Country Director, Aquaculture

Blue Alliance Marine Protected Areas; Palawan; On-site; PHP 1,500,000 - 3,500,000; Full time

Job summary

AQUAHUB Philippines seeks a Country Director to lead growth across Panay, Guimaras, and Palawan, overseeing hatcheries, grow-out farming, processing and exports. The role requires P&L accountability, strong leadership across sites, and deep knowledge of the Philippines business environment.

You will manage budgets, drive revenue, optimize operations, and build a capable team while engaging with regulators, partners and communities.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to lead multi-site aquaculture or seafood production businesses.
• Track record of managing revenues, costs and profitability.
• Experience collaborating with regulators, partners and communities.
• Strong leadership, performance management and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English with clear reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead growth and expansion across Panay, Guimaras and Palawan.
• Oversee hatcheries, grow-out farming, processing and exports.
• Drive EBITDA and operating profitability while controlling costs.
• Manage budgets, schedules, and investment plans; approve expenditures.
• Build and lead Philippines management team across finance, admin, logistics and procurement.
• Maintain governance, health and safety, and regulatory compliance.

Skills

Multi-site leadership

P&L management

Strategic planning

Stakeholder engagement

Team building

Strong English communication

Entrepreneurial mindset

Operational excellence

Job description

Job Description

Lead the growth of an integrated aquaculture business, from hatcheries and grow out farming to seafood processing and exports.

Join AQUAHUB Philippines as Country Director.

We are seeking an entrepreneurial and results driven Country Director with proven project management, business leadership experience and strong P&L management capabilities to lead the growth and expansion of AQUAHUB Philippines, with operations across Panay, Guimaras, and Palawan where we cultivate sea cucumbers and mangrove crabs.

Our business covers the entire aquaculture value chain, from hatchery production and grow out farming including contract farming with coastal communities, to seafood processing and international exports.

The successful candidate will have a demonstrated track record of managing business operations, driving revenue growth, controlling costs, and delivering profitability.

They will oversee multiple sites, lead multidisciplinary teams, develop and execute business plans, and ensure operational and financial performance.

Substantial professional experience in the Philippines is essential, including a strong understanding of the local business environment, regulatory framework, and working culture.

Experience in aquaculture, agriculture, seafood production, or related industries is highly valued, but proven general management capabilities, entrepreneurial mindset, and full P&L accountability are our primary selection criteria.

Core Responsibilities

1. Business performance and strategy execution

• Deliver the approved business plan, with particular focus on revenues, EBITDA and operational profitability.
• Prepare and manage annual budgets and investment plans, control costs and ensure efficient use of company resources.
• Monitor performance against targets, identify variances early and implement corrective action plans.
• Propose adjustments to the business plan and operating model when supported by operational or financial results.
• Approve expenditure within approved budgets, while coordinating closely with the Aquaculture Director.

2. Production and operations

• Ensure production targets for volume, survival, growth, quality and unit production cost are achieved across all operations.
• Ensure reliable production volumes, product specifications, quality, traceability and readiness for export in coordination with the Group commercial function.
• Lead the scaling of hatchery, nursery and grow out operations for mud crab and sea cucumber, including relevant polyculture systems.
• Develop contract farming as a scalable component of the grow out model, initially representing approximately 10% of production capacity, with the potential to increase progressively based on demonstrated operational and financial performance.
• Ensure effective maintenance and management of equipment, infrastructure and company assets.

3. Growth and project delivery

• Lead the rapid expansion of existing operations through new production capacity, construction, rehabilitation, leases, acquisitions and partnerships as required by the business plan.
• Remain accountable for delivery while using external specialists and contractors where appropriate.
• Track schedule, budget and quality against plan, measure variances and drive corrective actions with contractors and internal teams.

4. People and organization

• Lead the Philippines management team, including operations and back office functions covering finance, administration, logistics and procurement.
• Recruit, develop, evaluate and manage staff performance within approved budgets.
• Address underperformance quickly and ensure clear responsibilities, objectives and follow up across the organization.
• Exercise authority on disciplinary actions and terminations while coordinating key hires and terminations with the Aquaculture Director.
• Build a professional, accountable and execution focused organization able to operate across multiple sites.

5. Technical performance and governance

• Ensure technical SOPs and standards defined with the relevant species and technical experts are correctly implemented across operations.
• Measure variances from SOPs, implement corrective actions and ensure operations return to agreed standards.
• Use operational data and field experience to challenge assumptions, propose improvements and recommend changes to technical experts and the Aquaculture Director.
• Track improvement action plans and measure the impact of agreed changes.
• Ensure company requirements for governance, procurement, reporting, health and safety, biosecurity and internal controls are implemented.

6. External representation and compliance

• Act as the senior representative of Aquahub Philippines with government authorities, regulators, academic and research institutions, strategic partners and other key stakeholders.
• Maintain strong working relationships with institutions including BFAR, PCSD, SEAFDEC and relevant LGUs.
• Take full accountability for permits, regulatory compliance and institutional relationships required for current operations and expansion.
• Ensure regulatory or stakeholder issues are identified early and resolved without unnecessary delays to operations.

7. Reporting and performance monitoring

• Maintain clear and reliable operational, financial and production reporting.
• Monitor and report key performance indicators including revenues, EBITDA, production volume, survival, growth, quality, unit production cost, budget variance, expansion delivery and staff performance.
• Provide regular performance updates, forecasts, risks and corrective action plans to the Aquaculture Director.

Candidate Requirements

• Strong track record in growing and managing a seafood, aquaculture or closely related production business.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi site operations, teams, budgets and business growth.
• Sufficient aquaculture knowledge to understand production systems, assess performance and work effectively with technical experts.
• Experience managing complex operations and significant budgets.
• Experience working with government authorities, regulators, partners and the private sector.
• Entrepreneurial and commercially minded, with strong ownership of results.
• Resilient, highly organized and execution focused, with a get it done attitude.
• Able to manage several sites, teams and priorities at the same time.
• Strong leadership, performance management and problem-solving skills.
• Able to work independently while collaborating closely with Group management and technical experts.
• Strong English communication and reporting skills.
• Willing and able to spend at least 50% of working time at production sites and in direct meetings with authorities, partners, suppliers and other key stakeholders.

Preferred

• Experience in Southeast Asia or comparable operating environments (strongly preferred).

Requirements

Please refer to job description.

Leadership Strategic Planning Financial Management Risk Management Team Building Stakeholder Engagement Decision Making Communication Negotiation

Tips

Some of our features may not work properly on your device.