Head of Commercial Finance (FMCG - Perishable Goods) - Chinese Speaker

This role required candidate based in North Jakarta, Indonesia.

Client Overview

Our client is a rapidly growing multinational FMCG company specializing in frozen and chilled food products, with a strong presence across Southeast Asia and Indonesia as one of its key markets.

The company operates localized manufacturing and distribution activities in Indonesia, supported by multiple production facilities, cold-chain logistics networks, and a nationwide commercial distribution network serving various retail and consumer channels.

With continued expansion across Indonesia and international markets, the company is strengthening its commercial finance organization to improve profitability, pricing strategy, trade spend effectiveness, investment decisions, and financial governance across multiple business units and trading entities.

Job Role

The Head of Commercial Finance – Chinese Speaker is a senior finance business partnering role responsible for driving commercial performance, revenue optimization, financial decision-making, and financial governance across multiple business units and trading entities.

The role will work closely with General Managers, Finance Managers, Finance Analysts, and commercial teams to analyze product and channel profitability, optimize pricing and trade spend, evaluate promotional investments, and provide data-driven recommendations to support revenue and margin growth.

The position will also lead financial feasibility studies and investment analysis for major corporate projects, including factory expansion, new production facilities, capital expenditure, and long-term strategic investments.

Strong Mandarin and English communication skills are essential, as the role will regularly present financial analysis, commercial recommendations, and investment evaluations to senior Chinese-speaking management and regional/global stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee commercial financial performance and decision-support activities across multiple business units and trading entities.
• Partner closely with Business Unit General Managers, Finance Managers, Finance Analysts, and commercial leadership to support business decisions.
• Analyze product-level gross margins, SKU profitability, and sales channel profitability to identify opportunities for margin improvement.
• Develop and evaluate pricing models and pricing strategies for existing products and new product launches.
• Analyze sales volumes, product mix, customer profitability, and channel performance to identify commercial growth opportunities.
• Evaluate trade spend, promotional investments, retailer incentives, discounts, and promotional ROI across modern and traditional trade channels.
• Recommend improvements to trade spend allocation and promotional strategies while maintaining appropriate profit margins.
• Conduct detailed financial analysis of raw material costs, market pricing, competitive activities, and other key commercial drivers.
• Lead financial feasibility studies for major corporate expansion and investment projects.
• Develop financial models, scenario analyses, CapEx comparisons, ROI evaluations, and investment recommendations for major projects.
• Support financial evaluation of new factory construction, production capacity expansion, new production lines, and other strategic investments.
• Establish consistent commercial finance governance, analytical methodologies, and reporting standards across multiple business units.
• Consolidate and analyze financial and commercial data from multiple entities to provide clear management insights.
• Prepare executive-level financial presentations, commercial reviews, feasibility studies, and strategic recommendations.
• Deliver financial briefings and business recommendations in Mandarin Chinese and English to senior management and regional/global stakeholders.
• Work closely with FP&A, Accounting, Tax, Treasury, Transformation, and Commercial Finance teams to ensure alignment of financial analysis and business priorities.
• Lead, mentor, and develop the Commercial Finance team, including one Supervisor and two Staff members.
• Establish high standards for financial modeling, data analysis, commercial insight generation, and business partnering within the team.
• Monitor commercial KPIs, profitability trends, pricing performance, trade spend effectiveness, and financial risks across business units.
• Provide proactive financial insights and recommendations to senior leadership to support revenue growth, profitability, and strategic decision-making.

Candidate Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Minimum 8–10 years of progressive experience in Commercial Finance, Business Finance, FP&A, Financial Analysis, or Finance Business Partnering.
• Experience in FMCG, Consumer Goods, Manufacturing, Retail, or other high-volume commercial businesses is highly preferred.
• Strong experience in commercial finance and business partnering with senior commercial or business unit stakeholders.
• Proven experience analyzing SKU profitability, product margins, channel profitability, pricing, and commercial performance.
• Hands-on experience with trade spend analysis, promotional ROI, discount structures, or commercial investment evaluation.
• Strong experience in financial modeling, feasibility studies, CapEx evaluation, ROI analysis, and investment decision support.
• Experience supporting multi-BU, multi-entity, or multinational business structures is highly preferred.
• Strong understanding of revenue management, pricing strategy, margin optimization, and commercial performance drivers.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and financial modeling.
• Strong working knowledge of SAP, Oracle, or equivalent ERP systems.
• Experience using commercial BI, data visualization, or business analytics tools.
• Strong analytical and data-crunching capabilities with the ability to translate complex datasets into actionable commercial insights.
• Strong commercial acumen and ability to connect financial analysis with business strategy and operational decisions.
• Proven leadership experience managing, mentoring, or developing a finance team.
• Excellent stakeholder management, presentation, negotiation, and cross-functional communication skills.
• Professional fluency in Mandarin Chinese, both spoken and written, is mandatory.
• Professional fluency in business English, both spoken and written, is mandatory.
• Comfortable presenting financial analysis, feasibility studies, and strategic recommendations directly to senior Chinese-speaking executives and regional/global stakeholders.
• Strong ownership, accountability, attention to detail, and ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced multinational business environment.

Job Code: #874