Role Overview

The Commercial Controller will be responsible for driving profitability and commercial performance across the business. This role partners closely with sales and operations to ensure procurement, sales and costs are all properly managed in a fast-moving food manufacturing environment.

The successful candidate will act as the financial conscience of the business, ensuring that growth is both profitable and sustainable.

We are small management team with a flat structure, so this role will form part of the senior leadership group tasked with growing business success.  

Key Responsibilities

1. Profitability & Margin Control

• Analyse and report on product, customer, and channel sales and profitability
• Maintain accurate cost of goods sold (COGS), including ingredients, packaging, and labour via Inventory management system.
• Identify and address margin leakage (discounting, inefficiencies, waste)
• Drive initiatives to improve gross margin and contribution margin

2. Procurement, Inventory & Working Capital Management

• Manage the procurement process:
• Sourcing of raw materials & packaging to align with production plan. 
• Stock turns and working capital
• Partner with operations to improve stock accuracy and efficiency

3. P&L, Budgeting, Forecasting & Planning

• Manage the company bookkeeper and liaise with company accountants to ensure timely and accurate management accounts and internal reports. 
• Track and prepare cash-flow forecasts. 
• Track performance vs budget and provide clear variance analysis
• Align forecasts with production capacity and procurement planning
• Support strategic planning and scenario modelling

4. Sales & Customer Performance Analysis

• Analyse sales trends, volumes, and revenue performance
• Evaluate customer profitability and highlight risks/opportunities
• Provide actionable insights to improve:
• Product mix
• Channel performance
• Sales effectiveness

5. Business Partnering

• Act as a key partner to:
• Sales team (pricing, deals, performance)
• Production (cost control, yields, efficiencies)
• Translate financial data into clear, actionable commercial insights