Commercial Finance Manager – Food Manufacturing

1. Role Purpose & Context

We are a leading food manufacturer supplying a diverse portfolio split equally (50/50) between major grocery retailers (both Branded and Private/Own-Label contracts) and the Foodservice channel (wholesalers, cash & carry, and end-user buying groups).

The Commercial Finance Manager will operate as the critical bridge between finance, commercial sales, and operations and will report to Finance Director. This role requires an adaptable commercial professional who can manage high-volume retail trade spend alongside complex foodservice matrix pricing models to protect margins and drive profitable growth.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Commercial Business Partnering: Act as the primary financial partner to the Commercial Director, National Account Managers (NAMs), and marketing teams across both channels..
• Retail JBP & Promotional Governance: Track, model, and evaluate the financial ROI of supermarket promotional calendars. Manage the gross-to-net commercial deductions, ensuring accurate accounting for retrospective rebates, overriders, and promotional accruals. Perform monthly reconciliation of rebates for each customer based on accrual vs invoice.
• Own-Label Tender Optimization: Lead cost-volume-profit modeling for complex private-label tenders for both Retail and Food Service
• Foodservice Pricing Strategy: Govern and optimize matrix pricing models for foodservice distributors (e.g., Bidfood, Brakes) and buying groups.
• NPD & Innovation Analysis: Provide rigorous financial validation for New Product Development (NPD) and product line extensions across both branded and own-label sectors, ensuring projects pass defined stage-gate financial hurdles.
• Forecasting & P&L Management: Own the commercial forecasting process, contributing data-driven insights to rolling forecasts, collaborating with various departments to streamline Forecasting process.

3. Candidate Profile & Requirements

• Professional Qualifications: Fully qualified accountant (CIMA strongly preferred due to commercial focus, or ACCA / ACA).
• Industry Background: Must have proven experience working within Food Manufacturing, FMCG, or high-volume Consumer Goods supply chain environments.
• Dual-Channel Familiarity: Prior experience exposure handling BOTH major retail accounts (managing trade spend / JBPs) AND foodservice/wholesale distribution pricing frameworks is highly desirable.
• Technical Capabilities: Advanced Microsoft Excel capabilities (financial modeling, lookups, pivot tables) are essential. Exposure to ERP systems and BI tools (e.g., Power BI) is highly advantageous.
• Soft Skills: Strong commercial acumen with the confidence to constructively challenge commercial directors. Excellent communication skills to translate complex financial concepts to non-finance stakeholders. Should be able to manage and develop Junior Commercial Accountant.

Salary circa £45,000/50,000