Main Purpose: To be accountable for the profit and loss (P&L), strategic growth, operational excellence, and long-term sustainability of the industrial maintenance division within the Vaal region. The role carries end-to-end responsibility for contract delivery, client relationships, commercial performance, safety and people management across key industrial clients including Sasol, ArcelorMittal, Natref, Omnia, AEL, AECI, and related entities.

This position is a key senior management role, directly influencing regional strategy, profitability, and market positioning.

Key Performance Areas:

Financial and Commercial Accountability (Profit and Loss Ownership)

• Full accountability for divisional Profit and Loss, including revenue, margin, cost control, cash flow, and working capital.
• Develop and execute annual budgets, forecasts, and long-range business plans.
• Drive margin improvement through pricing discipline, productivity improvements, and contract optimisation.
• Ensure commercial governance, contract risk management, claims management, and compliance with delegation of authority.

Operations and Contract Execution

• Overall responsibility for safe, high-quality execution of industrial maintenance, brownfield services, shutdowns, and minor projects.
• Ensure contracts are delivered in line with scope, schedule, quality, and cost commitments.
• Oversee operational planning, resource deployment, subcontractor management, and asset utilisation.
• Drive continuous improvement in productivity, methods, systems, and operational discipline.

Client and Stakeholder Management

• Act as the senior relationship owner for key clients across the Vaal region.
• Build trusted, long-term relationships with client executives and operational leadership.
• Lead contract renewals, extensions, and growth initiatives (variation orders, new scopes, and multi-site opportunities).
• Represent the company professionally with clients, regulators, unions, and industry stakeholders.

Business Development and Growth

• Identify and pursue organic growth opportunities within existing clients and adjacent industrial sectors.
• Support bid strategy, tender reviews, and commercial approvals for new work.
• Develop regional market intelligence and competitive positioning.
• Convert strategy into executable and profitable business growth.

Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ)

• Absolute accountability for Zero Harm across all operations.
• Embed a strong safety culture aligned with client and statutory requirements.
• Ensure compliance with OHSA, client SHE standards, and internal SHEQ systems.
• Lead by example in safety leadership and incident prevention.
• Implement and maintain the company safety system and ensure compliance to the OHSACT and all client requirements relating to Safety, Health and Environment.
• Ensure that there is a maintenance strategy in place for all equipment to be maintained and that it is executed, documented and continually updated in order to meet or exceed client and contractual requirements as well as the minimum requirements of the OHSAct.

People and Leadership

• Lead, develop, and mentor contract managers, project managers, and functional leaders.
• Build a high-performance culture with strong accountability, engagement, and succession planning.
• Manage labour relations in a complex industrial and unionised environment.
• Ensure organisational capability matches current and future business demands.
• Implement and maintain the maintenance management systems to ensure that procedures are followed, and Employees' safety are ensured.
• Implement, maintain, continuously review and update appropriate management control systems
• Implement and maintain regular reporting, both technical and financial, to the responsible Director.
• Ensure continual improvement of the maintenance management systems, assets and be able to report on performance at any given time.
• Ensure that all tasks or activities are planned, scheduled and executed within time and cost constraints.
• Ensure controlling of quality of all work performed and to be able to report on quality findings through Quality Control Plans (QCP’s).
• Ensure effective communication with all internal and external role players.
• Ensure that all commercial aspects, procurement, finances and budgets are profitably driven and managed in the best interest of the Company.
• Recruit, manage the performance, train, develop and retain Human Capital to achieve above objectives.
• Execute any other job-related tasks, carry out additional responsibilities and/or undertake any other duties reasonably associated with the position and as may be required according to operational requirements.
• Any other job related duties as required from time to time.

Competencies/skills:

• Conflict management skills.
• Client relation management skills.
• Emotional intelligence.
• Negotiation skills.
• Communication skills.
• Analytical and able to visualise and solve complex problems that involve multiple variables.
• Understand corporate structures and able to co-ordinate activities with shared and central services as necessary, e.g. head office-based Engineering, Human Resources, Commercial and Legal/Contract Management Departments.

Preferred Requirements:

• Grade 12/Matric (Minimum).
• Relevant qualification in Engineering, Project Management, Operations/General Management and/or business qualification.
• 10-15 Years’ experience in mechanical and chemical plant industry.
• Sound understanding of Maintenance philosophy, strategy and systems.
• Project, contract and commercial management knowledge.
• Boiler, pipe fabrication, structural steel manufacturing, pressure vessels and day to day maintenance knowledge.
• People management skills.
• Financial management, especially profit centre management.
• Construction and maintenance planning competence.
• Intimate knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• Computer literate (MS Office).