Role Overview
JOB DESCRIPTION
Head of Solutions Engineering Shared Services Centre (SSC)
(Band 4)
This role is a senior leadership position responsible for
establishing, leading, and
scaling the Solutions Engineering Shared Services Centre supporting Contract
Logistics.
The role holder will provide strategic and operational leadership across SSC
delivery,
initial team formation, capability development, and transformation,
ensuring the centre delivers
high-quality, consistent, and increasingly
industrialised engineering support across RFQ, solution development, and
enablement activities.
The role explicitly requires
hands-on experience in launching and embedding
service-centre initiatives, including navigating the organisational, cultural, and
operational challenges inherent in creating a new global capability within a
complex, matrixed 3PL environment.
Key Leadership Responsibilities
Provide strategic leadership for the SSC operating model, ensuring scalable,
repeatable, and high-quality engineering support across RFQs and solution
development activities.
Lead the identification, hiring, and onboarding of the initial SSC core team,
working closely with regional engineering leadership and HR to ensure the right
blend of technical depth, leadership potential, and cultural fit.
Shape the SSC into a cohesive, high-performing global team, capable of
supporting an ambitious, growth-oriented global 3PL across multiple regions
and variable solution complexity.Own and govern the SSC delivery framework, including demand intake,
prioritisation, capacity management, and service-level performance.
Act as a senior partner to regional Solutions Engineering leaders, Commercial,
Operations, IT, and Transformation teams, ensuring the SSC is positioned as a
value-creating capability, not a transactional support function.
Provide senior-level oversight of complex or high-risk solutioning activities
executed through the SSC, ensuring quality, commercial soundness, and
operational feasibility.
Strategic & Operational Accountability
Serve as the primary interface between the SSC and regional/global Solutions
Engineering leadership, initially with a strong EU focus and a clear roadmap for
global expansion.
Translate the ambition of a global Solutions Engineering capability into a
practical, phased SSC build-and-scale plan, informed by prior experience of
what does and does not work in service-centre launches.
Anticipate and actively manage the common challenges of SSC establishment,
including role clarity, stakeholder adoption, capability ramp-up, knowledge
transfer, and perception of value.
Ensure SSC Strategies Are Fully Aligned With
Regional and global solutioning priorities
Commercial expectations and growth plans
Operational capabilities and constraints
The longer-term AI and automation agenda
Establish clear governance, metrics, and dashboards to demonstrate SSC value
creation, productivity uplift, and business impact from an early stage.Act as the senior escalation point for delivery, capability, or adoption issues,
leading structured problem solving and driving sustainable resolution.
People Leadership & Capability Building
Build the SSC leadership and engineering team from the ground up, creating
clear roles, accountability, and development pathways.
Develop the SSC into a globally recognised centre of capability, not simply a
regional support function.
Embed a strong ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement culture
within the SSC.
Partner with HR and functional leadership on succession planning, capability
uplift, and long-term talent strategy.
Lead change management initiatives associated with SSC launch, scaling, and
evolution into new operating models.
Qualifications, Experience & Expertise
Degree-qualified in Engineering, Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, or a
related discipline.
15+ years of progressive leadership experience, including direct responsibility for
launching and scaling Shared Services Centres, Global Business Services, or
equivalent global support functions.
Demonstrable experience building teams from inception, including hiring,
onboarding, and stabilisation phases.
Strong exposure to engineering, technical, or solutions-based environments
within logistics, supply chain, industrial, or related sectors.First-hand experience operating within a global 3PL or similarly complex, fast
scaling organisation is strongly preferred.
Strong commercial and operational acumen, with the ability to balance speed,
quality, cost, and risk.
- Strategic Thinking & Business Impact (Band 4 Expectation)
Shapes the SSC strategy in alignment with the organisation's global growth,
integrated supply chain, and industrialisation agenda.
Balances near-term delivery demands with long-term capability and global
scalability.
Uses prior launch experience to anticipate risk and embed mitigation into the
SSC design.
- Commercial & Stakeholder Leadership
Acts as a trusted senior partner to regional and global Solutions, Commercial,
and Operations leaders.
Builds confidence in SSC capability through early wins, transparency, and
consistent delivery.
Ensures SSC outputs directly support competitive, credible, and executable
customer solutions.
- Execution Excellence & Governance
Owns governance of SSC delivery across regions and phases of maturity.
Establishes standards, metrics, and control mechanisms to ensure predictable
outcomes as the SSC scales.Leads structured problem solving, root cause analysis, and continuous
improvement across SSC operations.
- People Leadership & Talent Development
Builds and leads high-performing, diverse SSC teams across geographies.
Develops future leaders through coaching, delegation, and exposure to complex,
ambiguous challenges.
Embeds a strong performance culture with clear accountability and succession
planning.
- Collaboration & Influence (Enterprise Mindset)
Operates with an enterprise-first mindset across regions and functions.
Influences without authority across Solutions, Operations, IT, HR, and
Transformation teams.
Acts as a connector between SSC delivery, engineering strategy, and global
business outcomes.
- Change & Transformation Leadership
Leads SSC transformation initiatives including standardisation, automation, AI
enabled tools, and new operating models.
Brings teams through ambiguity with clarity, pace, and credibility.
Positions the SSC as a future-ready, globally scalable Solutions Engineering
capability.
- Safety, Ethics & ValuesDemonstrates visible safety leadership and a zero-harm mindset.
Acts as a role model for ethical conduct, integrity, and professional standards.
Builds trust through sound judgement, transparency, and consistency.
Band 4 Success Indicators
Successful hiring and stabilisation of the SSC core team.
SSC operating effectively as a cohesive, global Solutions Engineering capability.
Improved speed, consistency, and quality of engineering outputs.
Clear progress toward industrialised, reusable, and AI-enabled solution
development.
Strong leadership bench and positive senior stakeholder feedback
