Finance manager - F&B

Finance Manager – F&B: Strategic Leadership for Financial Excellence in Food & Beverage Manufacturing

We are seeking a seasoned Finance Manager to drive the financial strategy and operational excellence of a dynamic bakery and sweets manufacturing enterprise in Saudi Arabia. This pivotal role demands a finance professional with deep expertise in F&B economics, financial governance, and data-driven decision-making to ensure profitability, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance across production and sales channels.

As the strategic financial partner to the business, you will lead end-to-end financial management, transforming raw financial data into actionable insights that empower leadership to optimize margins, mitigate risks, and scale sustainably. This is not merely an accounting role—it is a leadership position where financial acumen directly impacts the bottom line and operational agility of a production-driven business.

Key Strategic Objectives

The Finance Manager will oversee all facets of financial operations, ensuring alignment with international best practices and local regulatory standards. Your responsibilities will span financial reporting, cost management, inventory optimization, cash flow discipline, and internal controls—all tailored to the unique challenges of F&B manufacturing, including volatile raw material costs, perishable inventory, and multi-channel sales dynamics.

Core Responsibilities

Your role will encompass a broad spectrum of financial leadership, requiring both analytical rigor and collaborative expertise:

• Financial Reporting & Compliance
• Lead the entire accounting function, including general ledger management, accounts payable/receivable, and fixed asset accounting, ensuring adherence to IFRS and Saudi regulatory frameworks.
• Deliver accurate and timely financial statements—monthly, quarterly, and annually—with a five-day close cycle, providing clear visibility into production costs, sales performance, and overhead allocation.
• Develop a robust chart of accounts tailored to F&B operations, enabling granular reporting on cost structures, revenue streams, and profitability metrics.
• Present consolidated financial reports to executive leadership, incorporating variance analysis, trend commentary, and forward-looking financial insights to guide strategic decision-making.
• Product Costing & Profitability Optimization
• Own the end-to-end product costing framework for all bakery and sweets SKUs, integrating raw material costs, labor, overheads, packaging, and distribution expenses.
• Develop and maintain standard cost cards for each product, aligning with actual production costs and conducting regular reviews to ensure accuracy.
• Conduct contribution margin analysis by product category and sales channel (retail, wholesale, B2B, online) to identify profitability drivers and mitigate margin leakage.
• Monitor raw material cost fluctuations (e.g., flour, sugar, butter, cocoa, packaging) and their impact on product margins, escalating proactive recommendations when thresholds are exceeded.
• Support pricing strategy with cost-based analysis, competitive benchmarking, and scenario modeling to assess volume and price sensitivity.
• Production Finance & Inventory Governance
• Collaborate with production and operations teams to analyze production yields, scrap rates, and batch efficiency from a financial perspective, identifying cost-saving opportunities.
• Ensure accurate inventory valuation across raw materials, work-in-progress, finished goods, and packaging, applying appropriate costing methodologies (e.g., weighted average or standard cost).
• Oversee inventory write-off and write-down processes for expired, damaged, or slow-moving stock, implementing clear approval protocols and financial controls.
• Track and report production cost variances (material usage, labor efficiency, overhead absorption) and partner with operations to address root causes and implement corrective actions.
• Enforce robust financial controls over warehouse stock movements, inter-location transfers, and production-to-sales handoffs, ensuring audit readiness.
• Cash Flow & Working Capital Management
• Develop and maintain rolling cash flow forecasts, integrating operational receipts, supplier payments, payroll, capital expenditures, and financing obligations.
• Aggressively manage working capital by optimizing receivables collection, inventory levels, and payables timing to enhance liquidity and operational flexibility.
• Implement financial controls to mitigate cash flow risks, ensuring alignment with business growth objectives while maintaining financial stability.
• Strategic Financial Partnership
• Act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, providing data-driven insights to support pricing, investment, and expansion decisions.
• Drive continuous improvement in financial processes, leveraging technology and automation to enhance efficiency and accuracy.
• Ensure compliance with internal policies, external regulations, and industry standards, fostering a culture of financial discipline and accountability.

This role is ideal for a finance professional who thrives in a fast-paced, production-driven environment and is passionate about leveraging financial expertise to drive business growth. If you are a detail-oriented leader with a proven track record in F&B finance, we invite you to join our team and make a meaningful impact on our financial and operational success.