Chief Financial Officer – Transformation — Commercial Launch Organisation

The mandate

A pharmaceutical enterprise is evaluating divestment of a portfolio housed inside its commercial launch organisation. The products share country teams, distribution, safety processes, data and contracts with retained assets, so headline brand profitability does not describe a separable business. A planned new CFO – Transformation will create the economic and control architecture before the board selects a transaction route.

Approximately 825 employees and material partners span commercial, medical, market access, supply, regulatory, safety, finance and enabling work from Dublin across international markets. The CFO owns separation finance, stand-alone reporting, control, tax, working capital, transition economics and deal support, reporting to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee. Regulated product obligations remain with authorised functions throughout any transfer.

The first task is a product-level baseline. Revenue, rebates, returns, distribution, medical activity, regulatory maintenance, pharmacovigilance and quality support must be allocated by genuine driver. Broad corporate percentages can distort both retained and divested economics. The CFO will show standalone cost, stranded cost and dis-synergy separately.

Entity and market scope needs precision. Marketing authorisations, contracts, licences and tax positions may not align with commercial reporting. Finance will work with legal and regulatory teams to map ownership and required transfer by country. A product can be commercially included but operationally inseparable by the desired completion date.

Patient and medicine continuity are transaction gates. Order-to-cash, inventory, batch release, complaints, safety cases and medical information must function through cut-over. The CFO will fund dual running and reconciliation where necessary. Saving transition cost cannot justify an untested change to a regulated obligation.

Transition service agreements will be built from actual work. Service, volume, duration, data, control, pricing and exit need definition. The CFO will prevent vague agreements that preserve indefinite dependence or underprice scarce retained resources. Each service should have an accountable provider, recipient and migration milestone.

Working capital may be volatile. Channel inventory, returns, rebates, receivables and minimum manufacturing batches can shift value around completion. The CFO will define normalisation, cut-off and true-up mechanisms, ensuring neither party manages stock or sales to manipulate the closing position.

Tax and transfer pricing influence structure and value. Intellectual property, distribution margins, exit taxes, VAT and entity transfers require early analysis. The CFO will distinguish robust operational structures from tax outcomes that depend on unrealistic substance. Post-deal compliance and audit trail must be deliverable.

Data separation needs permitted-use clarity. Customer, healthcare professional, patient-support and safety information cannot simply be copied with a brand. The finance workstream will include cost, consent, retention and access implications with privacy and regulatory leaders. Data-room access should be minimised and monitored.

Deal alternatives may include asset sale, carve-out, licensing or regional partnership. The CFO will model proceeds, retained obligations, execution time, tax, stranded cost and strategic flexibility. Highest headline value may not produce the best risk-adjusted outcome if separation is fragile or long-term services are extensive.

The retained launch organisation also matters. Removing products can leave country teams, systems and distribution contracts uneconomic. The CFO will create a stranded-cost removal plan that respects consultation and future launches. Costs will not be assumed away merely because they do not transfer.

Control and reporting will be tested before external reliance. Carve-out financial statements, revenue cut-off, allocations, reconciliations and management adjustments need evidence. The CFO will ensure advisers and auditors can reproduce the numbers, and that the prospective standalone leadership can close without parent intervention.

The programme must remain confidential without paralysing operations. Clean teams, need-to-know access and coded workstreams will protect information. The CFO will plan when employee, customer and partner communication becomes necessary for continuity, rather than treating secrecy as an absolute until closing.

What you will own

• Stand-alone product and country economics.
• Carve-out reporting, control and audit readiness.
• Separation, stranded cost and transition services.
• Working capital, tax and transaction structure.
• Regulated continuity with accountable functions.
• Data-room, clean-team and confidentiality finance.
• Deal alternatives and board value analysis.
• Finance capability for retained and separated organisations.

The first 12 months

In the first 60 days, reconstruct product economics, map entity and regulated dependencies and quantify stranded cost. Identify any target perimeter that cannot separate safely on the assumed timetable.

By month six, produce auditable carve-out accounts, negotiated transition-service principles and tested continuity plans. Present risk-adjusted transaction alternatives.

At twelve months, achieve 100% reconciliation of carve-out balances, identify and action at least 85% of addressable stranded cost and complete all regulated cut-over tests before transfer. Working-capital true-ups should remain within 5% of agreed estimates, with no medicine-supply or safety-case interruption attributable to separation.

What the committee will inspect

• Allocations following real product-support drivers.
• Stand-alone and stranded cost shown separately.
• Transition services priced and designed to end.
• Inventory and rebates protected from cut-off manipulation.
• Data transfer respecting purpose and regulation.
• Retained organisation viable after divestment.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in finance transformation, with CFO-level responsibility for a pharmaceutical, life-sciences or regulated consumer carve-out. Your record includes audited separation accounts, tax and working-capital structuring, transition services and operational cut-over across multiple countries.

Candidates must show how they protected product continuity when commercial and regulated perimeters differed. Dublin is the permanent onsite base, with extensive international deal and market engagement.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is EUR 285,000–390,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to separation readiness, value, continuity, control and finance capability. The permanent onsite Dublin appointment reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee. Planned timing precedes the final transaction choice.

Confidentiality

The enterprise, products, markets, employees, customers, transaction alternatives, data room and economics remain confidential. Detailed information follows conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not approach potential buyers, advisers or pharmaceutical companies to identify the client.