Head of Global Value Stream Management – APM Terminals

Head of Global Value Stream Management (VSM) – APM Terminals | The Hague, Netherlands

APM Terminals is at the centre of global trade, operating a network of container terminals that support the movement of cargo around the world.

As we continue to strengthen how we operate as one global business, we are looking for a Head of Global Value Stream Management (VSM) to establish and lead the enterprise approach to value streams, process management and process governance across APM Terminals.

This is not a traditional Lean, Continuous Improvement or PMO leadership role.

The opportunity is to create the long-term organisational capability that connects our enterprise operating model, value streams and processes, bringing greater clarity to how work flows across APM Terminals, where decisions are made and how we continuously improve performance.

You will work across functions, terminals and geographies, influencing from the operational frontline through to senior leadership. Success will depend as much on your ability to build trust, navigate complexity and mobilise an international organisation as it will on your technical understanding of Lean, value streams and process management.

The Role

As Head of Global Value Stream Management, you will own and develop APM Terminals' enterprise approach to value streams and process management and help embed this as an enduring organisational capability.

Working across a complex global matrix, you will connect business process owners, process experts, terminal teams, functions and technology around a common approach to how processes are designed, governed, understood and improved.

The role will initially report to the Head of Transformation Office, reflecting the close connection to the enterprise operating model work currently being developed through Standard Terminal. You will play a central role in taking this work from programme design into sustainable business ownership.

This requires a leader who combines deep practical experience with strong business judgement, someone who can maintain rigour and standards while understanding when the organisation genuinely needs to adapt.

What You Will Lead

Enterprise Value Streams & Process Management

• Establish and lead the enterprise approach to Value Stream Management across APM Terminals.
• Translate the enterprise value tree into clearly defined value streams and underlying processes.
• Create greater clarity around process ownership, accountabilities and decision-making.
• Establish the governance and discipline required to manage processes consistently across a global organisation.
• Ensure Value Stream Management becomes an embedded business capability rather than a standalone programme.

Process Governance & Operating Model

• Help translate APM Terminals' enterprise operating model into practical ways of working.
• Establish clear principles and governance for how value streams and processes are defined and managed.
• Bring greater consistency to process management while recognising legitimate differences across terminals, functions and markets.
• Connect individual process changes to their wider upstream and downstream impact.
• Ensure process ownership remains closely connected to operational and business outcomes.

Global Process Communities

• Build strong communities of Business Process Owners, Business Process Experts and subject-matter experts across APM Terminals.
• Establish an effective cadence for these communities to collaborate, resolve issues and drive change.
• Strengthen connectivity between terminals, functions, process communities and Technology.
• Create clear routes through which the organisation can access expertise and understand the impact of proposed change.
• Build ownership in the business rather than creating dependency on a large central function.

Business Transformation & Technology Enablement

• Partner closely with the Transformation Office and Transformation Leads across the wider transformation portfolio, providing VSM and process-management expertise to help shape and enable successful business transformation.
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• Ensure major technology programmes are approached as business and process transformations, not simply technology implementations.
• Bring process, data, training, ownership and operational impact into the design of significant change.
• Ensure changes to processes are understood end-to-end, including their impact elsewhere within the value stream. Partner with Technology and business stakeholders to enable scalable implementation across APM Terminals.
• Support the development and implementation of APM Terminals' future process-management system.

Leadership Through a Global Matrix

• Build and lead a small, high-calibre central capability while delivering predominantly through the wider APM Terminals matrix.
• Mobilise expertise across terminals, corporate functions and specialist communities.
• Influence outcomes where direct organisational authority may be limited.
• Build strong relationships across the global terminal network and remain visibly connected to operations.
• Develop the organisation's broader capability in value-stream and process management.

Executive & Stakeholder Leadership

• Operate confidently from the operational frontline through to senior leadership.
• Build credibility and trust across a diverse international stakeholder environment.
• Navigate competing priorities and perspectives while maintaining the integrity of agreed principles.
• Know when to hold the line, when to listen and when the organisation needs to adapt.
• Translate complex process and Lean concepts into practical language that resonates across all levels of the business.

What We're Looking For

• Significant leadership experience in Value Stream Management, Lean, Operational Excellence, Process Excellence, Enterprise Process Management, Business Systems, Manufacturing Excellence or a closely related discipline.
• Practical experience establishing, scaling or embedding process-management, Lean or business-system capabilities within a complex organisation.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end value streams and the relationship between processes, operating models, governance and business performance.
• Experience gained within a mature Lean environment such as manufacturing, automotive, industrial, supply chain, logistics, infrastructure or another complex operational setting.
• Demonstrated ability to lead enterprise-scale transformation and turn methodology into practical operational outcomes.
• Strong executive stakeholder management and the political judgement to navigate competing priorities while maintaining trust.
• Proven ability to influence through complex global and matrix organisations.
• The credibility to engage equally effectively with frontline operational teams and senior executives.
• Experience building communities, capabilities and organisational ownership beyond a central team.
• The curiosity and humility to listen and understand a new organisation before applying previous experience.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and adapting as organisational priorities and structures evolve.
• A pragmatic, outcome-oriented leadership style focused on what has actually been delivered rather than methodology alone.
• Previous container terminal experience is welcome but not essential.

What Success Looks Like

Within your first year, you will have begun establishing the core VSM capability and built meaningful relationships across APM Terminals' global network.

You will be recognised across terminals and functions as the leader for value streams and process management, supported by active process communities with genuine business participation.

You will also be helping move APM Terminals towards a stronger process-management technology landscape and a model where process, technology and business change are considered together rather than in isolation.

Location

The role is based in The Hague, Netherlands and will require significant engagement across APM Terminals' international terminal network.

The initial period will particularly require the successful candidate to spend time within terminals, build relationships and develop a strong understanding of APM Terminals' operations and different levels of process maturity.

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