Associate Director, Cross Border (GCC)

Job Description

About noon

We're building an ecosystem of digital products and services that power everyday life across the Middle East—fast, scalable, and deeply customer-centric. Our mission is to deliver to every door every day. We want to redefine what technology can do in this region, and we're looking for an Associate Director - GCC who can help us move even faster.

noon's mission: Every door, every day.

What you'll do:

• Formulate and execute the long-term strategic roadmap for noon's GCC cross-border logistics network, driving growth, operational efficiency, and market expansion.
• Oversee end-to-end GCC cross-border operations across all lanes (the UAE and KSA to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, and the UAE to KSA), ensuring seamless integration with destination processing centers and last-mile vendors.
• Define, monitor, and elevate macro-level KPIs (TAT, process adherence, FIFO, and connection times) while improving global SLAs and ensuring adherence across internal and external networks.
• Lead strategic partnerships and high-value commercial negotiations with 3PL providers, international line-haul carriers, airlines, charter operators, and last-mile vendors.
• Operationalize, scale, and optimize bonded operations in the UAE and KSA in coordination with customs authorities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia.
• Oversee customs clearance at all ports of entry (primarily air and land) in the UAE and KSA, and build equivalent capabilities across the rest of the GCC.
• Champion organizational leadership by supervising, mentoring, and scaling high-performing operations teams, ensuring robust workforce planning aligned with forecast volumes.
• Sponsor the development and implementation of new technology-driven processes, specialized SOPs, and cross-functional product rollouts in collaboration with central excellence teams.
• Take full ownership of lane-level and network-level financial performance, optimizing P&L metrics, validating comprehensive vendor billing frameworks, and leading cost-control initiatives.
• Institutionalize rigorous compliance frameworks, ensuring full adherence to multi-country regulatory, customs, and international documentation requirements.
• Collaborate with cross-functional executive leaders to drive alignment, resolve complex operational roadblocks, and enable frictionless end-to-end execution.

What you'll need:

• Education: A bachelor's degree in operations management, supply chain logistics, or engineering. A master's degree or MBA from a premier business school is highly preferred.
• Experience: At least 12 years of professional experience, including at least five years in senior leadership roles managing large-scale e-commerce, cross-border, or international supply chain logistics operations.
• Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of global cross-border freight forwarding, customs clearance, international line-haul networks, and 3PL vendor ecosystems.
• Analytical Capability: Advanced capabilities in data analysis, financial modeling, and strategic reporting. Expertise in data-driven decision-support systems is essential.
• Technical Acumen: Proficiency in leveraging technology, such as AI, to optimize supply chains and improve transparency, along with foundational SQL knowledge or experience collaborating with business intelligence teams.
• Problem Solving: Structured problem-solving capabilities, exceptional analytical precision, and deep commercial acumen, with the ability to transform data insights into executive-level strategic initiatives.
• Stakeholder Management: Exceptional interpersonal and multi-stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to present to, negotiate with, and influence senior executive leadership.
• Leadership Philosophy: A proven track record as a passionate, people-centric leader capable of driving exceptional results, structural accountability, and a high-performance culture in fast-growing environments.

• We are looking for individuals with uncompromisingly high standards who truly understand that hard work matters.
• You need to be relentlessly resourceful, possess high emotional intelligence, and operate with a deep, instinctive bias for action.
• We need visionary leaders with the courage to be fiercely original and disrupt conventional paradigms.
• noon is not for everyone; an absolute readiness to adapt, pivot, and continuously learn is vital for success.

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