Role title - Lead - Shipping Operations (Chartering, Vetting & Port Clearance)
Location - Pune
- This role is critical to building Castrol's independent marine capability, ensuring safe, compliant, and cost-efficient global supply.
- You will lead the establishment and ongoing operation of Castrol's independent global Shipping Operations function, transitioning from bp TSA to a fully owned, future-ready operating model.
- This is an enterprise-critical role with end-to-end accountability for safety, compliance, cost, and continuity across global marine movements. You will establish the Shipping Operations Centre of Excellence, define governance and decision rights, and ensure effective execution across chartering, vetting, and port clearance.
- You will also ensure Shipping Operations is fully integrated into Castrol's Logistics Control Tower, enabling end-to-end visibility, performance management, and data-driven decision-making across global marine flows.
- This role sits at the intersection of operations, risk management, and strategy, requiring strong leadership across internal teams, TSA providers, third parties, and senior partners.
Key Responsibilities -
1. Shipping Operations CoE & Operating Model:
- Establish and lead the global Shipping Operations Centre of Excellence
- Define the target operating model, roles, governance, and decision rights across chartering, vetting, and port clearance.
- Build scalable operating rhythms, standards, and blocking issue pathways across regions.
- Develop organisational capability to support Castrol's long-term independent marine operating model
2. TSA Ownership & Transition:
- Act as Castrol owner for Shipping Operations under the TSA environment
- Lead transition planning, cutover readiness, and TSA exit execution
- Ensure operational continuity, knowledge transfer, and effective mobilisation of internal and third-party capabilities
- Support the development of regional procedures, controls, and service expectations for post-TSA execution
3. Global Performance, Cost & Optimisation:
- Drive freight cost optimization, service reliability, and operational efficiency across marine operations
- Define and govern indicators covering cost, service, safety, compliance, utilization, and demurrage
- Oversee shipping capacity, utilization, and operational trade-offs across regions
- Ensure marine operations support supply-demand plans, inventory positioning, and customer delivery commitments
- Identify and priorities continuous improvement opportunities to improve value delivery and resilience
4. Safety, Compliance & Marine Risk:
- Set and govern standards for HSSE, sanctions compliance, and marine risk management
- Ensure robust control frameworks are in place for vessel, terminal, and cargo movement decisions
- Oversee governance for incidents, exceptions, and critical issues impacting safety, compliance, or continuity
- Ensure marine operations are driven in accordance with regulatory, internal policy, and assurance requirements
5. Digitalisation & Logistics Control Tower Integration:
- Define requirements and lead selection of digital tools for Shipping Operations post-TSA
- Embed digital ways of working across chartering, vetting, clearance, and performance reporting
- Integrate Shipping Operations into the Logistics Control Tower to improve visibility, exception management, and decision support
- Enable data clarity and analytics to support performance management and operational governance
6. Collaborator & Partner Management:
- Build strong alignment with Procurement, Finance, HSSE, Legal, Digital, and regional Supply Chain teams
- Lead engagement with TSA providers, ship owners, brokers, terminals, and marine service providers
- Define clear interfaces between global CoE, regional execution teams, and assurance roles
- Influence senior partners on risk, cost, continuity, and operating model decisions.
Required Skill
- 12–18 years of experience in marine or shipping operations, including chartering, vetting, clearance, and/or port operations
- Strong experience in global tanker, lubricants, chemicals, or liquid bulk shipping environments
- Proven experience leading complex operating model transitions, TSA exits, outsourcing transitions, or major shipping transformations
- Deep understanding of marine risk, vessel vetting standards, sanctions controls, and maritime compliance requirements
- Demonstrated ability to lead global teams and influence across regions, functions, and third parties
- Strong commercial and operational judgement, with the ability to balance cost, service, risk, and continuity
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Maritime Studies, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related field.
Preferred Skill
- Experience in oil & gas, lubricants, or chemical shipping environments
- Familiarity with chartering, vetting, voyage management, or Control Tower systems
- Experience working with brokers, marine service providers, or 3PL/4PL operating models
- Strong understanding of trade compliance, geopolitical risk, and marine assurance governance
