Commercial Director

About us

Hanseatic Global Terminals (HGT) is the new Terminal & Infrastructure Division of Hapag-Lloyd, founded in 2023. HGT delivers streamlined terminal operations for all shipping line customers and brings together a portfolio of 22 port terminals and complementary logistics services in 12 countries and on four continents: Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. We will be pursuing growth and set ourselves the target of operating 30 terminals by 2030.

At HGT, we are a highly motivated team of experienced international professionals who believe that growth in any partnership comes from trust and dedication. Our commitment to provide highly efficient terminal operations that are safe, sustainable, and reliable is rooted in a simple yet powerful vision: “offering exceptional service quality at all times.”

The position

We are seeking a Commercial Director to lead the coordination and strengthening of commercial capabilities across HGT’s terminal portfolio. This senior leadership role is responsible for establishing systematic commercial processes, leading major contract negotiations with strong pricing discipline, and driving revenue and margin improvement initiatives. The role requires a hands-on builder mindset and a proven ability to create and run a corporate commercial function from the ground up in a lean environment. Acting as a strong independent contributor, the Commercial Director will personally own analyses, materials, governance design, and early-stage execution before gradually scaling the function and building a team. This position demands a high degree of autonomy and self-direction, with a demonstrated track record of delivering results in settings with limited structure and resources, without reliance on heavy oversight or large support functions.

The Commercial Director will build on existing regional commercial capabilities and rapidly improve alignment with HGT’s organizational and governance strategy, while delivering measurable and sustainable commercial outcomes. The role is based at HGT’s headquarters in Rotterdam.

Key Responsibilities

Build the Corporate Commercial Management Function: 

• Design the commercial operating model: define roles, decision rights, governance, and interfaces between corporate, regions, and terminals.
• Develop and execute alignment in long term global commercial management strategy.

Pricing and Revenue Management: Drive revenue optimization initiatives, notably:

• Tariff modernization and surcharge frameworks.
• Contract re-pricing and renewal discipline.
• Productization of services (e.g., priority berthing, reefer services, storage, gate operations, rail/barge transfers, etc.).

Support M&A and Growth Projects: 

• Support commercial due diligence, synergy valuations, and integration of pricing governance.

Customer Relationship Management (Entity-Led, Corporate-Supported): 

• Oversee and support customer acquisition, relationship management, and development.

Deliver commercial performance management: 

• Develop and implement global performance management, monitoring important commercial indicators including net revenue, yield, margin, retention, win rate, pipeline health, and pricing compliance.

Job requirements

• The ideal candidate has 15+ years of commercial experience in maritime/terminal operations sector, with demonstrated progression to senior leadership roles.
• Deep understanding of container terminal economics, pricing structures, and revenue management principles.
• Strong analytical and commercial judgment: advanced capability in pricing, yield, and customer profitability analytics—able to translate data into clear actions on tariffs, surcharge frameworks, contract repricing, and renewal strategy.
• Revenue management expertise in complex service environments: comfortable optimizing multi-product, capacity-constrained services (e.g., berth/yard utilization impacts, service levels, ancillary revenue streams) with disciplined governance and price controls.
• Commercial due diligence and value creation (M&A): able to independently assess commercial attractiveness, synergies, and risks; build credible synergy cases and integrate pricing governance post-deal.
• Performance management and dashboarding: highly proficient in building KPI frameworks and dashboards (yield, margin, retention, win-rate, pipeline health, pricing compliance), defining data requirements, and driving a management cadence from insights.
• Influence without authority / stakeholder alignment: strong ability to align regional and terminal leadership—balancing corporate governance with local ownership.
• Customer-facing credibility at senior levels: capable of engaging C-suite counterparts to open doors and support acquisition, while enabling entity teams to manage day-to-day relationships and delivery.
• Structured communication: clear, concise communicator who can turn complex commercial topics into decision-ready recommendations for executives and boards.

What we offer

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• High-impact leadership role in a dynamic, global, and collaborative organization.
• Opportunity to shape commercial capabilities for a fast-growing terminal operator.
• Direct reporting to Executive Management with enterprise-wide scope and visibility.