate mix. The permanent Singapore appointment is hybrid and offers direct exposure to enterprise decision makers. Notice and transition will be agreed around customer continuity.

Confidentiality

The company, customers, automation pipeline and contract economics will be shared only after mutual relevance under formal confidentiality. Public circumstances are composite.