Job Description

VP Finance for Commercial and APAC / MEA regions

Context and Organization

Nexans is accelerating its growth across strategic markets, driven by electrification, energy transition, and increasing demand for complex, multi-country infrastructure solutions. To support this ambition, Nexans is strengthening its Business Development organization and reinforcing its global key account coverage.

This role reports hierarchically to the group CFO

The VP Commercial Finance  belongs to the Market and Commercial organisation at group level,

• Monitor all the elements to track the sustainable & profitable growth that the group is committed to reach within 2028 from the Capital Market Day presented in November 2024
• Establish and define the reporting needed to monitor by Region/Client/Products
• Develop the financial structure to monitor the Growth Patterns, Advanced Offers and Verticals defined in the Captial Market Days in November 2024
• Support the CCO with analysis to drive and deliver the profitable growth

Key figures

• Advanced Offers 30% of Connect Sales and 40% of Grid Sales
• Six Growth Patterns
• Platinum Customers (approx. 35)
• Growth High single digit Transmission, middle single digit Grid, low single digit Connect

The VP Finance APAC and MEA region belongs to Finance Organization

• He is responsible for the finance function in the regions (hierarchical reporting)
• He is member of the management team, and collaborates transversally with other Management team members and functions
• He is managing Business Units Financial Directors, for the BUs reporting to the regions

Key figures

• Revenue: 700-800ME
• 5 of Business units

Purpose of the position

COMMERCIAL

• Overall financial to drive to growth (mainly sales, CM, backlog) with the granularity of the CMD components
• Support CCO to execute growth components of the budget and CMD (define and monitor actions plans when needed)
• Identifies gaps versus budget, and assesses risks & opportunities; mitigates risks
• Ensure the development of the tools (i.e. Real Lifetime Digital Platform) and its consistency and reliability (data quality)
• Provide the key commercial components for Platinum management & engagement

APAC & MEA

• Ensure Group rules are deployed within Regions scope

• Protects the Group’s best interests by challenging business assumptions & decisions  

• Oversees financial and accounting control systems and optimizes finance operations and costs for the function
• Support Regions management to execute budget of scope of responsibility (define and monitor action plans)
• Monitor Cash flows of the scope of responsibility
• Manage local financial team and produce Regions financial statements
• Ensure local financial statement present a true and fair view of the Regions
• Relay timely financial forecasts including risks & opportunities to Group
• Coaches Business leaders of the regions in identifying performance drivers, and in defining & monitoring action plans to reach strategic targets
• Identifies and assesses risks & opportunities; mitigates risks, manages crisis and exceptional initiatives at regions level

Areas of responsibility

Business Performance and Partnering

(Italic applies to both roles)

• Interacts with Regions management team, challenge business assumptions: act local and think global for the interest of the Group
• Fosters strong relationships between corporate and Regions
• Promotes a finance culture that is conscious of return on investment, cost of capital and cash-flow generation
• Competes on analytics:
  • synthesizes financial and operational indicators
  • explains the Region financial performance, based on review of information communicated by local teams
  • structures and promotes the BI systems to foster the autonomy of the organisation with data needs
  • performs specific analysis at the request of the Group
• Continuously looks for cost reduction and cash improvement opportunities and defines associated action plans
• Ensures Nexans Group development plans, strategic and operating plans and budgets are well implemented by BU finance people
• Ensures performance improvement action plans are properly defined and monitored; challenges feasibility within BG management team
• Supports management decision-making process with a comprehensive risk and financial impact analysis on the area (process, system, organization, etc.)

• Identify and deploy appropriate transversal projects to ensure consistency in performance monitoring systems/rules 

• Ensure a reliable and timely view on operational performance of business group contribution to Group financial statements:
  • Leading responsibility on key financial processes: Sales / OM /OWC / Capex / Restructuring projects,
  • Contribute to the definition and the roll out of appropriate financial information/performance measurement systems for Project Management in each of the Businesses 

Risk Management

• Ensures decisions are taken after a comprehensive risk and financial impact analysis, including impacts on processes and tools
• Performs financial risk analysis in relation with tender reviews, especially for FX and Metal exposure
• Builds up risk scenario regarding forecasts / budget / strategic plan or regarding business decisions and their underlying financial model (capital expenditures, investments, restructuring projects…)
• Takes part in risk assessment within the BG (risk mapping) ; identifies business or financial risks & opportunities; supports mitigation of risks at area level

Internal Control

• Ensures that all entities of the Area understand, implement and monitor properly Group policies, instructions and requests
• Fosters internal control in all functions
• Tracks resolution of identified audit issues; supports business owners in finding appropriate solutions; follows-up on the implementation of audit recommendations

Expected results

• Financial and commercial business monitoring
• Consistent processes in BG financial and commercial performance measurement
• Significant improvement in financial and commercial performance anticipation and reliability  
• Risk assessment in all necessary fields to support decision makers
• Strategic plan and actions follow up for Regions and Commercial
• Reliability and timeliness of reporting information for regions and Commercial
• Key change agent in the business transformation and performance monitoring

Candidate experience and competencies

• Excellent numerical and analytical skills and ability to interact with operations
• Result oriented and hands on
• Strong experience of project type of activities in an international Group (understanding of FX issues ...)
• Practical experience as a financial
• Experience in the functional design, implementation and the use of performance and margin measurement tools and dashboard/score cards for project activities to support strong decision-making processes.
• Ability to be involved as a key player in strategical decision and turn around projects
• Ability to be a change agent to promote common tools and approaches to project controlling/ performance measurement among the industrial controllers
• Hierarchical and functional management
• Written and oral communication skills
• English fluent
• At ease in industrial environment
• Education: BAC +5, Engineer or Business School, with a specialization in Finance