Lead, Fuel & Energy (Corporate)

The Lead Fuel & Energy Buyer serves as a regional and strategic leader within the global fuel procurement and energy management function. This role manages complex operations, high-value transactions, and supplier performance across multiple regions, ensuring compliance, cost optimization, and operational continuity. The position requires deep technical expertise, strong stakeholder engagement, and leadership in process improvement, demand planning, and regulatory compliance. The role also includes mentoring junior staff and driving strategic initiatives to enhance sourcing efficiency and sustainability.

Essential Functions:

• Regional Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a “regional champion” managing operations, clients, and programs across multiple regions or the entire country. Recommend regional-level strategies for consistent performance. Liaise with internal stakeholders, port authorities, agents, suppliers, and surveyors to ensure smooth and compliant bunker operations. Drive regular meetings with the Energy Management team and influence internal stakeholders to resolve operational issues. Build and maintain relationships across departments and facilitate effective communication to resolve process gaps.

• Supplier Management & Performance: Lead Quarterly Business Reviews with key suppliers. Monitor and analyze supplier performance metrics (quality, delivery, compliance). Identify recurring issues and coordinate corrective action plans. Ensure supplier compliance with contractual obligations and mentor junior staff on supplier engagement best practices

• Strategic Procurement & Risk Management: Independently manage fuel delivery, supplier performance, and commercial claims. Handle high-value, urgent, or technically complex spot purchases over $1 million. Monitor commodity availability and pricing risks; lead initiatives to optimize sourcing and reduce costs. Align procurement activities with operational plans and business priorities. Continuously analyze market drivers that move bunker prices. Coach and mentor the purchasing team on index mechanics, spot formula structuring, and how macro factors translate into bunker delivered prices

• Demand Planning & KPI Analysis: Lead monthly forecast demand planning using historical data, seasonal trends, and market factors. Collaborate with suppliers, operations, and energy management teams to ensure accurate forecasts. Analyze KPI trends to identify root causes of performance issues and provide actionable insights. Support continuous improvement initiatives using KPI data and mentor junior staff on forecasting and KPI analysis

• Regulatory Compliance & Technical Expertise: Maintain awareness of compliance areas such as VGP, IMO, FuelEU Maritime, and related abatement technologies (scrubbers, shore power). Deep understanding of ISO 8217 and ISO 4259 reproducibility margins for quality disputes. Ensure claims are escalated if unresolved beyond 30 days; participate in monthly claims review meetings. Identify patterns in claims and recommend preventive measures like third-party surveys.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Scope: Global and regional impact across multiple cruise brands and ports.  Responsibilities extend to strategic sourcing, operational continuity, and compliance oversight. Influences cost efficiency, supplier performance, and process improvement initiatives. Demonstrated knowledge of global fuel indices and index‑based pricing mechanisms; solid understanding of global fuel flow dynamics and the major factors that drive pricing across regions and grades; ability to translate complex market movements into actionable sourcing and contracting strategies.

• Problem solving: Resolves complex operational and contractual challenges affecting multiple regions. Develops corrective action plans and drives continuous improvement. Balances strategic objectives with real-time operational needs under high-pressure conditions. 

• Impact: Direct effect on fuel cost optimization, operational reliability, and compliance. Enhances organizational efficiency through process and system improvements. Strengthens supplier relationships and mitigates operational and financial risks.

• Leadership: This role could have a direct report while participating in strategic sourcing projects, training junior staff and requires high levels of operational, procurement, and problem solving skills in order t