Chief Financial Officer – Transformation — Beauty And Personal-Care Business

The mandate

An Asian beauty and personal-care business has grown through social commerce, travel retail, marketplaces and rapid launches. Demand planning has not kept pace with the volatility or the difference between sell-in and consumer use. Influencer events can create short spikes, travel retail moves with passenger mix and distributors place defensive orders around promotions. Forecasts absorb those signals without consistent treatment, leading to expedites on one range and ageing inventory on another.

Finance reports inventory and margin accurately after the event but has limited authority in the assumptions that create them. Innovation gates emphasise launch revenue, commercial teams hold separate customer forecasts and supply plans use broad overrides. Working capital has risen, write-offs are becoming material and some apparent growth reverses through returns, markdown support or delayed distributor orders.

The Chief Financial Officer – Transformation will rebuild the integrated planning and financial system. The remit covers division finance, demand and scenario economics, innovation investment, working capital, accounting, tax, treasury and control. The CFO must preserve the speed needed in beauty while making the cost and cash of volatility explicit before commitments are placed.

Approximately 1,175 employees and material partners sit within the broader perimeter. This planned new role is on site in Singapore and reports to the Chief Executive and relevant board committee. It requires direct work across Asian markets, supply partners, digital channels and brand teams.

Why this seat is open

The group has capable regional finance and supply leaders but no executive accountable for a common demand, innovation and cash view across the beauty business. The board created the transformation CFO seat after successive planning cycles produced similar inventory and forecast problems despite local corrective actions.

What you will own

• Create a reconciled demand and financial view separating sell-in, sell-out, platform inventory, distributor stock, returns, promotions and exceptional social events.
• Control a P&L, investment and working-capital perimeter above SGD 1 billion and lead finance across an approximately 1,175-person organisation.
• Redesign launch economics and gates, including test evidence, minimum orders, marketing, channel stock, returns, obsolescence and stop or scale triggers.
• Establish scenario planning for travel retail, marketplaces, social commerce and distributor channels and connect it to purchasing and capacity decisions.
• Govern inventory by brand, SKU, market, channel, age and committed exit route, with provisions and write-offs recognised promptly.
• Lead accounting, tax, treasury, audit and controls across the regional business, including platform settlements and distributor terms.
• Align commercial, brand, supply and finance incentives to consumer demand, contribution and cash rather than launch sell-in alone.
• Build finance and planning capability able to challenge overrides while supporting controlled experimentation and rapid response.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Reconcile demand, channel stock, inventory and launch commitments; identify the largest unsupported overrides and ageing exposures. Establish temporary authorities and one scenario view for the next major events. Reset launch cases that rely on unverified sell-in.
• Months 4–9: Implement demand and inventory governance, redesign innovation gates and change incentives. Execute targeted inventory exits without indiscriminate discounting and renegotiate selected distributor or platform terms. Close control gaps in returns, deductions and settlements.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate improved forecast accuracy, inventory ageing and cash conversion through two planning cycles. Show evidence-led scaling or stopping of launches, publish the next investment and working-capital plan and establish successors across commercial finance, control and planning.

What the board will measure

• Forecast accuracy by brand, market and channel after exceptional events and overrides are made visible.
• Inventory ageing, write-off and cash conversion improving without damaging hero-product availability.
• Launch investment scaled or stopped according to consumer and contribution evidence rather than sell-in achievement.
• Distributor and platform stock understood and reconciled to future orders, returns and markdown obligations.
• Gross-to-net, settlement and provision integrity across social, travel and marketplace channels.
• Finance and planning leaders influencing assumptions early, with fewer emergency expedites and late inventory surprises.

The person

You are a divisional CFO, transformation finance leader, regional consumer CFO or integrated-planning executive with 22–28 years of experience. You have reset demand and working capital in beauty, personal care, fashion, consumer health or another launch-led category. You have owned at least SGD 800 million in P&L or investment and led at least 100 finance and planning professionals.

You understand Asian consumer channels at evidence level. You can separate social engagement, platform orders, distributor inventory and actual consumer demand and have changed purchasing or a launch after those signals diverged. You have governed inventory exits without training customers to wait for discounts.

Relevant backgrounds include beauty, premium consumer, personal care, fashion or other short-cycle branded categories. A conventional manufacturing CFO must show direct innovation and digital-channel depth. Planning leaders require full finance, control and board accountability.

The role is on site in Singapore with frequent regional travel. Candidates elsewhere may qualify with relocation and current Asian market experience. The CFO must combine fast judgement with rigorous cash and control, not attempt to remove volatility through an unrealistic single forecast.

Compensation and terms

The compensation range is SGD 420,000–570,000 base, supplemented by annual incentive and long-term participation. Measures will include forecast usefulness, cash, inventory, launch discipline, controls and leadership. This is a permanent planned new role. Relocation and verified forfeited awards may be considered.

Confidentiality

The company, brands, channels, partners and inventory data are confidential. Identifying information will be released only after relevance and protection are established. Candidates must not approach marketplaces, distributors or employees to infer the business.

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