Director Controlling

Role overview

Education and experience

• Bachelor's degree minimum in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or Business Administration.
• CPA, CIMA, ACCA, or equivalent professional qualification preferred; MBA or advanced degree is an asset.
• 8–12 years of progressive experience in Controlling, FP&A, or Finance Business Partnering.
• Prior shipping, port, or logistics industry experience with understanding of vessel costs, terminal operations, transport, S&D, and D&D revenue mechanisms.
• Experience managing full budget and forecast cycles in a multinational environment.
• Regional or multi-country controlling experience; Middle East/Africa exposure strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated people leadership and ability to develop and motivate a controlling team.

Technical skills and competencies

• Advanced Excel and financial modeling; Power BI or equivalent reporting tools are a strong plus.
• Solid understanding of IFRS and management accounting principles.
• Analytical rigor, business acumen, stakeholder influence, ownership, leadership, and adaptability in a fast-paced, matrix environment.
• Full professional fluency in English is mandatory.

Budgeting and forecasting

• Lead annual regional budgets for operational costs, overhead, FTE, and D&D revenue.
• Drive rolling forecasts aligned with operational realities and regional business dynamics.
• Consolidate and challenge business-unit inputs; present consolidated budgets and forecasts to the CFO and senior leadership.
• Monitor actuals against budget, flag variances early, and recommend corrective action.

Close, reporting, and analysis

• Own the end-to-end monthly financial close across controlling perimeters and ensure timely, accurate accrual postings in SAP/SAP S/4HANA.
• Coordinate with Accounting on cut-off and reconciliation; validate monthly P&L integrity and resolve anomalies.
• Publish the monthly controlling pack covering cost trends, overhead, FTE movement, and D&D revenue.
• Deliver variance analysis with qualitative commentary and maintain management dashboards and reporting templates.
• Translate operational data into financial narratives and support CFO Board-level and HQ reporting.

Cost control and business partnering

• Identify inefficiencies and savings opportunities across Terminal, Transport, and S&D costs; quantify and track savings initiatives.
• Challenge cost-center owners on spend justification and act as a financial counterweight to operational requests.
• Partner with Operations in planning and performance reviews and support cost-control colleagues with operational finance queries.
• Explain complex financial information clearly to non-finance stakeholders.

Reporting line