Commercial Excellence Manager- Colors Business

Key Responsibilities

Drive Commercial Execution

• Own the follow up and closure of all key commercial projects.
• Track customer opportunities from lead creation through commercialisation.
• Identify bottlenecks and escalate issues that delay progress.
• Ensure agreed actions are completed on time by all stakeholders.

Drive Accountability

• Conduct rigorous follow up on actions arising from reviews, customer meetings and internal discussions.
• Challenge delays, missed deadlines and lack of ownership.
• Create visibility of overdue actions and execution gaps.
• Ensure commitments made to customers and internal stakeholders are delivered.

Own CRM and Pipeline Discipline

• Drive CRM compliance across all sales channels.
• Ensure opportunities, projects, forecasts and customer interactions are accurately maintained.
• Monitor pipeline progression and conversion rates.
• Improve forecasting accuracy and sales visibility.

Business Performance Management

• Track monthly sales performance, project conversion and account level performance.
• Prepare dashboards, reviews and management reports.
• Highlight risks, gaps and corrective actions required.
• Support pricing governance and commercial decision making.

Cross Functional Coordination

• Act as the central coordination point between Sales, R&D, Regulatory, Supply Chain and Customer Service.
• Remove barriers that impede project progress.
• Ensure alignment across functions on priorities and timelines.

Support Business Head

• Serve as the primary execution partner to the Business Head.
• Ensure strategic priorities are translated into measurable actions.
• Create the operating rhythm required for scale and growth.

Candidate Profile

• 8 to 15 years of experience in food ingredients, colours, flavours or related B2B industries.
• Strong commercial and business acumen.
• Demonstrated ability to drive execution across cross functional teams.
• Comfortable holding stakeholders accountable regardless of seniority.
• Strong analytical, planning and organisational skills.
• High attention to detail and follow through.
• Strong working knowledge of CRM systems, reporting and business analytics.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Personal Attributes

We are not looking for a relationship manager, but an execution leader.

The successful candidate will be:

• Relentless in follow up.
• Comfortable with difficult conversations.
• Highly organised and process driven.
• Persistent in removing bottlenecks.
• Data driven and objective.
• Resilient under pressure.
• Willing to challenge constructively.
• Focused on outcomes rather than activity.

Success Measures in 12 Months

• CRM compliance exceeds agreed business targets.
• Project follow up cycle times significantly improved.
• Reduction in overdue actions and stalled opportunities.
• Improved forecast accuracy and business visibility.
• Faster customer response and project closure rates.
• Clear increase in accountability and commercial discipline across the Natural Colours business.