We are hiring a Head - Sales Commercial for a fast-growing consumer brand. The role will lead and control the complete trade commercial ecosystem across distributor-led channels, ensuring strong governance over trade spends, pricing structures, and commercial investments while supporting sustainable sales growth.

The position will act as the commercial gatekeeper for the sales organization, partnering closely with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain teams to ensure disciplined commercial execution and protection of margins.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Trade Commercial Strategy:

- Design and manage distributor margin structures across primary and secondary sales

- Control ROI of trade schemes, promotions, and market investments

- Validate pricing architecture including PTR, PTS, and MRP alignment

- Ensure pricing discipline and prevent market-level price distortions

2. Scheme Governance:

- Approve and monitor monthly and quarterly trade schemes

- Evaluate scheme ROI and incremental contribution before launch

- Track scheme performance and close non-performing schemes

- Maintain strict discipline on trade scheme budgets

3. Claims & Settlement Management:

- Validate distributor claims related to schemes, damages, and incentives

- Prevent duplicate or inflated claims through robust verification

- Ensure timely claim settlement and proper audit of market spends

4. Distributor Commercial Management:

- Define distributor profitability models and monitor ROI

- Track commercial exposure including credit notes and adjustments

- Monitor outstanding balances and recommend corrective actions

5. Pricing & Contribution Management:

- Track SKU-level contribution margins

- Identify loss-making SKUs or territories

- Control price-offs and discount leakages

- Support price revisions to balance volume growth and profitability

6. Budget & Financial Control:

- Own and manage the sales commercial budget

- Monitor budget vs actual trade spends on a regular basis

- Forecast monthly trade investments

- Ensure commercial spends align with contribution margin targets

7. Analytics & Decision Support:

- Build dashboards for sales profitability and territory ROI

- Conduct channel and customer profitability analysis

- Support sales leadership with data-driven decision making

8. Systems & Process Governance:

- Strengthen ERP-based commercial workflows

- Implement maker-checker approval processes

- Reduce manual credit notes and ensure SOP compliance

Key KPI's:

- Trade spend as % of NSV within budget

- Contribution Margin achievement vs plan

- Minimal commercial leakage and price-off variance

- Scheme ROI and incremental volume growth

- Distributor profitability and commercial exposure control

- Timely claim settlements and strong working capital discipline

Ideal Candidate Profile:

- 12-18 years of experience in FMCG / Food / Beverage industries

- Strong exposure to distributor-led GT sales models

- Deep expertise in pricing strategy, trade schemes, and contribution analytics

- Experience working in ERP-driven environments (SAP / D365 preferred)

- Strong commercial acumen with the ability to balance sales growth and profitability