Senior Director, Franchise Finance - Middle East Region

Senior Director, Franchise Finance - Middle East Region

About the Role 

We are seeking an experienced Senior Director, Franchise Finance, to lead the financial strategy and operations for the Middle East Franchise, to be based in UAE. This is a senior leadership role responsible for driving sustainable growth, optimizing profitability, and managing complex stakeholder relationships across a fast-growing portfolio of markets. 

You will partner with top regional leaders, influence strategic decision-making, and ensure robust financial governance. This role requires strong commercial acumen, the ability to work across diverse cultures, and a proven track record in leading finance teams in complex, multi-market environments. 

Key Responsibilities 

Financial Leadership & Performance Management 

• Owning and leading the franchise P&L, ensuring predictable, stable performance by proactively managing risks, identifying growth opportunities, and delivering results against plan. 

• Establish and oversee end‑to‑end performance management across the Franchise Operations (FO), turning data into actionable insights that inform strategic decisions and enable sustainable profit growth. 

• Align financial strategies and execution with Operating Unit (OU) objectives, ensuring consistency in priorities and performance expectations. 

• Implement Operating Unit (OU) and global resource allocation frameworks to optimize investment, enable high priority initiatives, and maximize system value creation. 

• Partner across finance network to drive optimization of working capital and cash management processes 

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Strategic Partnership & Stakeholder Management 

• Serve as the Senior Financial Lead in managing strategic relationships with bottler partners across MER franchise. 

• Act as a trusted advisor to Franchise VP, FO Country Leads and other Senior Leaders to ensure alignment on system priorities with Bottler Partners, long‑term value creation objectives, operationalization of joint business plans. 

• Lead financial negotiations with Bottler Partners related to rebates, deductions, and investment funding in line with Operating Unit strategy, balancing competitiveness in the market with disciplined financial governance. 

• Foster joint performance management routines that establish transparency in results, accountability for delivery, and rapid course‑correction where needed to meet shared goals 

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Business Model & Strategic Projects 

• Assess and enhance franchise business models to accelerate Coca-Cola System topline growth. 

• Provide expert financial insights to support negotiations, operational changes, on system optimization decisions — including capacity constraints, third‑party manufacturing, and export-import efficiency initiatives. 

• Lead financial workstream and execution for potential M&As/refranchising strategic initiatives. 

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Financial Governance 

• Parter with Legal, Tax, Treasury, and other operational functions to safeguard the financial integrity of business decisions. Align cross‑functional teams on financial priorities supporting strategic growth initiatives. 

• Ensure strong financial governance across the franchise, including compliance with company policies, internal controls, statutory regulations, and contractual obligations with bottler partners and customers — safeguarding system assets and protecting long term value creation. 

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Leadership & Capability Building 

• Lead and develop the Franchise Finance team, ensuring capability growth, strong performance management, and robust succession planning. 

• Foster an agile talent environment across OU finance, allocating resources flexibly to high‑priority initiatives. 

• Actively contributes to building engagement and collaboration across the broader OU Finance function. 

Key Requirements 

Experience: >10 years in senior financial planning, financial performance management, franchise operations finance or commercial finance roles, ideally within complex, multi‑market environments. 

Leadership: Extensive leadership and management experience, leading and managing high performing teams, with the ability to operate effectively in a diverse cultural context. ​

Skills: 

• Highly skilled in executive communication, with the ability to engage, influence, and align stakeholders at all organizational levels. 

• Strategic thinking and business acumen 

• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management 

• Risk management and decision-making under pressure 

• Advanced financial modelling and analysis 

• Agile and adaptive approach to changing market dynamics 

• Travel requirements ~20%