WHAT THE ROLE DELIVERS
The Business Performance & Strategy Manager is responsible for designing, implementing, operating and continuously improving the business management system for the Methacrylate Resins Americas Business Unit. Serving as a senior individual contributor and cross-functional business integrator, the position translates complex and often unstructured business needs into standardized processes, reliable data, decision-ready insights and executable action plans. The position owns the governance and integration of business planning, forecasting, performance management, pricing and profitability analytics, market intelligence, inventory and working capital analytics, business intelligence, management reporting and the strategic project portfolio. Operating without direct reports, the Manager provides functional leadership across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Controllership, Supply Chain, Logistics, IT and other supporting functions. The Business Performance & Strategy Manager independently builds processes and tools from the ground up, establishes a single source of truth, challenges assumptions, drives cross-functional accountability and personally maintains the critical models, dashboards, reports and management routines required by the business.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
Business Planning and Performance Management:
- Own and manage the integrated business planning and performance management cycle, including annual budget, rolling forecasts, midterm planning, scenario analysis and monthly Business Reviews.
- Design the planning calendar and define required inputs, assumptions, owners, deadlines, review steps and approval requirements.
- Integrate and reconcile commercial, financial, market, supply chain and inventory assumptions into one documented business outlook.
- Analyze actual performance against budget, forecast, prior year and strategic targets and quantify the impact of volume, price, mix, cost and other business drivers.
- Develop forward-looking risk, opportunity and scenario analyses and provide clear management recommendations.
- Prepare concise, decision-ready executive materials for regional and global leadership.
Data Governance, KPIs and Business Intelligence:
- Design and govern the Business Unit KPI architecture, including definitions, formulas, ownership, sources, update frequency, targets, tolerances and escalation thresholds.
- Establish and maintain a single source of truth across business reporting and reconcile differences among SAP, CRM, Finance, Controllership, Supply Chain and local data sources.
- Develop and maintain KPI charters, a business data dictionary, reporting standards and validation controls.
- Build and personally maintain Power BI dashboards, data models and automated reporting solutions using Power Query, DAX or comparable tools.
- Create executive, management and operating reports that explain business drivers and support decisions.
- Reduce manual reporting, eliminate redundant reports and strengthen version control and traceability.
- Document calculations, data sources, controls and update procedures and train users on standard tools.
- Monitor adoption and continuously improve reporting processes based on business needs.
Pricing and Profitability Management:
- Own the analytical and governance framework for pricing and profitability management across customers, products, market segments, countries and distribution channels.
- Develop pricing scenarios reflecting raw material costs, market demand, competitive behavior, inventory position, logistics costs and budget expectations.
- Analyze price realization, price-volume-mix, customer and product profitability, margin leakage and commercial exceptions.
- Support the definition of list prices, target prices, floor prices and escalation mechanisms.
- Assess the financial impact of discounts, price increases, rebates, freight, duties, payment terms and other commercial conditions.
- Provide fact-based recommendations to Business Managers before customer negotiations.
- Track implementation and financial impact of approved pricing actions and identify gaps requiring corrective action.
- Maintain pricing governance and approval transparency in accordance with the company delegation of authority.
Inventory, S&OP and Working Capital Management:
- Own the analytical framework and cross-functional governance for inventory and working capital performance while Supply Chain retains accountability for operational execution.
- Develop forward-looking analyses covering DIO, inventory turns, aging, slow moving, excess and obsolete inventory, in-transit inventory, forecast consumption, service risks and cash exposure.
- Connect inventory positions to demand forecasts, expected consumption, lead times and customer-service requirements.
- Identify inventory at risk and quantify the financial and operational implications.
- Facilitate recurring inventory reviews across Sales, Supply Chain and Controllership and ensure each issue has a clear owner, action and deadline.
- Support inventory-reduction campaigns and commercial actions intended to reduce aging or excess stock. - Prepare the monthly inventory and working capital narrative for management.
- Escalate material inventory risks, supply constraints and unresolved actions.
Market Intelligence and Strategic Analysis
- Establish and maintain a structured market intelligence process for the Americas region.
- Analyze market size, growth, demand, customer behavior, share of wallet, imports, exports, competitor capacity, product positioning, pricing behavior and supply-demand dynamics.
- Monitor regulatory, technological and industry developments and identify opportunities, threats and emerging applications.
- Develop competitive benchmarks and evaluate the attractiveness of segments, customers, applications and geographies.
- Support strategic business cases for growth initiatives, investments, partnerships, local production and new products.
- Quantify the commercial and financial implications of market developments and convert insights into actionable recommendations.
- Maintain a structured and regularly updated market intelligence repository.
Strategic Projects and Business PMO Actively collaborate with the Supply
- Establish and manage governance for the Business Unit strategic project portfolio.
- Develop project charters, business cases, milestones, deliverables, owners, dependencies, timelines and implementation plans.
- Maintain action, risk, issue and decision logs and track financial and strategic benefits.
- Challenge projects without clear objectives, resources, governance or measurable value.Identify delays, constraints and unresolved decisions early and escalate them appropriately.
- Facilitate project and steering meetings and provide concise status reporting to leadership.
- Directly lead selected workstreams and personally develop required analyses, models and presentations when dedicated resources are not available.
WHAT WE ARE SEEKING
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, Supply Chain, Data Analytics or a related field required. MBA or relevant graduate degree preferred.
- 7+ years of relevant experience in business performance management, FP&A, commercial excellence, business planning, pricing, analytics, strategy and operations or business transformation
- Demonstrated experience designing and implementing processes, models or management routines from the ground up. - Demonstrated experience operating as an autonomous individual contributor in a matrix organization. - Experience integrating commercial, financial, supply chain and operational information and presenting recommendations to senior leadership. - Experience managing multiple cross-functional priorities and strategic projects. - Industrial, chemical, manufacturing or complex B2B experience is strongly preferred. Technical Skills - Advanced financial modeling, forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis and scenario planning. - Strong pricing, profitability, margin and price-volume-mix analysis capability. - Strong inventory, DIO and working capital analytical capability. - Advanced Excel and executive presentation development
- Strong Power BI, Power Query and data-modeling capability; DAX highly desirable
- Working knowledge of SAP, CRM and business reporting environments.
- Strong process mapping, documentation, control design and project governance skills.
- SQL or similar data-query capability preferred but not mandatory. Behavioral Competencies.
- Takes end-to-end ownership and follows through from problem definition through implementation and sustained operation.
- Demonstrates strong prioritization, deadline discipline and personal accountability.
- Communicates effectively with both senior executives and operating teams.
- Fluent professional English required. - Spanish or Portuguese beneficial due to the regional scope.
- Preferred Certifications - PMP, CBAP, FPAC, Microsoft Power BI or comparable certifications are beneficial but do not replace demonstrated experience.