Lead - Shipping Operations (Chartering, Vetting & Port Clearance)

Job Family Group:

• Shipping Group
• Job Description:

Are you ready to join a team that’s driving the future of lubricants & beyond and setting new industry standards? Discover how our diverse and passionate people at Castrol are shaping the industry – and how you can be part of this journey.

We’re seeking versatile experts who share our passion for innovation and excellence. Bring your outstanding perspective, collaborative spirit, and challenge our thinking as we continue to lead the way in the lubricants' market & build businesses beyond lubricants. This is your chance to learn, grow, and thrive in a dynamic and inclusive organization.

Castrol is a global leader in lubricants and part of the bp Group, one of the world’s largest energy companies. In India, Castrol is a publicly listed company, leading in the Automotive, Industrial, and Marine lubricant sectors. With iconic brands, steadfast innovation, strong customer relationships, and a team of highly motivated employees, we have maintained our market leadership in India for over a century. Our robust manufacturing and distribution network in India helps us reach consumers through more than 135,000 outlets.

At Castrol, success knows no bounds. We offer a fast-paced learning environment where you can develop your career, whether in specialized functions or on a general management track. Castrol India has a proud legacy of championing top talent for leadership roles, both locally and globally. ​

Role title - Lead - Shipping Operations (Chartering, Vetting & Port Clearance)

Location - Pune

This role is critical to building Castrol’s independent marine capability, ensuring safe, compliant, and cost-efficient global supply.

You will lead the establishment and ongoing operation of Castrol’s independent global Shipping Operations function, transitioning from bp TSA to a fully owned, future-ready operating model.

This is an enterprise-critical role with end-to-end accountability for safety, compliance, cost, and continuity across global marine movements. You will establish the Shipping Operations Centre of Excellence, define governance and decision rights, and ensure effective execution across chartering, vetting, and port clearance.

You will also ensure Shipping Operations is fully integrated into Castrol’s Logistics Control Tower, enabling end-to-end visibility, performance management, and data-driven decision-making across global marine flows.

This role sits at the intersection of operations, risk management, and strategy, requiring strong leadership across internal teams, TSA providers, third parties, and senior partners.

Key Responsibilities -

1. Shipping Operations CoE & Operating Model:

Establish and lead the global Shipping Operations Centre of Excellence

Define the target operating model, roles, governance, and decision rights across chartering, vetting, and port clearance.

Build scalable operating rhythms, standards, and blocking issue pathways across regions.

Develop organisational capability to support Castrol’s long-term independent marine operating model

2. TSA Ownership & Transition:

Act as Castrol owner for Shipping Operations under the TSA environment

Lead transition planning, cutover readiness, and TSA exit execution

Ensure operational continuity, knowledge transfer, and effective mobilisation of internal and third-party capabilities

Support the development of regional procedures, controls, and service expectations for post-TSA execution

3. Global Performance, Cost & Optimisation:

Drive freight cost optimisation, service reliability, and operational efficiency across marine operations

Define and govern indicators covering cost, service, safety, compliance, utilisation, and demurrage

Oversee shipping capacity, utilisation, and operational trade-offs across regions

Ensure marine operations support supply-demand plans, inventory positioning, and customer delivery commitments

Identify and prioritise continuous improvement opportunities to improve value delivery and resilience

4. Safety, Compliance & Marine Risk:

Set and govern standards for HSSE, sanctions compliance, and marine risk management

Ensure robust control frameworks are in place for vessel, terminal, and cargo movement decisions

Oversee governance for incidents, exceptions, and critical issues impacting safety, compliance, or continuity

Ensure marine operations are driven in accordance with regulatory, internal policy, and assurance requirements

5. Digitalisation & Logistics Control Tower Integration:

Define requirements and lead selection of digital tools for Shipping Operations post-TSA

Embed digital ways of working across chartering, vetting, clearance, and performance reporting

Integrate Shipping Operations into the Logistics Control Tower to improve visibility, exception management, and decision support

Enable data clarity and analytics to support performance management and operational governance

6. Collaborator & Partner Management:

Build strong alignment with Procurement, Finance, HSSE, Legal, Digital, and regional Supply Chain teams

Lead engagement with TSA providers, ship owners, brokers, terminals, and marine service providers

Define clear interfaces between global CoE, regional execution teams, and assurance roles

Influence senior partners on risk, cost, continuity, and operating model decisions.

Required Skill

12–18 years of experience in marine or shipping operations, including chartering, vetting, clearance, and/or port operations

Strong experience in global tanker, lubricants, chemicals, or liquid bulk shipping environments

Proven experience leading complex operating model transitions, TSA exits, outsourcing transitions, or major shipping transformations

Deep understanding of marine risk, vessel vetting standards, sanctions controls, and maritime compliance requirements

Demonstrated ability to lead global teams and influence across regions, functions, and third parties

Strong commercial and operational judgement, with the ability to balance cost, service, risk, and continuity

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Maritime Studies, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related field.

Preferred Skill

Experience in oil & gas, lubricants, or chemical shipping environments

Familiarity with chartering, vetting, voyage management, or Control Tower systems

Experience working with brokers, marine service providers, or 3PL/4PL operating models

Strong understanding of trade compliance, geopolitical risk, and marine assurance governance

You will work with -

Regional Chartering & Voyage Operations Leads

Marine Vetting & Clearance Specialist

Global Supply Chain and Logistics leadership

Procurement, Finance, HSSE, Legal, and Digital teams

TSA providers, ship owners, charterers, brokers, terminals, and marine service partners

Procurement (marine sourcing & contracts)

HSSE, Legal, and Compliance teams

Finance (freight cost, budgeting, performance tracking)

Digital & IT teams (system selection and integration)

External partners: ship owners, charterers, brokers, vetting agencies, port authorities

Regional Supply Chain, Procurement, and Commercial teams

Why Join Castrol ?

We support our people to learn and grow in a diverse and challenging environment. We believe that our team is strengthened by diversity. We are committed to crafting an inclusive environment in which everyone is respected and treated fairly. Diversity Statement: At Castrol, we provide an excellent environment and benefits such as an open and inclusive culture, a great work-life balance, tremendous learning and development opportunities to craft your career path, life and health insurance, medical care package and many others!

Diversity sits at the heart of our company and as an equal opportunity employer, we stay true to our mission by ensuring that our place can be anyone's place. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender and gender identity, sexual orienta