VP, Operations Americas

About the role

Responsible for leading strategic operations for a Critical Power, engineer-to-order business, ensuring safe, predictable and profitable delivery of complex, customer-specific electrical infrastructure solutions for data center and mission-critical environments.

Responsibilities

• Drive accountability for all results related to operations, including safety, quality, delivery, cost, cash, customer commitments, project margin and operational performance across complex engineered programmes.
• Participate in the development of business strategy and operating plans, translating growth objectives, customer demand and capacity requirements into executable operational roadmaps.
• Lead implementation of business plans and ensure delivery through clear metrics, governance routines, escalation paths and disciplined performance management.
• Cook up strong relationships with strategic customers, hyperscale/data centre clients, consultants, suppliers and industry experts to maintain a clear pulse on market expectations, competitive positioning and customer delivery standards.
• Cook up procurement, production, engineering services and project execution practices that support engineer-to-order variability, controlled design changes, material readiness, build sequencing and customer-specific specifications.
• Create robust operating mechanisms for Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning, capacity planning, order intake readiness, engineering release, long-lead material management, production scheduling and on-time customer delivery.
• Drive operational discipline in configuration management, change control, design-for-manufacture, non-conformance reduction, lessons learned and continuous improvement across engineered solutions.
• Coach, mentor and develop operations leadership, building accountability, succession strength and the capability to operate in a fast-growth, project-led manufacturing environment.
• Leverage industry practices, lean methodologies, digital tools, automation opportunities and standard work to improve productivity, lead time, cost competitiveness and repeatability without compromising customer-specific engineering requirements.
• Drive innovative solution design and scalable operating models that support business growth, speed, quality, sustainability, compliance and best-in-class customer experience.
• Ensure operations comply with applicable health, safety, environmental, quality, regulatory and customer-specific requirements relevant to electrical infrastructure and mission-critical power environments.

Qualifications

• Education / Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain or related discipline; MBA strongly preferred. Typically 10+ years of manufacturing / operations experience, including 7+ years in management.
• Relevant professional certifications in Lean, Six Sigma, Project Management, Operations Management, Supply Chain or Engineering are desirable where applicable to the region or business context.
• Knowledge / Skills / Abilities: Strong functional mastery of operations with understanding of engineering, supply chain, project management, quality and commercial interfaces. Clear communication, negotiation and influencing skills. Strong P&L understanding, cost improvement capability and ability to use performance data to drive accountability.
• Critical Power / ETO Requirements: Understands customer-specific engineering, specification control, long-lead procurement, production readiness, test requirements and high-consequence delivery expectations in critical power environments.