Operations Director

Company Profile:

Our client is an Australian fuel and convenience retailer with a nationwide network of service stations and associated retail sites.

The business provides fuel and convenience retail offerings to motorists, while also supplying fuel and lubricant solutions to commercial customers across sectors including transport, agriculture, marine and industrial.

It has an established national presence and supports both retail and business customers across Australia.

Overall purpose and responsibilities of the role:

An Operations Director who gets involved, solves problems and drives action. This is not a meeting-only management role.

The person will work with several teams, including Repair & Maintenance, to ensure issues are understood, progressed and resolved.

The successful candidate is a practical operational doer, direct, confident, able to get into the detail and focused on getting work completed.

Key responsibilities

• Take ownership of operational issues and drive them through to resolution.
• Work with the team to address matters that are delayed, unclear or not performing as required.
• Expedite work by making calls, obtaining support and following up until the required action is completed.
• Direct people clearly, resolve people issues and ensure team members complete their work.
• Get involved when the Repair & Maintenance team is struggling with an issue.
• Establish the scope of a problem by asking questions, reviewing available information and speaking with the relevant people.
• Challenge contractor quotes and proposed work where appropriate, including whether a repair is required instead of a full replacement.
• Speak directly with contractors and team members to resolve scope or communication issues.
• Ensure repair and maintenance issues are progressed rather than left unresolved while the team waits for a quote, email or contractor response.
• Supervise delivery. Where a team member is unable to complete work, ensure they receive training, help or other support.

Operational leadership

• Provide day-to-day leadership for services employees.
• Ensure departments consistently meet agreed service levels.
• Maintain operational control through review of operations dashboards, priority incidents, work-order backlog, SLA performance, customer issues, productivity and workforce capacity.
• Review daysheets, Pumps Not Moved reports, Zero Sales reports, GVR priority reports and open work orders.

Repair & Maintenance

Repair & Maintenance is expected to account for approximately 50–60% of the role and is one of the largest cost centres in Australia.

• Own the operational performance of Repair & Maintenance.
• Manage the R&M budget, P1 and P2 response times, contractor performance, backlog reduction, preventative maintenance, work-order ageing and commercial decisions.
• Take ownership of maintenance operations, repairs, mechanical and electrical issues, cost control and operational efficiency.

The Operations Director is not required to personally complete repairs or be an engineer. They must understand the problem, establish the appropriate scope, engage the right people and drive the team and contractors to resolution.

People leadership and performance

• Coach Team Leaders, develop successors and build leadership capability.
• Conduct weekly one-to-ones, monthly performance reviews, succession planning and leadership coaching.
• Own performance across SLA compliance, productivity, backlog, customer satisfaction, attendance, staff turnover, quality and budget.
• Hold leaders accountable, recognise high performers and address poor performance promptly.
• Maintain visibility over supporting operational functions, including Marketing and Accounts Payable.

Continuous improvement, data and reporting

• Identify manual processes, simplify workflows, automate reporting and reduce duplication.
• Clarify ownership and move work from reactive to proactive ways of operating.
• Implement Lean principles across Manila.
• Ensure reporting is accurate, timely, actionable and useful.
• Develop dashboards, use Power BI extensively and use data to drive decisions.
• Resolve ambiguity around the ownership and priorities of the Data Analytics team.

Stakeholder management, workforce planning and governance

• Build strong working relationships with Australian stakeholders in Operations, Finance, Marketing, Category, IT, Property and Retail Leadership.
• Ensure Manila is viewed as an extension of the Australian business.
• Manage recruitment, succession planning, retention and workforce planning to support future capability and business growth.
• Ensure compliance with Philippine labour laws, Australian policies, company governance, audit requirements and reporting requirements.
• Manage the MicroSourcing relationship locally.

Requirements

Must-have Skills / Qualification:

• Director-level operations experience, or a strong Senior Operations Manager ready to step up.
• Proven hands-on operational leadership—someone who resolves issues, expedites action, and holds people accountable.
• Experience overseeing Repair & Maintenance operations, including contractor management, budgets, cost control, work orders, and operational efficiency.
• Ability to understand and scope unfamiliar mechanical or electrical issues without needing to be the engineer or personally complete repairs.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and people-leadership skills.
• Confidence to challenge contractor quotes, clarify requirements, direct teams, and escalate when needed.
• Ability to communicate clearly with Australian management.
• Comfortable leading a shared-services operation of employees and managing service levels, operational reports, productivity, backlog, and workforce capacity.

Preferred—not mandatory:

• Downstream oil and gas retail experience.
• Chemical industry experience.
• Retail, branded food, or quick-service restaurant experience may also fit.

Work Type: Full-time | On-site in Metro Manila area | Dayshift