Head of Commercial Operations, APAC

Purpose

This is a senior leadership role with accountability for the performance and transformation of Commercial Operations across 10 APAC markets. The role spans two equally important mandates: running a high-performing, cost-efficient operations function today and leading the multi-year programme to modernise it. The right candidate will be as comfortable in a quarterly performance review as they are shaping a three-year automation roadmap and credible with underwriters, technology teams, and senior regional leadership alike.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Own end-to-end Commercial Ops performance across APAC — issuance, bookings, submissions, indexing, renewals, and endorsements.

• Drive productivity, quality, and cost-to-serve targets.

• Lead and develop a distributed team of operations managers and senior specialists, including in CBS hub teams in Philippines and KL.

• Partner closely with P&C and A&H underwriting leaders to ensure operational delivery aligns with underwriting appetite and service expectations.

• Maintain clear performance frameworks that give senior stakeholders timely and accurate visibility of ops health — reporting cadences, KPIs, escalation paths 

• Manage operational risk proactively, including process controls, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance across markets.

Transformation & Change

• Lead the Commercial Ops transformation programme including automation initiatives, workflow platforms, and legacy system migration from business case through to benefits realisation.

• Define and own the multi-year FTE and cost reduction roadmap, ensuring initiative sequencing is realistic and savings are trackable.

• Act as the primary commercial operations voice in enterprise transformation programmes.

• Build the case for investment where required; prepare and present business cases to regional and global stakeholders.

• Drive adoption of new tools and processes across markets, managing the people and change dimension in step with the technical delivery owners.

• Establish baseline measurement and benefits tracking frameworks so transformation impact can be reported with confidence.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build trusted relationships with underwriting, finance, technology, and HR leaders across APAC markets. 

• Influence without authority — navigate complex, matrixed stakeholder environments to drive alignment and move programmes forward.

• Represent Commercial Ops in regional leadership forums; provide clear, evidence-based reporting to the Head of Operations & Transformation, APAC.

• Engage with country-level operations teams and market heads to embed regional strategy within local delivery.