CIO

CubeCold, owned by I Squared Capital, is building an integrated company that provides food and pharmaceutical producers with end-to-end, temperature-controlled logistics solutions. The international CubeCold network for cooled storage, transport, and value-added services was built by acquiring several family businesses in different countries. The Chief Information Officer will lead the strategic effort of integrating their data and technology and roll out the system blueprint across all sites.

About CubeCold

In the food industry, fresh products must be kept chilled or frozen to ensure safety and quality. In the pharma industry, continuous cooled storage is often required to keep medicines or vaccines safe and effective. Companies in these sectors need cooled storage capacity – which is, traditionally, difficult or expensive to build and maintain in-house. CubeCold was founded in 2021 to solve this challenge.

The company offers end-to-end, temperature-controlled logistics solutions for storing and transporting food and pharmaceuticals all over Europe. It has built a platform for clients to find and connect with solutions at different locations. The scale-up acquired several medium-sized, family-owned companies to build an international network for cooled storage and logistics. The company has thus built a presence in the UK, Italy, and the Benelux. In the future, CubeCold wants to make several strategic acquisitions each year, to increase its European market share.

CubeCold is supported by I Squared Capital, a globally operating private equity firm focused on investing in infrastructure, such as energy, utilities, telco, and transport. The entire CubeCold team – including its central team at the Rotterdam headquarters and local teams in the acquired businesses – consists of 450 colleagues. With the support and financial strength of I Squared Capital, CubeCold has all the ingredients to realize its European growth ambition.

Vacancy: Chief Information Officer

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is part of the leadership team, next to the CEO, CFO, COO, CLO, Head of Sales and Network Development, Head of M&A, and HR Director. The CIO will be pivotal in driving CubeCold’s digital strategy, aligning technology initiatives with business goals, and ensuring the IT systems are innovative, scalable, and secure.

IT strategy
The CIO will develop and execute the IT strategy with an eye on business objectives and operational efficiency. They will lead the company’s digital transformation initiatives, including automation, data analytics, and cloud integrations, and select and implement cutting-edge technologies per industry best practices.

They will also oversee the optimization and management of CubeCold’s IT infrastructure, ensuring all systems operate smoothly – including warehouse management systems, transport management systems, the newly implemented ERP system, and all data platforms. The roadmap for next year includes, among other things, the implementation of a company-wide CRM system, an HR system, and Advanced Analytics.

The CIO is also responsible for cybersecurity, compliance, and data governance. They will design and implement robust measures to protect CubeCold’s data and systems and ensure the IT operations comply with GDPR and regulatory standards in the different countries. In charge of vendor management, the CIO will furthermore oversee relationships with IT partners and service providers. They will negotiate contracts with these parties and ensure delivery against agreements.

Budget planning
This person will also manage the IT budget and ensure cost-effective delivery of services as well as proper allocation of resources for future technology investments. In this aspect of the role, a good understanding of the ROI principles and value creation in a PE-owned buy-and-build company is key. Minimizing OPEX is an important KPI for the CIO.

Team management
Lastly, this role manages the IT team across the Rotterdam-based headquarters and the different European locations. In terms of fixed FTEs, this team is relatively small. The company complements its IT capacity with external resources and consultants. The CIO will restructure the organization so that each country has one IT lead and a thought-through choice of in-house or external IT capacity.

“The CIO will foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. In this role, they will get the chance to build one company-wide IT platform through which multiple family businesses are integrated, creating the opportunity for the entire company to achieve operational excellence.” – Hugo Cloete, interim CIO

In this role, an experienced IT leader will have the opportunity to implement CubeCold’s integration-focused strategy from a data and IT perspective, allowing this unique company to grow its success across Europe.

Interested?

CubeColdis working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Jessica Lim at jessica.lim@topofminds.com