Commercial finance manager CV

Commercial finance managers support the revenue side of a business: customer deals, pricing, contract profitability, sales performance and investment decisions. The role overlaps with business partnering but is usually closer to sales and customers. Hiring managers want someone who can protect margin while helping the business win, and your CV has to show both.

What employers look for

• Deal support. Bid and tender pricing, contract modelling, deal reviews and approvals.
• Margin focus. Customer, product and channel profitability; spotting margin erosion early.
• Commercial partnering. Working alongside sales, account management and marketing leaders.
• Planning. Revenue and margin budgets and forecasts for the commercial teams.
• Influence. Saying no to a bad deal, or finding a structure that makes it work.

A CIMA, ACCA or ACA qualification is typically expected. Experience in a sector with complex customer contracts (FMCG, logistics, manufacturing, outsourced services, technology) is often valued.

Keywords from commercial finance adverts

• Commercial finance, commercial decision support
• Deal pricing, bid modelling, tender support, contract reviews
• Customer profitability, product profitability, channel profitability
• Gross margin, contribution, trading terms, rebates, promotional spend
• Revenue forecasting, sales performance reporting, KPIs
• Business cases, investment appraisal, NPV, payback
• Stakeholder management, sales partnering, negotiation support
• Advanced Excel, Power BI, SQL, SAP, Salesforce

A typical advert, decoded

A paraphrased example of what commercial finance manager adverts usually say, and what each line is really asking for.

The advert says	What it really means
"Support the sales team on deals"	You'll review contracts and model customer terms. Show deals you've shaped.
"Customer profitability analysis"	Some customers may be loss-making. Show you've found and fixed one.
"Trading terms and promotional spend"	Common in FMCG. Show you've reviewed trade investment.
"Revenue forecasting"	You'll own or challenge the sales forecast.
"Strong commercial acumen"	They want someone who helps the business win, not just says no.

Example CV profile

CIMA-qualified commercial finance manager in FMCG, supporting the UK sales director and four national account teams across £180m of revenue. I own customer profitability reporting, model trading terms and promotional spend for every major retailer negotiation, and lead the revenue forecast. My trade investment review last year recovered £2.1m of margin from underperforming promotions.

Example achievements

Replace with your own figures.

• Reviewed £25m of annual trade investment, reallocating spend from low-return promotions and recovering £2.1m of margin.
• Built the customer profitability model covering 40 accounts, showing two large customers were loss-making after cost-to-serve; renegotiated terms returned both to profit.
• Modelled trading terms for the annual negotiation with a top-four retailer, setting walk-away points the account team used in the room.
• Supported 30 tender bids a year with a standard pricing model, raising the bid win rate from 22% to 31% while holding target margin.
• Wrote the investment case for a new product line, approved with a two-year payback.
• Introduced a monthly deal review that caught three contracts with margin below threshold before signature.

Common mistakes

• Writing a generic finance CV. Commercial finance is about customers and revenue. Your examples should feature both.
• No deal examples. Hiring managers want to see the kinds of contracts and negotiations you've supported.
• Not showing balance. You need to show you can protect margin and help the business win, not just one of the two.
• Missing the size of the revenue you support. It's the quickest guide to seniority.

Interview questions to prepare for

• Tell me about a deal you advised against. What happened?
• How would you work out whether a customer is profitable?
• Walk me through a bid or tender model you've built.

See all 12 commercial finance manager interview questions, with why interviewers ask each one and what a strong answer covers.