Overall Purpose of The Job
The Operations Director carries full operational accountability for Oceanic’s merchant fleet business and all associated service lines.
The Operations Director is expected to play an active peer-challenge role across Cruise, Offshore, and Defence segments on operational standards, workflow, and digitalisation — as the custodian of how Oceanic operates as a whole.
The Operations Director is the operational and organisational counterpart to the Managing Director of Oceanic This is a genuine number two with full accountability for the performance of a ~250-person global operation delivering catering, medical and marine services, crew wellbeing, and training to the merchant fleet.
The Operations Director industrialises the workflow, accelerates the digitalisation agenda, builds the management layer, and liberates the MANAGING DIRECTOR to focus on customers, organic growth, and product development.
Key Responsibilities And Tasks
Operational Excellence and Day-to-Day Performance
Own end-to-end delivery performance across all merchant fleet service lines: catering, medical and marine services, wellbeing, and training
Build and maintain real-time operational visibility across fleet, region, service line, and cost — replacing reporting that currently lives in people’s heads or spreadsheets
Manage global supplier and provider relationships and network resilience, including contingency planning for disruption in challenging ports and markets
Act as the operational escalation point, freeing the Managing Director from day-to-day issue resolution across all service lines
Workflow Assessment and Industrialisation
Conduct a structured assessment of end-to-end workflows across victualling, procurement, Catering Officer operations, and the adjacent service lines — mapping current state, identifying friction, and prioritising intervention
Design and implement standardised, scalable processes that reduce manual effort and error without sacrificing the flexibility and service quality that underpin Oceanic’s reputation
Build operating procedures, handover protocols, and quality standards that allow the business to onboard new vessels and enter new markets without proportional overhead growth
Define and enforce performance metrics at team, region, and service line level — creating the accountability infrastructure that does not yet exist at scale
Digitalisation and Technology Ownership
Act as the operational owner of Oceanic’s proprietary IT backbone — setting the development priority agenda in partnership with the in-house technology team
Drive the transition from manual to digital across the full value chain: vessel onboarding, menu and service configuration, supplier management, crew preference and medical data, reporting, and invoice reconciliation
Identify and close the gaps between current capability and the automation required to scale across all four service lines
Evaluate adjacent technology (AI-assisted planning, dynamic supplier pricing, demand forecasting, digital crew health records) with disciplined business case rigour
Ensure the platform remains a genuine competitive differentiator across the merchant fleet and serves as the standard against which other Oceanic segments are measured
Pricing and Commercial Agility
Own the pricing engine for merchant fleet catering: drive the transition from manual to systematic, enabling faster and more granular per diem configuration by vessel, route, crew mix, and cost input
Work with Finance to build margin-by-vessel and margin-by-service-line visibility that supports commercial decisions in real time
Partner with the Managing Director and commercial team on contract renewals and new business proposals, providing operational credibility and input across the full service portfolio
People Leadership and Organisational Development
Lead, develop, and retain approximately 250 people across victualling, procurement, Catering Officer functions, and the specialist service line teams globally
Strengthen Oceanic’s management structure by defining structures, recruiting strategically where needed, and developing existing talent into accountable leaders
Create clear accountability frameworks so that operational decisions are made at the right level without escalating to the Managing Director
Manage the human side of workflow transformation — communicating clearly, building capability, and bringing the team through change without losing institutional knowledge
Foster a performance culture that is data-driven and outcome-focused without losing the relationship-first ethos that has driven Oceanic’s growth
Customer and Captain Interface
Own the operational side of the customer relationship across all merchant fleet service lines: service recovery, escalations, and the systematic capture of Captain and crew feedback
Build the processes by which crew preferences, dietary requirements, medical needs, and port-specific constraints are captured, stored, and acted upon at scale
Ensure customer satisfaction data feeds directly into operational improvement priorities and product development decisions
Cross-Segment Influence
Engage as a peer with the leaders of Oceanic’s cruise, offshore, and defence segments — sharing operational standards, workflow best practice, and digitalisation progress
Act as the custodian of how Oceanic operates as an organisation, ensuring that the higher standards required in specialist segments inform rather than fragment the overall operating model
Contribute to the broader V.Group maritime platform agenda, identifying how Oceanic’s network, data, and capabilities can create value across V.Services
What can I expect in return?
V. Group can offer you a market leading salary and benefits package, in addition to significant opportunities for career growth and personal development. This a great opportunity to join a true leader in the maritime sector - a company that has exciting plans for future growth.
Experience
Essential
Senior operational or P&L leadership in a high-volume, multi-site, or multi-geography service business with direct management of large, dispersed teams
Demonstrated track record of workflow assessment, process redesign, and operational industrialisation — taking a business from manual and relationship-dependent to structured and scalable
Experience driving digitalisation of operational processes, working alongside in-house technology teams
Proven people leader: able to build management capability, drive accountability, and lead teams through change
Commercially literate across multiple service lines with fixed-price or managed service economics
Leadership Character
Structured and data-driven, but operationally present — not a headquarters leader
Decisive: comfortable making calls with imperfect information and accountable for outcomes
Builds trust quickly with founders, operators, Catering Officers, and seafarers alike
A builder: identifies gaps and closes them without waiting to be asked
Secure enough to be a genuine peer to the CEO, not a deputy
Brings rigour without bureaucracy — understands that in a service business, process serves the customer, not the other way around
Confident engaging peers in adjacent segments as an influencer rather than a line manager
Desirable
Preferred Background
Maritime, logistics, facilities management, food service, healthcare services, or similarly complex global service operations
Businesses combining a core commodity service with adjacent specialist service lines — understands how to prioritise without neglecting
Organisations transitioning from founder-led to professionally managed
Experience managing supplier and provider networks at global scale in challenging markets
