SUMMARY:
This is a Strategic Commercial Finance Partner opportunity, not a traditional Finance Director role.
We have partnered with a US based multinational business operating across Europe, the Middle East and Africa to appoint a commercially focused Regional Finance Director who can act as a true strategic finance partner to regional leadership.
The successful candidate will combine strong finance leadership with commercial acumen, business partnering capability, executive presence, and the ability to influence strategic decision-making in a fast-moving multinational environment.
This role is ideally suited to a finance leader who enjoys operating at the intersection of finance, strategy, operations and business performance.
The Opportunity
Reporting into senior global finance leadership and partnering closely with regional commercial leadership, this individual will become the primary finance business partner for the EMEA region.
Success in this role will depend not only on technical finance capability, but also on the ability to build trusted relationships, challenge constructively, solve problems, and provide the commercial insight required to support growth, profitability and transformation.
This is a high-impact role requiring someone who can operate with pace, navigate ambiguity and create structure where needed.
POSITION INFO:
Key Responsibilities
Commercial Finance & Business Partnership
- Act as the primary finance partner to regional commercial leadership
- Provide strategic financial guidance on commercial decisions, pricing, customer profitability and growth opportunities
- Support and influence decisions relating to revenue growth, margin improvement, deal structuring and investment priorities
- Translate financial data into clear commercial insights and actionable recommendations
- Challenge decisions constructively while remaining commercially pragmatic
- Build credibility as a trusted finance partner to senior stakeholders
Financial Performance & Regional Leadership
- Drive regional financial performance across multiple countries
- Support delivery of revenue, gross margin, operating expense and EBITDA targets
- Lead budgeting, forecasting, planning and performance review processes
- Analyse variances, identify risks and opportunities, and drive corrective action
- Improve financial visibility and decision support across the region
Working Capital & Cash Flow
- Drive working capital improvement across accounts receivable, inventory and cash conversion
- Partner with commercial, operations and supply chain teams to improve cash flow and capital efficiency
- Support stronger forecasting, collections discipline and inventory management
Transformation & Continuous Improvement
- Support ongoing business transformation and performance improvement initiatives
- Improve financial processes, reporting, visibility and commercial decision support
- Operate effectively in an evolving role and business environment
- Create clarity, structure and momentum where processes are still developing
- Navigate ambiguity and changing priorities while maintaining focus on outcomes
Stakeholder Management & Leadership
- Build strong relationships across finance, commercial, operations and global leadership teams
- Operate effectively in a multinational matrix structure
- Influence senior stakeholders across multiple countries and functions
- Bring pace, energy, confidence and commercial judgement to leadership discussions
- Act as a proactive business partner rather than a traditional finance gatekeeper
Ideal Background
We are interested in senior finance leaders from multinational, product-based or operationally complex environments.
Relevant industry backgrounds may include:
- Manufacturing
- Industrial businesses
- FMCG
- Agriculture or food-related sectors
- Chemicals
- Packaging
- Supply chain-intensive businesses
- Other multinational commercial environments
Industry background is less important than the ability to operate as a commercially minded finance partner within a complex international business.
Requirements
- Relevant Finance or Accounting qualifications
- Finance Director, Regional Finance Director, Commercial Finance Director, FP&A Director or similar senior finance leadership experience
- Strong commercial finance and business partnering capability
- Experience supporting a divisional, regional or multi-country P&L
- Significant multinational and matrix organisation experience
- Strong exposure to budgeting, forecasting, financial modelling and performance management
- Proven ability to influence executive stakeholders and drive decisions through data and insight
- Experience working closely with commercial, operational or regional leadership teams
- Strong communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills
- ERP experience (SAP advantageous)
Critical Success Factors
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Strong commercial mindset
- Executive presence and credibility
- Excellent business partnering capability
- Pace, agility and responsiveness
- Confidence to challenge constructively
- Ability to influence without direct authority
- Strong problem-solving capability
- Comfort operating with ambiguity
- Ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments
- Balance between strategic thinking and hands-on execution
What Success Looks Like
The successful candidate will become:
- A trusted commercial finance partner
- A strategic advisor to regional leadership
- A driver of improved financial and commercial performance
- A proactive problem solver
- A key contributor to business transformation and growth
This opportunity will suit a commercially strong finance leader who wants to be close to the business, influence outcomes, support strategic decision-making and play a meaningful role in improving regional performance.
