Finance Manager – Consumer Business Group Japan

Job Description:

Job Description: Finance Manager - Consumer Business Group Japan

Join our team as a Finance Manager for the Consumer Business Group, where you will serve as a trusted business partner to business leaders. You will provide critical financial insights, challenge assumptions, and support initiatives that drive performance, optimize resource allocation, and ensure financial objectives are achieved in alignment with the organization’s strategic goals.

Business Partnership & Financial Insights

• Collaborate with key stakeholders across functions to understand business drivers and deliver financial insights that support strategic and operational decision-making.
• Serve as a proactive partner to Sales and Marketing teams, ensuring high-quality financial input into commercial plans and initiatives.

Forecasting & Performance Management

• Lead weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual sales forecasting routines, ensuring high accuracy and robust visibility into risks and opportunities.
• Continuously enhance forecasting models, assumptions, and analytical processes to improve predictability and support business agility.

Revenue Growth Management (RGM)

• Drive financial leadership in customer trading term optimization (e.g., CIP, MDF, chargeback structures) to improve profitability and return on investment.
• Support the development and evaluation of pricing strategies, including price architecture, pack-price design, and price realization tracking.
• Provide insights to improve portfolio mix, identifying opportunities to shift toward higher-margin categories, channels, or customers.
• Analyse financial implications of distribution placement, channel expansion, and assortment decisions to maximize revenue and margin.
• Partner with commercial teams to evaluate promotional plans and ensure efficient trade spend deployment.

Financial Reporting & Variance Analysis

• Deliver timely and accurate monthly management reports, forecasts, and variance analyses, highlighting key performance drivers and recommended actions.
• Maintain KPI dashboards and performance scorecards to monitor commercial and financial health.

Budgeting, Expense Tracking & Cost Management

• Support and coordinate the annual budgeting and periodic reforecasting processes across departments, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
• Track and review operating expenses, ensuring spending discipline and timely identification of deviations versus plan.

Investment Analysis & Decision Support

• Conduct financial analysis for business cases, pricing decisions, investment proposals, and cost-saving initiatives.
• Perform ROI assessments, scenario modelling, and sensitivity analyses to support investment prioritization and resource allocation.

Risk & Opportunity Management

• Identify financial risks and opportunities and provide actionable recommendations to mitigate or capitalize on them.
• Support cross-functional teams in developing corrective action plans and growth strategies.

Process Improvement & Capability Building

• Partner with operational teams to strengthen financial processes, improve data accuracy, and promote continuous improvement.
• Enhance financial literacy across the organization through training, tools, and ongoing support.

Governance & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to internal controls, financial policies, and regulatory requirements, maintaining a strong compliance mindset.
• Provide Finance Compliance training/guidance to non-Finance stakeholders

Qualifications

• Working language in both Japanese and English
• Strong financial modelling, analytical, and presentation skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and build relationships at all levels.

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field;
• 10+ years of finance experience, ideally in CPG/FMCG or a commercial environment.
• Strong skills in forecasting, budgeting, expense tracking, and variance analysis.
• Proven ability to support Sales/Marketing teams and influence cross-functional decisions.
• Solid analytical and financial modelling capabilities; advanced Excel skills.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate data into actionable insights.
• Experience with financial systems (e.g., SAP, Power BI) is a plus.
• Detail-oriented, proactive
• Able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly.

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