Managing Director – Regional Business — Managed-Services Unit

The mandate

An institutionally backed managed-services unit operates across several countries that have separate commercial and delivery leadership. Sector economics have tightened, exposing duplicated capacity, inconsistent pricing and service commitments whose profitability is unclear. The board has created a Managing Director – Regional Business role to establish one owner for customers, operations and the margin recovery.

The executive will steward approximately £1,450 million in annual recurring revenue and lead about 875 employees and material partners. The remit includes regional P&L, country leadership, sales, service delivery, customers, capacity, partnerships, people and risk. The Managing Director reports to the Group Chief Executive and the board.

The region needs a common economic baseline without erasing material country differences. Revenue, contract margin, service cost, cloud and supplier consumption, labour, utilisation, credits and working capital should reconcile by customer and market. The MD will identify where local accounting or allocations conceal the decisions that created performance.

Portfolio profitability will require customer and service choices. Some contracts may support renewal and expansion after operational repair; others may need repricing, scope change or orderly exit. New commitments require an end-to-end delivery and cash case. Regional growth cannot be built on work whose margin depends on chronic overtime or unpriced expertise.

Country authority must be redesigned. Local leaders should retain decisions that require market and employee knowledge, while the region owns standards, scarce capacity, strategic accounts and cross-border trade-offs. The MD will make escalation routes explicit and prevent parallel reporting to functional sponsors from weakening line accountability.

Margin improvement must come from operating change. Location mix, automation, suppliers, spans, service standardisation and contract discipline offer value, but only if quality and customer consequence remain visible. Savings are recognised when cost leaves or productive capacity is redeployed, not when a target is assigned.

Selective expansion will follow proof. The region may grow through an existing country, a new service, a partner or a new location. Each route needs demand evidence, capacity, regulatory readiness, cash and a stop trigger. A uniformly ambitious plan across all markets would recreate the dispersion the role is intended to resolve.

Leadership consistency is essential. Country executives need clear objectives spanning growth, service, cash, people and risk. The MD will assess whether they can operate as regional leaders rather than defend local scope. Critical appointments, succession and mobility should strengthen shared capability while preserving local relationships.

Customers should experience regional scale as better service, not more hand-offs. Cross-border accounts need one commercial and operating view, supported by consistent incident, change and renewal governance. Local adaptations should be deliberate and priced. Service failures must reveal accountable causes and funded correction.

The regional cadence will reconcile operating and financial facts. Forecast changes should show customer, capacity and cash drivers. The board expects early options when a country or contract diverges, not a retrospective explanation after the quarter closes.

Why this seat is open

This newly created appointment consolidates distributed ownership and is classified as urgent. Interim governance continues, but it cannot lead the margin recovery permanently. The board aims to appoint within six to eight weeks through a confidential external search.

What you will own

• Establish comparable country, customer and service economics.
• Carry stewardship of approximately £1,450 million in annual recurring revenue.
• Make contract repair, repricing, investment and exit choices.
• Define regional and country authority across commercial and operating matters.
• Deliver margin through evidenced changes in cost, capacity and service.
• Lead approximately 875 employees and material partners.
• Gate selective expansion against demand, cash and readiness.
• Build consistent country leadership and regional succession.

The first 12 months

The initial 90 days should reconstruct the regional baseline, meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to country performance and assess leaders. Stabilise priority customer, cash and delivery risks. Agree contract, organisation and investment decision gates with the board.

Months four to nine should act on priority contracts, implement regional decision rights and remove duplicated capacity. Renegotiate suppliers, fill leadership gaps and test selected expansion cases. Initial proof may include margin improvement, released working capital, better service or exited loss-making scope.

After twelve months, portfolio profitability, leadership consistency and selective expansion should be reproducible across the region. Performance must remain within 10% of approval, with three forecasts aligning revenue, cash, customers, delivery and people. Severe country or contract exceptions need a decided intervention before 30 days elapse.

What the board will measure

• Contract and country profitability reconciled to operating causes.
• Margin gains realised without avoidable service or retention damage.
• Regional and local decisions made through explicit authority.
• Expansion capital released only after readiness gates are cleared.
• Retention exceeding 90% for essential leaders and ready cover for 70% of direct roles.
• Forecasts identifying contract, capacity and cash variance early.

The person

You are a Regional MD, Area President or multi-country General Manager with more than 28 years in technology or an adjacent services business. You have personally carried commercial results, organisation accountability and governance duties across a regional operating entity.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least £1,200 million, with leadership of 625 or more people. Evidence should show a multi-country margin or operating reset whose results held for two reporting periods.

You understand managed-service contracts, regional capacity and board governance. You can make differentiated market choices, challenge local exceptionalism and retain customer and leader confidence while consolidating authority.

Compensation and terms

Base salary is £400,000–575,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. The permanent London role is onsite, supports international relocation and is not designed as remote. Notice of up to six months may be accommodated.

Confidentiality

The enterprise, country footprint, customers and restructuring choices are protected. Identifying details will follow reciprocal interest under confidentiality; the public facts have been rounded and combined.