Director, Finance - Franchise Operations (SWA)

Job Description Summary:
Primary Location: Gurugram, India
Role Type: Individual Contributor
Reports into: Senior Director - Operations Finance
The Director, 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.