Purpose of the role
This role is to partner with Country Managing Director in the execution of strategic (commercial and operational) initiatives within the country. The incumbent will also be responsible for managing end-to-end project execution for the various key strategic initiatives in their country of operation. With the constant evolution of the Tax-Fee Shopping industry, various key strategic initiatives require competent project management oversight to ensure execution and delivery.

Responsibilities
◆Leading Strategic Initiatives and Business Case preparation
・Analyse all aspects of strategic initiatives critically and apply business rationale to support/reject the initiatives and provide alternative recommendations, as needed
・Conceptualizes all new and ongoing strategic initiatives clearly and recommends a practical and feasible delivery timeline
・Lead discussions with upper management on strategic initiatives
・Creates detailed financial analysis and business cases on projects (able to utilize Microsoft Excel effectively for this purpose)
・Leads and responsible for all assigned strategic initiatives from approval to delivery stages

◆Project Management
・Creates and executes project work plans and timelines and revises as appropriate to meet changing needs and requirements
・Manages day-to-day operational aspects of the project and scope
・Effectively communicates and leads relevant project information to different level of stakeholders (steering committee, local country management team and local operation/sales team)
・Works with teams in locally and regionally to meet agreed and critical milestones for initiatives
・Facilitates regular status meeting with upper management and project working team (across both local teams and global teams based in Europe and APAC)
・Ensures documents and major digital assets are complete, current, and stored appropriately.
・Resolves and /or escalates issues in a timely fashion
・Prepares the required project documentation (e.g. project handbook, project plans, project reports) and manages the execution of thereof all the projects. This requires establishing and managing the project team and collaborating with project owner. It includes communication around the project with internal and external stakeholders.
・Follows best practices in relation to ‘project management processes’

◆Monthly Business Review / Strategic Business Review
・Supports Country Managing Director with Monthly Business Reporting by consolidating the business review deck (projects, commercial updates and controlling sections)
・Supports Country Managing Director with annual / bi-annual Strategic Business review by developing the presentation that houses all strategic initiatives, financial performances and analyses for discussion with upper management

Qualifications and education requirements
•University degree or similar relevant experience
•Prior consulting experience will be an advantage
•MBA preferred but not required
•Project Management Certification (PMI, IPMA) an added advantage
•Independent and self-motivating personality
•Persistence in following processes and procedures
•Strong written and oral ability in English and Japanese