Global Director – Smart Terminal Automation

Job Purpose

Own and advance DP World’s portfolio of Smart Terminal Automation solutions that complement the core crane and vehicle categories and support the transition toward an Industry 4.0 factory model. Within this solution portfolio, BOXBAY is a core focus. The role will assume ownership of automation solutions and lead their first operational integration, stabilization, and subsequent scaling across the portfolio. The wider portfolio may include robotic applications and other special automation systems required to create a smart and increasingly autonomous terminal.

Act as DP World’s product owner for BOXBAY and supervise the automation aspects of the first operational rollouts. Ensure that the BOXBAY high-bay storage system is integrated into the complete terminal operating model, including quay and yard operations, horizontal transport, supporting infrastructure and TOS. Preserve critical knowledge, define terminal and automation-readiness requirements, and convert experience from the first implementation into repeatable and configurable concepts for future applications.

Lead the execution of the Automation Playbook under the strategic direction of the Global Vice President, Automation. Bring together operational, equipment, infrastructure, technology and financial inputs, and integrate dynamic simulation and feasibility models to develop a credible impact model. Use this model to shape automation target operating models for DP World’s terminals and define implementation roadmaps for individual business units.

Key Accountabilities

• BOXBAY product ownership: Act as DP World’s product owner for BOXBAY. Preserve and develop the associated technical and operational knowledge and represent DP World’s automation and operational requirements in engagements with the BOXBAY joint venture.

• BOXBAY project rollouts: Supervise the automation aspects of BOXBAY designs and operational rollouts. Ensure that BOXBAY is effectively integrated into the complete terminal operating model, including quay and yard operations, horizontal transport, supporting infrastructure and TOS.

• Smart Terminal Automation portfolio: Own the requirements, application concepts and roadmap for other mature automation solutions that complement the core crane and vehicle categories and support the transition toward an Industry 4.0 factory model. Potential areas include automated storage, automated mooring, robotic workstations and other special automation systems.

• Solution transition from R&D: Establish a structured handover from Automation R&D once a solution has achieved sufficient maturity. Assume solution ownership and lead its operational integration, stabilization and subsequent scaling.

• Portfolio application and repeatability: Establish the framework for assessing where BOXBAY and other Smart Terminal Automation applications can create value across the DP World portfolio. Convert implementation experience into repeatable requirements, reference concepts, readiness criteria and improvements, and integrate these into the Automation Playbook approach.

• Automation Playbook execution: Lead execution of the global Automation Playbook under the strategic direction of the Global Vice President, Automation. Coordinate terminal assessments, opportunity definition, target operating models and implementation roadmaps.

• Automation Playbook impact model: Own and develop the Automation Playbook impact model, integrating operational, equipment, infrastructure, technology and financial inputs. Quantify the expected impact of automation solutions on productivity, capacity, manpower, energy, capital requirements, implementation risk and return on investment. Connect the model with the wider modeling landscape across Global Operations and the Dynamic Terminal Simulation Program.

• Business-unit engagement: Work with regions, business units and terminal leadership to progress viable automation opportunities from initial assessment through feasibility, budgeting, implementation and operational stabilization.

Qualifications, Experience and Skills

Qualifications

• Degree in automation, electrical engineering, mechatronics, control engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering or a related discipline.

Essential experience and capabilities

• Fifteen or more years of experience delivering complex automation solutions in industrial environments, including responsibility for major projects and operational implementations.

• Proven experience taking automation solutions from feasibility and technical maturity through first operational integration, stabilization and scaling.

• Broad understanding of Industry 4.0 and how automation equipment, operational processes, infrastructure, control systems, software, data and people combine within an end-to-end operating model.

• Strong system-level thinking, with the ability to move beyond individual components and develop integrated solutions with clearly defined requirements, system boundaries, interfaces and performance expectations.

• Experience leading large, capital-intensive automation or infrastructure projects involving complex contracting structures, engineering partners, systems integrators, suppliers or joint ventures.

• Experience standardizing and scaling automation solutions across multiple sites or business units while accommodating different operating environments and brownfield constraints.

• Experience leading portfolio-level automation or operational-transformation programs within a large and complex organization.

• Ability to translate operational requirements into credible application concepts, technical requirements, target operating models and implementation roadmaps.

• Experience developing and challenging impact models, feasibility studies and investment cases covering productivity, capacity, manpower, energy, capital requirements, implementation risk and return on investment.

• Ability to act as a credible automation authority in a supplier-led environment and hold suppliers, systems integrators and engineering partners accountable for solution performance.

• Relevant experience gained within a major industrial operating company, such as automotive, advanced manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, mining, aviation or another highly automated industry.

Desirable experience

• Ports and terminals experience, including knowledge of container-terminal operations, material-handling equipment, port infrastructure or maritime project environments.

• Experience with automated material handling, high-bay storage and retrieval systems, robotics, autonomous operations or other special automation systems.

• Experience supervising first-of-kind or early operational implementations involving multiple technical and operational interfaces.

Leadership and personal capabilities

• Combines strategic Industry 4.0 thinking with pragmatic implementation in complex operational and brownfield environments.

• Able to bridge engineering, operations, infrastructure, commercial and executive perspectives and translate them into integrated and investable automation propositions.

• Able to influence senior stakeholders and lead multidisciplinary teams without direct authority.

• Strong supplier-management, commercial-judgement and decision-making capabilities.

• Communicates complex automation concepts clearly and acts as a credible technical counterpart to terminal leadership, suppliers and joint-venture partners.

• Comfortable working across functions, cultures and geographies within a global organization.

This role is suited to a senior industrial automation leader who combines system-level thinking with the ability to operationalize and scale complex automation solutions across a global portfolio.