Permanent - Managing Director - Cape Town - South Africa

Job description

• This isn’t a sit-in-meetings-and-nod MD role. Forget layers of middle management and dusty 40-page strategy decks.
• You’re here to run the business, fix what’s broken, and make things better week by week. You own performance, pace, and outcomes. Something’s off
• You don’t write a doc, you sort it out.
• You’ll work alongside our strategy team, but ultimately, this is “here are the keys, drive” territory.

Job requirements
Commercial performance

• Own revenue, margin, and profitability like it’s your own money.
• Spot opportunities and move quickly
• Make good calls without waiting for perfect data (it rarely exists)
• ️ Execution & ops
• Keep things running across Supply, Demand, Tech and Operations
• Unblock teams and remove friction
• Fix what’s not working without overcomplicating it

Leadership

• Lead a team of smart, driven people
• Build a culture of ownership and follow-through
• Have the awkward conversations early, not after 6 months of side-eye

Strategy

• Set direction, but stay close to what’s actually happening
• Balance big picture thinking with day-to-day reality

Strat Team Partnership

• The Bridge: You aren't a solo act. You’re a key player in our Strat Team, turning high-level vision into floor-level results.
• Sparring Partner: Be the one who challenges the "why" and perfects the "how." We need a leader who aligns with the executive layer but isn't afraid to poke holes in a plan if it's too slow or too complex.

Personal Skills and Attributes

• You’ve run or played a key role in a fast-paced ecommerce or retail business
• You understand the numbers and what drives them
• You make decisions and keep things moving
• You’re comfortable in a bit of chaos and can bring order where needed
• You take proper ownership
• You’re happy to get into the detail when it counts

Experience

This is NOT the opportunity for you if…

• You enjoy strategy more than execution
• You need everything perfectly structured before starting
• You avoid tough conversations
• You want a polished corporate environment
• You’re here for the title, not the work
• You don’t like getting into the detail when things get messy

What success looks like in 12 months

• Revenue and profitability are clearly up
• The team is stronger and more accountable
• Decisions happen faster
• Fewer bottlenecks, more momentum
• The business runs better, plain and simple

A peek into how we operate

• We’re a small team doing big things.
• We focus on getting things done, not looking busy
• We’re honest and direct, but fair
• We move quickly and fix as we go
• We take the work seriously, but we don't take ourselves too seriously