Position
As Operations Director EMEA you are responsible for leading, developing, and driving the performance of the entire EMEA Operations organisation. You oversee our Operations in the Netherlands, Belgium (from our Tilburg HQ), United Kingdom, Germany and the Gulf region (mainly Saudi Arabia and staff in Qatar). You build a unified operational structure, secure global standards, and ensure scalable, high-quality project execution. You are based in Tilburg and report directly to the COO. You are a member of the board.
MTD is the global market leader in temporary water and wastewater infrastructures with more than 35 years of experience. With over 80% of our revenue (in Europe) coming from recurring business, Operational Excellence, standardisation, and margin-focused execution are essential foundations for sustainable growth.
Purpose of the Role
The purpose of this role is to build and lead a high-performing, scalable, and internationally standardised Operations organisation. You ensure structure, consistency, and discipline in all operational processes while operating in a fast-paced environment. You will drive a unified way of working across EMEA. You secure high utilisation of teams, strong margin accountability, and world-class recurring project delivery.
Additionally, you lead the operational development required to support MTD's Flex division, and you hold direct leadership responsibility for the Fleet department, which manages MTD's global rental inventory and ensures optimal availability, deployment, and lifecycle management of equipment.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic & Tactical Leadership
- Develops and implements the EMEA Operations strategy.
- Establishes a unified way of working, ensuring consistent processes, documentation, and compliance across all countries.
- Strengthens Operational Excellence practices to support the recurring project base (80% of revenue).
- Leads the operational development and scaling of the Flex division in EMEA.
- Owns policies for water quality, ISO standards, safety, and end-to-end process governance.
2. Operational Excellence, Processes & Quality Assurance
- Ensures efficient planning, execution, and delivery of projects within Events, Expo, and Flex.
- Drives end-to-end process standardisation, ensuring adoption across teams and countries.
- Sets up KPI structures and performance dashboards (quality, cost, lead time, safety, margin, utilisation).
- Embeds margin awareness and ownership into daily operations, ensuring teams understand and improve their financial impact.
- Ensures compliance with water-quality standards and local regulatory requirements.
3. Resource Planning & Workforce Strategy
- Develops a multi-year workforce and capacity strategy that supports both recurring operations and the Flex division.
- Ensures high utilisation of field engineers and project managers through effective forecasting, scheduling, and cross-country planning.
- Owns the workforce and Fleet (inventory) planning cycle, including demand planning, resource allocation, and optimisation of deployment.
- Improves the match between required skills and available workforce, anticipating peak periods and recurring project cycles.
- Aligns closely with Fleet Department (who manages our rental inventory) to maximise equipment utilisation and operational efficiency.
4. People Leadership & Culture
- Leads and develops Operations Managers across the region, building a strong leadership pipeline.
- Creates a culture of ownership, learning, continuous improvement, and margin accountability.
- Strengthens collaboration between country teams through shared standards, regular alignment, and transparent communication.
- Promotes safe, high-quality, and customer-centric behaviours.
5. Stakeholder Management
- Works closely with Sales, Project Management, Fleet Department, and Finance to secure predictable and profitable project outcomes.
- Aligns operational planning with commercial forecasting and long-term business development.
- Acts as a strategic partner for internal and external stakeholders across EMEA.
6. Key Result Areas
- Process adherence & unified way of working
- Operational Excellence in recurring operations
- Margin performance & cost effectiveness
- High utilisation of field engineers & project managers
- Resource and capacity optimisation
- Quality, safety, customer satisfaction
- Flex division operational readiness & scalability
- Team leadership & culture development
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Logistics, Engineering, or related field.
- 5-10 years of senior operational leadership experience in an international, project-driven environment. An affinity with events is a plus.
- Proven experience with workforce planning, utilisation optimisation, and operational excellence.
- Experience in (recurring) project operations or process-driven industries is preferred.
- Strong background in building standardised ways of working across multiple countries.
Skills & Competencies
- The ability to excel in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to self-direct and motivate and work with minimal supervision.
- Strong process orientation and ability to enforce consistent operational standards.
- Financial expertise with the ability to drive margin accountability across teams.
- Expertise in workforce planning, forecasting, and utilisation management.
- Skilled in LEAN, ISO, or other continuous improvement methodologies.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
- Coaching leadership style that builds capability and encourages ownership.
- Fluent in Dutch and English (preferably German too).
Knowledge & skills
- You have a bachelor's degree in business, Logistics, or related field.
- Minimum of five years leadership experience (C-Level). An affinity with events is a plus.
- Dutch and English in speaking and writing at a full professional level.
- You manage time well in an environment with shifting or multiple priorities.
- You pay attention to detail and exhibit a strong focus on quality (LEAN and ISO experience are a plus). You are organised with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Stress resistant and a flexible attitude.
- Possesses leadership skills and is a ‘motivator and leader’ for the rest of the team.
- You have excellent communication skills to deal with different suppliers, colleagues, and our global offices.
