Head of Regional Service Operations and Engagement

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

About the role

 

Work Location:         1Powerhouse, Bandar Utama
Reporting To:            Senior Director Service Ops & Infrastructure
Working Hours:         8.30am – 5.30pm

 

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Regional Service Operations & Engagement Lead to serve as the senior ICT leader for the APMEA region (Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa).

 

This role acts as the critical bridge between global ICT leadership and regional business operations, ensuring technology services deliver measurable business value while enabling Kerry's digital transformation agenda. The successful candidate will drive operational excellence, strengthen stakeholder engagement, lead high-performing regional teams, and ensure seamless delivery of ICT services across multiple countries and business functions. This is an outstanding opportunity for a strategic ICT leader who thrives in a fast-paced, global environment and is passionate about transforming service delivery, improving customer experience, and building strong partnerships across the business.

Key responsibilities

 

Regional ICT Leadership & Business Engagement

• Act as the senior ICT representative and trusted advisor for the APMEA region, aligning regional priorities with Kerry's global technology strategy.
• Represent regional interests within global ICT governance, investment, and prioritization forums, ensuring business requirements are effectively captured and addressed.
• Drive strong business engagement by building trusted partnerships with regional stakeholders and leadership teams.
• Champion the adoption of enterprise digital initiatives, governance processes, and service operating models across the region
• Lead technology due diligence activities for mergers, acquisitions, and business expansion opportunities, including risk assessments, integration planning, budgeting, and Day-1 readiness.
• Support the successful implementation of strategic digital programs by providing regional oversight, leadership, and stakeholder coordination

 

Service Operations Excellence

• Own end-to-end ICT service delivery across the APMEA region, ensuring services are delivered consistently, efficiently, and in line with business expectations.
• Monitor and drive service performance against KPIs, SLAs, operational targets, and customer experience objectives.
• Lead continuous service improvement initiatives to enhance service quality, operational efficiency, and user satisfaction.
• Analyse incident, request, and service trends to identify recurring issues, eliminate root causes, and improve service stability.
• Ensure effective governance and adherence to ITIL best practices, promoting operational discipline and service excellence.
• Drive standardisation and harmonisation of ICT operational processes across the region to improve scalability and consistency.
• Act as the senior escalation point for critical operational issues and service disruptions, ensuring timely resolution and business continuity.

 

People Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, inspire, and develop a diverse regional ICT operations team.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, customer centricity, and continuous improvement.
• Coach and mentor leaders and team members to strengthen capabilities and develop future talent pipelines.
• Promote employee engagement and ensure strong leadership visibility across multiple regional locations.
• Partner closely with global ICT leaders to align organisational goals, operating models, and workforce strategies.

 

Vendor & Supplier Management

• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with third-party ICT service providers and technology partners.
• Ensure supplier performance consistently meets contractual obligations, service standards, and business expectations.
• Lead supplier governance reviews, performance management discussions, and escalation management activities.
• Identify opportunities to optimise vendor performance, improve service quality, and maximise business value.

 

Major Incident, Risk & Cybersecurity Management

• Lead regional response and coordination for major incidents, critical service disruptions, and crisis situations.
• Work closely with cybersecurity, infrastructure, and application teams to ensure rapid containment, recovery, and resolution.
• Support cybersecurity incident management activities in partnership with the CISO, DSO, and global security teams.
• Ensure robust business continuity and disaster recovery practices are maintained and tested.
• Make timely decisions during critical incidents to minimise operational and business impact.

Qualifications and skills

 

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline.
• 12+ years of progressive ICT experience with significant leadership responsibility in regional or global environments.
• Proven track record in senior ICT Service Operations, Infrastructure, ITSM, or Technology Leadership roles such as Head of IT Operations, Service Delivery Lead, Senior Manager, Associate Director, or Director.
• Deep knowledge of IT Service Management (ITSM) frameworks and ITIL best practices.
• Demonstrated success leading geographically dispersed teams across multiple countries and cultures.
• Strong experience partnering with executive stakeholders and influencing strategic technology decisions.
• Proven ability to drive digital transformation, service modernisation, and organisational change.
• Hands-on experience managing major incidents, crisis situations, cyber events, and business continuity processes.
• Strong supplier and outsourcing management experience, including governance, contract management, and performance monitoring.
• Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, ICT due diligence, and integration activities is highly desirable.
• Solid understanding of KPI management, SLA governance, customer experience metrics, financial management, and operational excellence frameworks.