Director, Finance - Franchise Operations (SWA)

Job Description Summary:

Primary Location:Gurugram, India

Role Type:Individual Contributor

Reports into: Senior Director - Operations Finance

TheDirector, Finance - Franchise Operations (SWA) will lead finance partnership for the South-West Asia franchise system, covering Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. The role will provide strategic financial leadership across business planning, system economics, value-chain management, Revenue Growth Management (RGM), margin optimization, marketing investments, governance and business performance. Working closely with Franchise Operations and bottling partners, the role will translate financial, commercial and market insights into decisions that support sustainable revenue growth, operating income, productivity and healthy system economics. A critical part of the role is influencing senior internal stakeholders and bottler leadership, building alignment on strategic priorities and enabling disciplined execution. The role will work closely with the Operations Finance Lead and is an individual contributor position.

What You’ll Do for Us:

• Business planning & performance leadership 

• Lead finance partnership for SWA markets, proactively identifying business opportunities and risks and supporting delivery of revenue and operating income objectives.

• Drive scenario planning for changes such as volume, tax, inflation and other business variables, translating scenarios into actionable financial choices.

• Provide ongoing financial insights on performance versus plan and identify interventions required to improve business outcomes.

• Lead business planning and long-range planning for SWA bottlers, including Operating Unit P&L scenarios and financial implications of changes in economic conditions, taxation, foreign exchange and other business variables

• System economics, business models & margins
  • Optimize business models and system top-line growth by bottler and geography, balancing Company and bottler economics.
  • Develop and implement margin optimization strategies across the end-to-end value chain; set and track margin objectives across bottlers, categories, brands and packs.
  • Embed margin discipline into operational decisions and execute global margin strategies locally by leveraging the broader network.
  • Monitor commodity prices, product formulations, productivity, mix and pricing levers to mitigate inflation and improve system economics.

• Value chain, RGM & new products 
  • Lead value-chain economics for new and existing products, including BP value chains, per-physical-case economics and alignment with business and franchise teams.
  • Provide end-to-end finance partnership for RGM, including pricing strategy, commercial assumptions, bottler alignment and financialization of agreed RGM plans.
  • Partner on new product and service development, including concentrate pricing and financial alignment with bottlers.
  • Partner with Franchise, Commercial and Marketing teams on new products and business models, including concentrate pricing and financial alignment with bottlers.  

• Marketing investment & budgetary control
  • Lead financial stewardship of Direct Marketing Expense (DME) budgets across SWA markets.
  • Partner with the business to support frontline marketing execution and evaluate initiative effectiveness.
  • Establish quarterly and annual spend objectives jointly with bottlers; establish rebate and deduction strategies and lead related external negotiations.

• Governance, controls & operational stewardship
  • Ensure Company policies, procedures, regulatory requirements and financial controls are consistently followed by the team and bottler partners.
  • Provide oversight of bottler support processes and Purchase Order workflows, ensuring appropriate governance and controls are in place.

• Insights & strategic business partnership
  • Partner with Franchise, Strategy, Customer & Commercial, Marketing and other cross-functional teams to develop quantitative and qualitative insights on business issues.
  • Integrate financial, consumer, customer, competitive and macroeconomic insights to support fact-based decisions with bottling partners.
  • Bring together financial and commercial perspectives to challenge assumptions, shape choices and influence decisions across the SWA system.

• Stakeholders & Scope
  • Country franchise leads and marketing teams
  • 5 countries bottling teams (Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Bhutan)
  • Partnering internally and externally to effectively drive financial outcomes, as well as to build alignment on key initiatives and metrics, with a focus on communication to: Franchise GM, Franchise Units + Key Regional Stakeholders and Other OU leadership teams, platform services team and supply chain team. 

Qualifications & Requirements:

• 12 years of leadership experience in senior financial planning, commercial finance, Business partnering for sales, supply chain, or financial accounting roles. 
• Extensive management experience, with ability to work in a diverse cultural environment as a highly efficient communicator and influencer at all levels.
• Mastery of Influence and Communication, Knowledge and Insights, People Leadership, Strategic Thinking, Advanced Technical Skills.
• Broad expertise in Risk management, Agile ways of working, enterprise-wide / transformational initiatives, portfolio strategy and flexibility

What can help you be successful in this role?

Growth Behavior:

• Growth Mindset: Demonstrates Curiosity. Welcomes failure as a learning opportunity.
• Smart Risk: Makes bold decisions/recommendations.
• Externally Focused: Understands the upstream and downstream implications of his/her work.
• Performance Driven & Accountable: Has high-performance standards. Outperforms her/his peers.
• Fast/Agile: Removes barriers to move faster. Experiments and adapts. Thrives under pressure and at a fast pace.
• Empowered: Brings solutions instead of problems. Challenges the status quo. Has the courage to take an unpopular stance.

Leadership Behavior

• Act Like an Owner: Deliver results, creating value for our brands, our System, our customers and key stakeholders.
• Collaborate with the System, Customers and Key Stakeholders
• Develops Self and Others: Develop self and support others' development to achieve their full potential.
• Drive Innovation: Generate new or unique solutions and embrace new ideas that help sustain our business.

What We Can Do for You 

• Career growth and development: Leveraging our boundaryless network, we provide access to educational platforms and provide coaching, mentoring and feedback, as a part of our Leadership & Development process.
• Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs. We want to make our culture inevitable.
• International Experience: Become part of international projects and work along multicultural teams, through our global network.

Skills:

Location(s):

City/Cities:

Travel Required:

Relocation Provided:

Job Posting End Date:

Our Purpose and Growth Culture:

We are taking deliberate action to nurture an inclusive culture that is grounded in our company purpose, to refresh the world and make a difference. We act with a growth mindset, take an expansive approach to what’s possible and believe in continuous learning to improve our business and ourselves. We focus on four key behaviors – curious, empowered, inclusive and agile – and value how we work as much as what we achieve. We believe that our culture is one of the reasonsour company continues to thrive after 130+ years. VisitOur Purpose and Vision to learn more about these behaviors and how youcan bring them to life in your next role at Coca-Cola.