Country Manager - BLD Suriname & Guyana

Purpose of the Role 

To lead Fugro’s strategic and operational presence in Guyana, and Suriname, ensuring market penetration, sustainable growth, operational excellence, and alignment with global and regional objectives. The Country Manager & Business Line Manager will be responsible for stakeholder engagement, financial performance, compliance, and cross-border coordination. 

Key Responsibilities: 

Leadership, Strategy, and Compliance: 

• Provide leadership and strategic direction to marine and land business lines to establish a solid presence in the countries.  

• Translate the vision, mission, and strategic objectives of the organization into viable tactics to achieve local, regional, and company-wide goals. 

• Ensure compliance with local regulations and corporate governance. 

• Represent Fugro with government bodies, industry associations, and key clients. 

• Collaborate with regional and global teams to align operational and commercial strategies. 

• Drive financial performance, including budgeting, forecasting, and P&L accountability. 

• Foster a culture of safety, innovation, and continuous improvement. 

• Support the development of local talent and succession planning. 

• Ensure that all the applicable OKR’s from the global and regional business lines are supported and tracked. 

Business Development and Commercial: 

• Develop a solid understanding of Fugro's business capabilities across the Group. 

• Maintain knowledge of Fugro technologies and promote these capabilities among existing and potential clients in close collaboration with the sales department. 

• Lead Business Development, Strategic Sales, and Marketing to identify growth opportunities and areas for improvement focusing on MAI and MSC business lines but supporting the development of the target market segments and providing support to Land business line on as needed basis. 

• Support the development of a strong and diversified sales funnel, in all its different stages, that supports the growth projected on the Multi-Year Plan (MYP) and ensures the attainment of the financial performance committed in the monthly, quarterly and yearly forecast and budget.  

• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients and stakeholders, ensuring early engagement with customers and development of strategic, long-term partnerships with customers and key suppliers. 

• Leads the commercial strategy to ensure strong value proposition is presented to the current and future customers aiming to the development of long-term master service agreements and framework agreements. 

• Drives the cultural change shifting from cost plus pricing to market driven, total cost of supplier pricing.  

• Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and retention. 

• Promote a culture of excellent customer service throughout the MSC and MAI organizations. 

• Address customer complaints and issues promptly and effectively. 

Operations and Project Management: 

• Drive revenue growth and profitability through strategic initiatives and efficient operations. 

• Work with the operations support team in planning and operating ongoing and future projects. 

• Champions and acts as ambassador of the operational excellence cultural mindset, driving continuous search for processes improvement and development of local operational excellence leaders. 

• Drives a culture of prevention in all the operational, HSSE and quality functions.  

• Partners with local vessel owners to secure short- and long-term chartered vessels in support of in-country operations.  

• Ensure proper field logistics, staffing, and other resource requirements for projects. 

• Liaise with clients regarding project requirements, planning, KPIs, fieldwork progress, technical guidance, and deliverable status. 

Finance and Compliance: 

• Collaborate closely with the global and regional organizations to ensure that all projects in the countries assigned are executed efficiently and effectively, attaining or improving the as booked margins and in full compliance with Fugro’s global and regional strategies and requirements. 

• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess organizational performance focused on project gross margin and EBIT. 

• Manage MSC and MAI financial resources, including budgets, financial planning, CAPEX requests, forecasts, and cost control. 

• Develop monthly business line performance reports and provide detailed analyses of favorable and unfavorable budget and forecast variances. 

• Ensure the financial health and profitability of the organization. 

• Track and report monthly P&L and Business Line performance according to Fugro's financial information system. 

• Assist in proposal review by the appropriate approval authority. 

• Ensure proposals meet Fugro's internal requirements (financial, HSE, etc.). 

• Follow up with clients on billing and payments. 

Talent Development: 

• Attract, develop, and create an environment to retain talent. 

• Develop and mentor team members for professional growth. 

• Develop a robust succession process for all functions and key roles in the organization, including potential successors. 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Engineering, or Geosciences; MBA or MS preferred. 

• Minimum 10 years of experience managing multi-country, multi-cultural organizations with full P&L and Balance Sheet financial responsibility, preferably in the energy markets. 

• Minimum 5 years of experience operating in Suriname and Guyana. 

• Experience leading business operating on EPC and infrastructure preferable. 

• Demonstrated deep understanding of the statutory requirements in Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad, including local content, tax and foreign exchange, currency controls and labor law. 

• Demonstrated self-motivation and results orientation. 

• Strong business acumen. 

• Excellent decision-making, strategic planning and problem-solving skills 

• Excellent communication skills in English and Spanish, both oral and written. 

• Possess or be able to obtain a valid passport and required work authorizations.