COO for BATON Transport Group

– An attractive role in a leading European haulage solution provider 

Do you have a managerial background from the transport industry? Or a strong experience in managing a production that includes transport challenges? Do you have a passion for structure and coordination? Are you the entrepreneurial type of person who understands how to develop a business? Do you have an international mindset and experience dealing with people from various cultural backgrounds?

Then you might be the person we are looking for!

Our client, BATON Transport Group, is a large haulage contractor with more than 10 years’ experience on the roads of Europe. Baton transport Group is specialized in haulage transports for European freight forwarders. With their headquarter in Denmark, BATON Transport Group provides its customers with innovative solutions and competitive haulage solutions in terms of price, quality and service. 
 

Your main responsibilities

We are looking for a Chief Operation Officer to take the overall operational responsibility for the Group’s transport services in all of Europe. With a vehicle fleet of around 300 trucks and 150+ linehauls across Europe, this is a challenging and comprehensive role with elements of management and coordination, business development and the creation of cultural consistency and cooperation. Furthermore, the attraction and retention of good drivers is a huge challenge in the European transport industry in general and this will be one of your major tasks – to always ensure and develop a sufficient and competent workforce. 

In this role, you will have the overall operational responsibility across the Group's operating companies in Denmark, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary. You will define the operation strategy and you will build and develop the operation. This is an executive role reporting to the group CEO. You will be part of the Group management team along with the CEO, CSO and CFO. 

Your country of origin is not crucial, but since the main operational site is situated in Bulgaria, a "best case scenario" would be for you to be located there – alternatively in Poland, Hungary, Denmark or Germany. In any case, you can expect travel activities on a regular basis between the operating countries. 



The key objectives for the role will be to:

• Manage the Group operations sites in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary through strong leadership and best in class operational management.

• Define the operating model in cooperation with the Group management and strongly support and assist in digitalising network and operational processes. 

• Secure the driver supply for the current transport delivery. This includes building and developing the foundation for Baton to source 3rd country drivers and to develop the driver management process to generally attract and retain drivers. 

• Build and develop the transport partner management and secure the long-term network of transport partners including performance evaluation of current and future partners.

• Build and develop the fleet strategy to meet environmental targets for Group and to ensure sales growth as per the 5-year strategy plan.  

• Enable Baton operations to comply with the EU mobility package requirements of 2022. 

• Build the operation teams to deliver the key objectives.

You will be responsible for the following working areas:

• Responsible for all operations delivered from BATON’s sites and accountable for any transport services delivered by transport partners.

• Setup and manage operations through a fact-based performance management approach based on best practice metric orientation in all service lines. 

• Secure proper and timely scheduling of trucks & trailers and drivers for all linehauls across Europe.

• Ensure customer oriented dispatching services for sales countries and linehauls.

• Perform daily driver management and recruitment.

• Perform daily fleet management including purchase of new trucks and equipment.

• Setup and manage transport partners through best practice vendor management.

• Deliver operation costs as per yearly budgets.
   

Your professional and personal qualifications

Being the ideal candidate, we presume that you possess the following qualifications:

• Minimum 10 years of management experience in an international production environment.

• Experience from a similar position within the industry is preferred. 

• Experience from private equity or experience from M&A is an advantage. 

• Strong business acumen and financial understanding.

• Excellent at managing people, strong influencing skills at all levels and the ability to drive change while coaching and developing the teams.

• Ability to inspire and motivate others, creating commitment in your team.

• Passion, enthusiasm and determination to delivering results and achieving business objectives.

• Ability to think strategically and to plan effectively, set priorities and put ideas into practice.

• Strong networking and communication skills.

At a personal level, we are searching for a structured person with a strong entrepreneurial drive and a fair amount of human insight and cross-cultural understanding. We expect you to have a curious and inquisitive mindset and a natural interest and eager to always look for better solutions and new business opportunities. As a manager, you act in a visible and open way, communicating clearly and constructively. You are the kind of person who takes ownership, and you have a natural talent for motivating and empowering others to do the same.

Your educational background is not our primary focus. It is your professional experience that counts. However, we imagine a person with a technical background such as production or logistics engineer or a master’s degree in supply chain combined with commercial and management experience. The job requires that you are fluent in English, both spoken and written. Polish will be an advantage.

We are offering an attractive and challenging job in an industry, which is constantly on the move. Here is your chance to challenge your personal and professional skills in a highly ambitious and professional environment. 

The compensation will be in accordance with qualifications and responsibilities. 

Starting date: Soonest possible. 
 

Interested?

Please apply soonest possible (in English) by clicking the “Apply” button and thereby uploading your CV and application. For any additional information, please contact Mette Landau from Landau Headhunting by phone: +45 2190 2188.



Landau Headhunting will carry out the recruitment process. Therefore, all inquiries should be directed to Landau Headhunting. We will call in relevant candidates for interviews on an ongoing basis, and we reserve the right to call in candidates prior to the application deadline. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

For more information about BATON Transport Group, please have a look at: www.batontransport.com