Senior Director, Operations, APAC

Why Join Us

Asia Pacific is one of the world's most dynamic and diverse regions. We are seeking an exceptional senior leader to drive operational excellence, lead and develop the General Managers in the region, and shape the future success of Cook Medical across APAC. This is a unique opportunity for a high-calibre executive who thrives in complex, multicultural environments and is passionate about delivering impact, fostering collaboration, and growing with a values-driven organization.

 

 

Overview

The Senior Director, Operations, APAC is a senior regional executive responsible for ensuring the consistent, compliant, and high-quality operational functioning of Cook Medical across all Asia-Pacific markets in service to commercial aims and success. This role provides focused operational leadership across the APAC region, directly managing the General Managers who serve as Cook's senior in-market leaders. The Senior Director, Operations, APAC enables commercial success through focused planning in support of commercial objectives removing operational friction, maintaining governance standards, and fostering strong, collaborative partnerships between General Managers and market-level commercial leaders — while preserving the independence of operational and commercial functions.

This role operates at the same organizational level as the APAC Senior Commercial Leaders, functioning as an equal stakeholder peer in regional decision-making. The Senior Director, Operations, APAC also serves as the connective thread for global functional departments operating across the region — driving alignment, coordinating resources around shared priorities, and ensuring that regional representation and local expertise remain adequately and properly intact.

*Internal candidates: relocation may be considered for qualified candidates.

Responsibilities

General Manager Leadership and Development

• Directly manage and develop the eight APAC General Managers, providing ongoing coaching, performance oversight, and career development planning.
• Set clear expectations for the GM role — including the distinction between operational ownership and commercial partnership — and clarify what the GM role is and is not.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, structured performance reviews, and development conversations with each GM.
• Identify succession candidates within the GM population and partner with HR to build proactive pipelines.
• Support GMs in navigating cross-functional and cross-divisional complexity at the market level.

Operational Standards and Governance

• Establish, maintain, and continuously improve consistent operational standards across all APAC markets, including facilities management, government and regulatory engagement, employment law compliance, and company culture.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for operational issues that span functions, divisions, or require cross-market coordination.
• Partner with the VP, EMEA on the application of global and regional operational best practices; ensure governance standards are maintained across APAC consistent with broader Cook standards.
• Monitor operational health across markets and report on performance indicators, compliance posture, and escalation resolution.

Global Functional Collaboration and Regional Coordination

• Drive active collaboration among global functional departments — including Finance, HR, Supply Chain, Quality, and Regulatory — operating across the APAC region, aligning resources and priorities to best serve organizational commercial goals.
• Serve as the primary regional advocate and coordination point, ensuring that market-level expertise, local knowledge, and priorities are properly represented in global functional decision-making.
• Convene and facilitate cross-functional alignment forums across the region, bringing together functional leads, General Managers, and commercial leaders to surface shared priorities, resolve friction, and advance regional objectives.
• Ensure that global functional structures enhance rather than diminish regional effectiveness — actively closing coordination gaps and connecting the right stakeholders to the right conversations.

Commercial Partnership

• Operate as an equal stakeholder peer to the APAC Senior Commercial Leaders; maintain a clear operational-commercial boundary while enabling active collaboration.
• Support commercial objectives by ensuring GMs and respective entities are in service to commercial success in the region and each market.
• Facilitate alignment between GMs and market-level commercial leaders, in conjunction with APAC Senior Commercial Directors, ensuring that both MedSurg and Vascular divisions receive equal and unbiased operational support.
• Participate in joint planning processes with commercial leadership to ensure operational capacity is aligned with commercial priorities and growth plans.

Stakeholder and Relationship Management

• Represent APAC operational interests in senior leadership forums, divisional planning processes, and cross-functional governance bodies.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with government agencies, regulatory bodies, and external stakeholders across APAC markets, in partnership with local GMs across each market.
• Communicate with senior executive leadership regarding matters of regional strategic importance; conduct regular briefings on operational health and priorities.
• Promote Cook Medical's reputation, values, and Code of Ethics across all APAC operations and personnel.

Hiring, Succession, and Organizational Health

• Manage hiring, performance, and rewards decisions for direct and indirect reports within the APAC Operations function, in accordance with Cook Medical's corporate guidelines.
• Support talent acquisition processes for GM-level roles; partner with HR to develop succession plans for key positions across APAC.
• Champion organizational health across the region, including culture, employee engagement, and alignment with Cook's values.
• Where GMs have existing informal or ambiguous direct-report relationships, partner with local HR to formally review and resolve these in line with the updated operating model.

Regional Strategy and Planning

• Ensuring the development, sustainment, and execution of market-specific (3-5 year horizon) plans, in conjunction with APAC commercial leadership, aligned with global corporate direction and divisional strategy.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, reduce friction, and strengthen the operating environment across markets.
• Collaborate with divisional leadership teams on market-specific strategies, particularly for priority markets (Korea, China, Japan, India), which represent approximately 90% of APAC revenue.
• Leverage market insights, competitive intelligence, and best practices to continuously evolve the APAC operating model.

Qualifications

Education and/or Work Experience Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, Life Sciences, Engineering, International Management, or a related field required; MBA or advanced degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and senior leadership experience in a multinational environment.
• Minimum 15 years of progressive leadership experience, with substantial tenure in regional operations management, general management, or cross-functional executive leadership in the medical device, healthcare, or adjacent industry.
• Proven track record managing complex, multi-territory or multi-market operational environments, preferably with direct experience across APAC markets.
• Experience directly managing General Managers, Market or Territory Managers, or equivalent senior operational leaders across multiple geographies.
• Demonstrated success leading organizations through structural redesign, operating model evolution, and cross-functional integration.
• Prior experience operating in a matrixed, dual-reporting structure with strong ability to maintain clarity on accountability and decision rights.

Knowledge, Skills, and/or Abilities

• General understanding of APAC regulatory environments (e.g., PMDA — Japan, NMPA — China, KFDA — Korea, CDSCO — India) and government and regulatory relationship management.
• Advanced business acumen; experience managing or advising on operational P&L, budgeting, and forecasting.
• Exceptional leadership and people development capability; ability to coach, assess, and develop senior leaders across culturally diverse contexts.
• Strong communication and executive presence; ability to influence senior executive leadership and conduct effective briefings across organizational levels and geographies.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate complex, multicultural environments and lead cross-functional teams without direct authority over all parties.
• Strategic thinking with the ability to translate organizational goals into clear operational plans and team-level priorities.
• Fluency in English required; proficiency in additional APAC regional languages is a meaningful advantage.
• Willingness and ability to travel across the APAC region and internationally as required.

Physical Location & Requirements

The role is required to be based within the Asia Pacific region, with China, Japan, Korea, India, Hong Kong, and Singapore as the preferred locations; relocation may be considered for qualified candidates, where applicable.  Successful candidate must be able to perform the essential functions of the job, subject to reasonable accommodation requirements under applicable law. Works under general office environmental conditions. Moderate to significant travel across the APAC region and internationally is expected.