Torchora
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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Commercial Manager

💰 $90,000 - $150,000

BusinessManagementSalesFinanceCommercial

🎯 Role Definition

The Commercial Manager owns the end-to-end commercial agenda for a business unit or product portfolio — setting pricing and discount frameworks, leading contract negotiation and tender responses, optimizing go-to-market execution, and partnering with sales, product, finance and legal to drive sustainable revenue and margin growth. This role blends strategic commercial planning, hands-on deal management, data-driven forecasting, and team leadership to deliver predictable commercial outcomes and improve customer lifetime value.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Sales Manager / Key Account Manager
  • Commercial Analyst / Pricing Analyst
  • Business Development Manager

Advancement To:

  • Head of Commercial / Regional Commercial Director
  • Director of Sales / VP Commercial
  • Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Product Manager
  • Strategic Partnerships Director
  • Commercial Operations Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and execute a comprehensive commercial strategy aligned with corporate objectives that targets revenue growth, margin expansion, customer retention, and market share gains across assigned markets and product lines.
  • Own end-to-end P&L accountability for assigned portfolios, preparing monthly and quarterly financial reviews, analyzing variances, and implementing corrective actions to meet profitability targets.
  • Lead the development and implementation of pricing strategies, discount policies, rebate programs and promotional mechanics that maximize margin while remaining competitive and aligned to customer value.
  • Negotiate and manage complex commercial contracts, master services agreements, statements of work and SLAs with customers, suppliers and channel partners, ensuring commercial terms protect company interests and minimize risk.
  • Lead the response to RFPs, RFQs and tenders — coordinating cross-functional teams (legal, finance, operations, product) to deliver compelling, compliant bids and to track win/loss rationales and lessons learned.
  • Design, implement and continuously refine commercial governance, approval workflows and delegation matrices for discounting, contract approvals and non-standard commercial terms.
  • Build and maintain robust revenue and pipeline forecasting models, scenario analyses and rolling forecasts to inform leadership decisions and capital allocation.
  • Partner with Sales Enablement and HR to design compensation plans, incentive schemes and quota structures that motivate sales teams to achieve growth and margin objectives.
  • Define and track commercial KPIs (revenue, margin, ARR/MMR, customer acquisition cost, churn, CLTV, win rates) and build executive dashboards and board-level presentations with clear insights and recommended actions.
  • Lead pricing and profitability analyses at customer, segment and SKU levels using cost-to-serve models, ensuring resource allocation aligns with strategic profit objectives.
  • Manage key account relationships and participate in executive-level negotiations with strategic customers to secure long-term contracts and partnership agreements.
  • Collaborate with Product Management to translate market and customer intelligence into product positioning, packaging and monetization strategies that increase ARR and penetration.
  • Implement and govern CRM best practices (e.g., Salesforce) and sales processes to ensure data integrity, sales accountability and measurable conversion improvements across the funnel.
  • Drive cross-functional commercial initiatives such as channel partner programs, distribution agreements, strategic alliances and go-to-market launches, acting as commercial lead and project sponsor.
  • Assess commercial risk exposures (pricing, contract compliance, credit risk) and work with Legal and Finance to develop mitigation plans, credit limits and contingency strategies.
  • Conduct market sizing, competitor benchmarking and win/loss analysis to inform pricing, product roadmap and go-to-market adjustments.
  • Lead commercial due diligence in support of M&A, JV or strategic investment activities, providing revenue, pricing and customer analytics and integration planning.
  • Develop and implement customer segmentation and value-based pricing approaches to maximize revenue capture and tailor propositions to high-value segments.
  • Coach, mentor and manage a team of commercial professionals (pricing analysts, bid managers, commercial analysts), setting objectives, delivering feedback and developing talent plans to build a high-performing commercial function.
  • Drive continuous improvement in commercial processes, tools and automation (pricing engines, CPQ, rebate management) to improve quote-to-cash speed, accuracy and compliance.
  • Represent the commercial function in cross-functional leadership forums, acting as the liaison between Sales, Finance, Legal, Operations and Product to resolve commercial bottlenecks and align on strategic priorities.
  • Prepare and present clear, data-driven recommendations for senior leadership on pricing changes, contract amendments, market entry, and resource allocation.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc commercial data requests and exploratory analysis to answer leadership questions and validate strategic hypotheses.
  • Contribute to the organization's commercial data strategy and roadmap, advocating for tools and dashboards that increase insight and decision speed.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate commercial needs into CRM/CPQ configuration, reporting requirements and automation tasks.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies where commercial processes intersect with product and engineering delivery to ensure commercial requirements are implemented.
  • Provide commercial input into operational planning, capacity forecasting and supply chain decisions to ensure customer commitments are commercialized efficiently.
  • Deliver training and enablement sessions for sales and customer-facing teams on new commercial policies, pricing tools and negotiation tactics.
  • Maintain and update the contract repository, ensuring key milestones, renewal dates and compliance obligations are tracked and actioned.
  • Support customer escalations for contractual or commercial disputes and coordinate cross-functional resolution and remediation plans.
  • Track regulatory and compliance changes that could impact pricing, contracting or go-to-market activities and advise on required adjustments.
  • Evaluate and recommend third-party commercial technology vendors (CPQ, pricing engines, analytics platforms) to improve productivity and accuracy.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Commercial strategy development and execution
  • Contract negotiation and management (including MSAs, SLAs, NDAs)
  • P&L ownership and financial analysis for profitability management
  • Pricing strategy, price modeling and discount governance
  • Revenue forecasting, pipeline management and sales analytics
  • Advanced Excel (financial modeling), PowerPoint (executive presentations) and experience with BI tools (Power BI, Tableau)
  • CRM expertise (e.g., Salesforce) including pipeline hygiene and reporting
  • CPQ, quoting systems and commercial automation tools (experience preferred)
  • Tender and RFP management, bid writing and compliance
  • Cost-to-serve and customer profitability analysis
  • Familiarity with commercial legal concepts and working with in-house counsel
  • Experience with rebate, commission and incentive scheme design and administration
  • Market research, competitor benchmarking and win/loss analysis
  • M&A commercial due diligence and integration planning experience (preferred)
  • Data literacy and ability to work with data teams on analytics and dashboards

Soft Skills

  • Strong commercial acumen and business judgment with a focus on measurable outcomes
  • Excellent negotiation, influencing and persuasion skills with senior stakeholders and customers
  • Leadership and people management capability, including coaching and developing teams
  • Clear, concise and compelling communication skills for internal and executive audiences
  • Analytical problem-solving with attention to detail and practical bias to action
  • Stakeholder management across matrixed organizations and external partners
  • Resilience and adaptability in fast-paced, ambiguous environments
  • Strategic thinking with the ability to translate strategy into operational plans
  • Customer-centric mindset and ability to build trusted relationships
  • Project management and prioritization skills to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Finance, Engineering, Marketing or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or advanced degree in Business, Finance, or related discipline preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Finance / Accounting
  • Economics
  • Marketing
  • Commercial Law or Contract Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5 - 12 years of progressive commercial experience.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years in commercial roles with demonstrable P&L, pricing and contracting responsibility.
  • Experience leading commercial teams and cross-functional initiatives.
  • Industry experience relevant to the role (e.g., SaaS, Manufacturing, Telecom, Professional Services, Energy) and familiarity with channel and direct sales models.
  • Proven track record of delivering measurable revenue and margin improvements through pricing, negotiation and go-to-market actions.
  • Experience working with CRM, CPQ and BI tools and producing executive-level reporting and dashboards.
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