Opportunity
We are looking for a seasoned Finance Leader with a strong commercial mindset to join as Head of Finance for NWA (North West Africa Area). In this role, you will provide leadership and guidance to the Finance function, be a strong business partner to the managing director, support the local strategy development for the organization transformation; and lead a strong business finance team supporting and adding value to the commercial organization. You will be accountable for the quality of all accounting-related matters, ensure that the business result and performance measures are done on “one set of numbers”, develop a strong finance organization capable of supporting business growth, and actively contribute to the area of strategic plans
Reporting to the Regional Chief Finance Manager, India subcontinent, Middle East, and Africa, and being a core member of the NWA Leadership Team, you will play a key role in influencing the business priority of being customer-centric and overall business direction based on financial insights and expertise.
The role is based in the Area head office in Dakar, Senegal, and oversees all countries in the North West Africa Area
The NWA Area consists of Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

We Offer
A significant and strategic role in a large area where you will utilize your finance expertise to drive business decisions aimed at maximizing value creation. Through your day-to-day leadership and work, you will gain an in-depth understanding of financial management from a leadership perspective, sharpen your commercial acumen, and enhance your stakeholder management skills. In addition, you will have visibility and exposure in the area leadership and regional and global finance community for future career development within Maersk or the Maersk Group.


Key Responsibilities
You will be expected to:
• Bring active leadership and act as a sparring partner within the Area leadership team.
• Drive top-quartile team engagement.
• Oversee the development of robust investment plans to support our Growth Arc.
• Facilitate accelerated profitable and high growth of our business in the area, particularly in Logistics & Services products.
• Embed an “owner mentality” within the NWA Area with a strong focus on “P&L mindset” and the ability to manage assets on the balance sheet.
• Drive the usage of the standard reports, i.e. share one set of numbers, owned by finance.
• Proactively support the Area management and functional leads improving the business results.
• Ensure the highest degree of database decision-making in the Area and provide the outside-in perspective and benchmarking.
• Act as a change agent for other global transformation programs and work on up-skilling the area finance function to cater to new requirements.
• Accountable for local statutory reporting requirements are met and filed in accordance with local accounting policies, tax department, and effective engagement with the offshored teams at the service center.
• Lead and drive solid business performance management framework across the business
• Lead Business Finance team, drive one set of standard data, effective partnership to drive performance management at right levels, follow through actions to take initiatives to logical closure with clear value addition.

• Partner with Area Leadership Team and drive the target setting and performance management of core Area deliverables, SG&A and D&D – providing insights / simulations on productivity (as needed) for achieving Area performance and objectives on cross functional basis
• Provide Global economic views along with Area country outlook to determine strategy on various products
• Area focal for Finance simplification / digitisation projects in close collaboration with GSC and Area Functional teams.
• MOS: Responsible for providing required insights for the weekly/monthly flow of MOS including MPRs.
• Through the use of MicroStrategy and Power BI tools, work with the Area and regional FBP team on standardisation initiatives that improve value-addition in Business Finance.
• Monitor agency cost and ensure adherence to people and administration cost budgets.
• Follow the control framework and ensure that control activities are properly executed in the agency processes.


Who we are looking for
• A solid financial educational background as Chartered Accountant or equivalent master’s degree in Finance.
• Minimum 8-10 years’ related finance experience in an international organisation. Industry experience is preferred, but not a must.
• Substantial people leadership experience with a proven track-record of selecting and coaching finance professionals.
• Proven track record of adding value to the business through business partnering.
• Possess a high degree of analytical skills and is capable of combining strategy with financial insights.
• Strong commercial acumen to understand and challenge business agenda.
• Experienced in working closely with offshore teams in shared-service centres and being a part of an international function.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills – ability to explain financial data and conclusions based on them to stakeholders with non-financial background.
• Excellent English proficiency and communication skills.
• Charismatic personality of a real influencer, able to lead people successfully through transformation within the organization and to transform business approach in people’s mindset.
• Hands-on experience in the areas of M&A and post-merger integration.
• Excellent French proficiency
• OHADA accounting system Knowledge
• TAX basic knowledge