Who we are

Headquartered in Singapore, SATS Ltd. is one of the world’s largest providers of air cargo handling services and Asia’s leading airline caterer. SATS Gateway Services provides airfreight and ground handling services including passenger services, ramp and baggage handling, aviation security services, aircraft cleaning and aviation laundry. SATS Food Solutions serves airlines, institutions, and operates central kitchens with large-scale food production and distribution capabilities for a wide range of cuisines. SATS is present in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, powering an interconnected world of trade, travel and taste. Following the acquisition of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in 2023, the combined SATS and WFS network operates over 215 stations in 27 countries. These cover trade routes responsible for more than 50% of global air cargo volume. SATS has been listed on the Singapore Exchange since May 2000. For more information, please visit www.sats.com.sg

The Role

The Managing Director will establish, launch and lead the Express and Freight Forwarder Handling (EFFH) business in Germany, combining strategic ownership with visible, hands-on operational leadership. The role is accountable for building a safe, compliant, customer-focused and commercially sustainable freight-forwarder handling operation in the new Frankfurt facility.

As this is a start-up business, the incumbent must work directly with operational teams, customers and partners to design and implement processes, resolve day-to-day issues, mobilise resources and stabilise performance. This is not a purely corporate or governance role; it requires regular presence in the operation and personal intervention where service, safety, quality, compliance or customer commitments are at risk. The Managing Director will be expected to establish structure, operating discipline and management routines where these are not yet fully developed.

A key priority is to create one integrated customer proposition across first- and second-line activities in Frankfurt by aligning and optimising processes between WFS GmbH and FCS. The Managing Director will act as the principal customer interface, translating freight-forwarder requirements into practical warehouse and handling solutions and ensuring disciplined end-to-end execution.

The incumbent will also serve as Corporate Officer of WFS GmbH and will hold full accountability for business performance, organisational development, customer delivery, financial results and statutory compliance.

The Managing Director will work in close partnership with the Commercial team to ensure that customer propositions, pricing structures and contractual commitments are operationally deliverable, aligned with business objectives and responsive to market expectations. The role will protect the business from under-pricing by ensuring that the full cost-to-serve, operational complexity, supplier and service-provider costs, risk, liability and required returns are understood before commitments are made.

The incumbent will also build strategic, long-term relationships with key suppliers and service providers, creating dependable capacity, service quality, commercial transparency and mutual accountability while maintaining appropriate resilience, competitive tension and contingency options.

The Managing Director will provide visible and approachable leadership across the business, building trust and collaboration from warehouse agents and operational teams through to senior leadership and external stakeholders. They will be expected to communicate clearly, work collaboratively and establish a culture of shared accountability, teamwork and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

As Corporate Officer of WFS GmbH, the incumbent will establish and lead the EFFH business in the new Frankfurt facility. Key accountabilities include: 

• Start-up mobilisation: Translate the business plan into a practical launch roadmap covering facilities, equipment, systems, licences, suppliers, staffing, training, operating procedures, controls and readiness milestones.
• Hands-on operational leadership: Maintain a regular presence in the operation, lead daily performance reviews, support critical shifts and personally drive resolution of service failures, backlogs, bottlenecks and capacity constraints.
• Visible people leadership and culture: Establish an approachable and collaborative leadership culture, maintaining strong visibility across the operation and creating effective two-way communication between front-line teams, management, customers and senior leadership. Build a culture of teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement and shared ownership of performance.
• Freight-forwarder handling solutions: Design and operate scalable warehouse and handling services around forwarder requirements, including receiving, build-up and breakdown, screening, storage, documentation, handover, trucking interfaces and exception management.
• Developing new business opportunities and driving market share: Drive growth across freight forwarding and cargo handling, identifying opportunities to expand the customer base, services and overall market position.
• Customer implementation and ownership: Lead customer solution design, implementation planning, testing, go-live and post-launch stabilisation; remain the single senior point of accountability for service delivery and escalation. Build strong, long-term customer relationships and ensure commercial and operational issues, including invoicing and service recovery, are addressed proactively.
• Process and systems development: Establish clear standard operating procedures, process maps, work instructions, reporting routines, system requirements and data controls, ensuring adoption through coaching, audits and follow-up.
• Operational excellence and continuous improvement: Establish KPI governance and apply Lean, Six Sigma and structured continuous-improvement methodologies to identify root causes, eliminate waste, improve productivity and quality, optimise capacity and reduce cost while maintaining or improving customer service.
• Safety, security, quality and compliance: Embed a strong operational-control culture and ensure compliance with aviation security, customs, dangerous goods, labour, tax, environmental and corporate requirements; close audit findings and corrective actions promptly.
• People and organisation: Build the management structure and workforce plan, recruit key roles, establish clear accountabilities, develop front-line capability and create a high-performance culture suited to a start-up environment. Establish the management routines, governance and organisational structure required to support sustainable growth.
• Commercial partnership, pricing and contract governance: Work closely with the Commercial team throughout opportunity qualification, solution design, pricing, negotiation and contract approval. Validate volumes, operating assumptions, service scope, cost-to-serve, labour, equipment, storage, systems, supplier charges, risk and liability before committing the business. Ensure pricing and contract terms are aligned with business objectives and market expectations, provide sustainable returns and do not undervalue services or expose the business to unfunded obligations. Establish clear approval guardrails and require appropriate change-control, indexation, minimum-volume, pass-through and additional-service mechanisms where relevant.
• Supplier and service-provider partnerships: Build and maintain long-term, performance-based relationships with strategic suppliers and service providers. Set clear expectations for capacity, competence, quality, compliance, service continuity and cost transparency; conduct regular business reviews; resolve issues collaboratively; and ensure that supplier arrangements support scalable growth, market competitiveness and operational resilience without creating unmanaged dependency.
• Integrated Frankfurt operation: Create effective working interfaces between WFS GmbH, FCS, customers, airlines, hauliers, customs, authorities and suppliers, with clear ownership across the end-to-end cargo and supply chain flow.
• Growth and network development: Develop additional products such as customer-warehouse management and support expansion of the German EFFH network and its integration into the wider European network, including collaboration with the M&A team where appropriate. Support the operational integration of acquired businesses and ensure that customer, commercial, people and process requirements are effectively incorporated.
• Corporate and external representation: Fulfil Corporate Officer responsibilities, maintain effective relationships with employee representatives, authorities and key external stakeholders, and represent the company at relevant corporate, customer and industry events, forums, conferences and associations to strengthen its profile, relationships and market presence.

Job Requirements

Relevant Skills and Experience

• Substantial senior leadership experience in freight forwarding, logistics or integrated supply chain operations, with strong understanding of the forwarder–handler interface.
• Proven experience in start-up, greenfield, turnaround or high-growth environments, with a hands-on approach to building and scaling operations.
• Strong end-to-end supply chain understanding, including freight forwarding, warehousing, transport, customs, suppliers and customer requirements.
• Proven Lean, Six Sigma or continuous-improvement track record, with demonstrable improvements in productivity, quality, cost and service.
• Strong operational knowledge of air cargo, import/export flows, customs, security, dangerous goods and relevant regulatory requirements.
• Proven P&L and commercial management experience, including budgeting, pricing, contract management, productivity and margin management.
• Strong customer and stakeholder management capability, with experience managing senior relationships, implementations, service delivery, invoicing and commercial negotiations.
• Demonstrated ability to build structure, processes and high-performing teams in environments where systems and ways of working are not yet established.
• Visible, approachable and hands-on leadership style, with the ability to engage effectively from front-line operational teams through to senior leadership.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills in English and German, with the ability to lead, align and build trust across a diverse range of stakeholders.

Core Values

We have 5 core People Values at SATS.

Safety: Safety – its ingrained in our DNA

Customer Focus: Every smile is a win for us

Respect: We strive to listen, understand and respect.

Excellence: Excellence isn’t just a goal, it’s the SATS way.

Teamwork: We don’t just collaborate. We amplify each other’s strengths.