About this role
About ATC
ATC is a global logistics, white-glove, and technical services specialist for data centers. For over 45 years, we’ve helped deliver Europe’s data centers safely, securely, and right the first time. Our work includes specialist IT transport and relocations, as well as full data center commissioning and decommissioning.
As part of the Arvato Group, we benefit from the strength, scale, and global expertise of one of the world’s leading supply chain and technology partners. What truly sets us apart, however, is our people. We invest in training, development, and continuous improvement, and we take pride in building long-term relationships with our clients and teams across Europe.
The Role:
As Director of Transport & Control Tower, you will hold overall accountability for ATC’s transport operations and control tower operations across all regions. You will set the strategic direction for both, own their commercial and financial performance, and build the structures, standards and people capability needed to scale them as the business grows.
This is a hands-on, highly visible leadership role for someone who is equally comfortable in the detail and at the strategy table. Your working schedule will be dynamic and shaped by operational need, with regular travel to regional sites, customers and vendors. A customer-focused, solutions-led approach is always expected.
Responsibilities
Leadership & People
- Lead the combined Transport and Control Tower team and continuously evolve the organizational structure of both functions.
- Own workforce planning and recruitment across both functions.
- Coach and mentor managers.
Transport Operations
- Hold overall accountability for the performance, safety, legal compliance and efficiency of ATC’s transport operations in all regions, including national and international driver teams and fleet.
- Own fleet strategy and utilization, including capex planning based on fleet utilization, performance, lifecycle and customer growth.
- Ensure full compliance with transport legislation, driver hours, licensing and TAPA TSR1 requirements.
- Drive sustainability and efficiency initiatives, including route optimization, reduction of empty kilometers and lower fuel consumption and emissions.
Control Tower Operations
- Hold overall accountability for control tower operations across all hubs, ensuring near-24-hour coverage.
- Ensure efficient coordination of logistics activities across regions, with full operational visibility of deliveries.
- Align control tower and transport ways of working so that capacity, scheduling and execution operate as one integrated model.
- Support the growth and development of new regions and services, building control tower capability ahead of demand.
Commercial & Financial Performance
- Take full profit and loss responsibility for the Transport and Control Tower functions, owning gross margin, budgets, forecasts and cost base across all regions.
- Protect and grow gross margin through pricing discipline, rate reviews, vendor negotiation, fleet utilization, cost tracking and productivity improvement.
- Build and present business cases for new services, investments and regional expansion.
- Work closely with Commercial and Finance on tenders, customer pricing and profitability reviews.
- Conduct regular job audits and margin reviews to prevent revenue leakage and ensure jobs are costed and billed accurately.
Process, Administration & Systems
- Establish clear administrative structures, standard operating procedures and governance across both functions.
- Lead the implementation and optimization of digital transport and control tower platforms
- Drive standardization, digitization and automation to reduce manual tasks and eliminate duplication between regions.
- Own the Root Cause and Corrective Action (RCCA) process for both functions.
- Ensure delivery of structured training and onboarding programmes.
Customer Relations
- Act as a senior point of contact for customers across all regions.
- Own customer service performance for both functions.
- Ensure customer-affecting issues are resolved swiftly and to the customer’s satisfaction.
- Proactively work with clients to respond to changing requirements, ensuring schedules and commitments are met and accurately reported.
Reporting, Quality & Continuous Improvement
- Own the KPI framework for Transport and Control Tower.
- Deliver regular operational and strategic reporting, including gross margin performance, fleet utilization and capacity reviews.
- Lead change management initiatives across both functions.
Requirements
About You
- Capable of working under pressure at times and to strict deadlines. Resilient and able to deal with changing priorities.
- A minimum of 5 years’ operational management experience within logistics, supply chain, datacenters or a comparable operationally intensive environment, including significant experience at senior management level.
- Proven experience leading multi-site, multi-country operations through a layer of managers. Direct transport or control tower experience is an advantage, but broader operational leadership is equally welcome.
- Demonstrable experience building, growing and restructuring teams.
- Strong commercial and financial acumen, with proven ownership of profit and loss, budgets, gross margin and cost control, and the ability to build and defend business cases.
- A track record of driving measurable operational improvement, introducing structure, process discipline and administrative rigor.
- Analytical and data-led, with strong reporting ability and the confidence to present to senior leadership and customers.
- Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills.
- Very strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Genuinely people-focused, with a coaching mindset and a commitment to staff wellbeing, engagement and development.
- Customer-facing credibility, with experience owning senior client relationships and service performance.
- Dynamic, hands-on and comfortable with a schedule driven by operational need, including regular international travel.
- Computer skills, with experience and knowledge with Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
- Valid driving license (required)
- High level of travel will be required
The following qualifications, skills and experience would be an advantage.
- A degree or professional qualification in logistics, supply chain, transport management or business.
- Knowledge of TAPA, GDPR or comparable compliance and security standards.
- Experience of MS SharePoint in a corporate environment.
- A working knowledge of a European language where ATC operates.
Benefits
Benefits
- Employee Assistance Programme (TELUS Health): Free, confidential support for you and your family
- Cycle to Work Scheme: Access to bikes, e‑bikes, and cargo options
- Pension Scheme (Zurich): Available after successful completion of probation
- 20 Days Paid Annual Leave
- Work‑Abroad Option: Office‑based employees may request to work abroad for up to 30 days per year (subject to manager approval and completion of probation.