Commercial Manager

An FMCG company is looking for a highly experienced Supply Chain Commercial Manager to drive the commercial and financial performance of its end-to-end supply chain operations. The successful candidate will be responsible for managing supply chain costs, improving profitability, optimising inventory and working capital, strengthening supplier performance, and providing financial insights to support strategic business decisions

Duties and Responsibilities:

· Manage the supply chain cost base, including budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis across procurement, warehousing, logistics and inventory operations
· Develop and maintain financial models for sourcing strategies, supplier proposals, capital investments and cost-saving initiatives
· Identify and implement margin improvement and operational efficiency opportunities
· Analyse supply chain costs and performance drivers to improve profitability and optimise costs
· Lead commercial negotiations with suppliers, logistics providers and service partners
· Evaluate supplier contracts and commercial agreements to maximise value and mitigate commercial risk
· Develop and monitor supplier performance scorecards and cost benchmarks
· Drive inventory optimisation initiatives to improve working capital performance
· Prepare management reports, dashboards and KPI analysis
· Provide commercial recommendations and decision support to senior leadership
· Support pricing decisions through landed-cost calculations and commercial evaluations
· Ensure compliance with financial controls, governance requirements, policies and commercial standards
· Identify, assess and mitigate commercial and supply chain risks
· Support month-end, year-end, audit and business planning processes
· Drive continuous improvement initiatives that deliver measurable cost savings and margin improvements

Minimum Requirements:

Education and Experience:

· CA(SA) or CIMA qualification (Essential)
· Minimum 5 years' post-qualification experience within supply chain, logistics, FMCG, retail, manufacturing or related operational environments
· Proven experience in commercial finance, business partnering and cost management
· Strong experience in budgeting, forecasting, financial modelling and financial analysis
· Demonstrated experience in supplier negotiations and commercial agreement management
· Advanced Microsoft Excel skills
· Experience working with ERP systems and business intelligence reporting tools
· Proven track record of delivering measurable cost savings and margin improvement initiatives

Knowledge and Skills:

· Commercial finance management
· Budgeting and forecasting
· Financial modelling and analysis
· Cost management and cost optimisation
· Supplier negotiation and commercial contract management
· Inventory and working capital management
· Margin improvement and profitability analysis
· Supply chain cost analysis
· Procurement commercials
· Governance, risk and compliance
· Advanced Excel
· Commercial acumen and analytical thinking
· Influencing and stakeholder management
· Strategic thinking and effective communication
· Results orientation and problem-solving
· Adaptability
· Willingness to travel to various branches and operational sites as required

Salary: Market-related