Senior Manager Commercial Finance & Project Controlling

Function: Finance

Location: Egypt

Reporting To: Head of Finance

Executive Oversight: CEO

Role Purpose

The Senior Manager – Commercial Finance & Project Controlling will own the financial and commercial governance of customer opportunities and projects across their full lifecycle, from RFP and bid preparation through contract award, project execution, collection and closure.

The role will act as the key Finance business partner to Sales, Presales, Delivery, Procurement/Vendor Management and Legal, ensuring competitive yet financially sustainable proposals and protecting project profitability throughout execution.

Key Responsibilities

Bid Finance, Pricing & Deal Evaluation

• Lead financial modelling, costing and commercial analysis for RFPs, tenders and customer proposals.
• Partner with Sales, Presales and Delivery to validate resource, vendor, license, infrastructure, travel and other project costs.
• Develop pricing scenarios and analyze revenue, gross margin, contribution, cash flow and working-capital requirements.
• Challenge commercial assumptions and identify financial risks before bid submission.
• Conduct financial feasibility assessments and support bid/no-bid decisions based on commercial viability, delivery capability and financial risk.
• Challenge pricing, effort, resource mix, utilisation, delivery model and other commercial assumptions to ensure sustainable deal economics.
• Ensure compliance with approved pricing frameworks, margin thresholds, delegation of authority and commercial approval processes.
• Prepare and present financial business cases, pricing recommendations and approval documentation for management review.

Commercial & Contract Financial Management

• Evaluate customer and vendor commercial terms, including payment milestones, credit periods, price escalations, discounts, foreign exchange exposure, penalties, service credits and contractual commitments.
• Work with Sales, Procurement and Legal to assess the financial implications of contractual deviations and commercial negotiations.
• Ensure vendor, subcontractor, licence and third-party commitments are appropriately reflected in customer pricing and project budgets.
• Evaluate the financial impact of scope changes, change requests, contract renewals and variations before commercial commitments are made.
• Identify risks arising from unfavourable payment terms, delivery obligations, cost commitments and potential margin exposure.
• Maintain appropriate financial documentation and an audit trail for commercial approvals and key deal assumptions.

Project Financial Controlling & Profitability Management

• Establish the financial baseline for awarded projects covering revenue, cost, margin, cash flow, resource plans, vendor commitments, billing milestones and cash-flow assumptions.
• Monitor actual and forecast project performance against approved business cases.
• Maintain periodic estimates at completion (EAC), including forecast revenue, total project costs, gross margin and expected cash flow.
• Track project revenue, cost of delivery, resource utilisation, subcontractor costs, gross margin, billing, collections, unbilled revenue and working capital.
• Identify margin leakage, cost overruns, scope creep and other commercial risks, and drive corrective actions with Delivery and Sales.
• Assess the financial impact of project delays, resource ramp-up or ramp-down, delivery-model changes and customer or vendor dependencies.
• Escalate financially challenged projects and material deviations from approved profitability or cash-flow parameters to the Head of Finance and management.
• Ensure timely project financial closure, including final cost reconciliation, outstanding billing, vendor commitments and closure of financial exposures.

Revenue, Billing & Working Capital

• Coordinate with Delivery and Finance to ensure revenue recognition and project financial reporting are supported by appropriate contractual terms, delivery evidence and applicable accounting policies.
• Monitor achievement of contractual billing milestones, timely invoice submission, unbilled revenue and billing backlogs.
• Track receivables, overdue collections, disputed invoices and customer payment commitments in coordination with Sales and Accounts Receivable.
• Identify working-capital risks arising from delayed billing, extended payment terms, vendor advances and mismatches between customer collections and supplier payments.
• Drive timely resolution of financial and commercial issues affecting invoicing, collections and cash conversion.

Governance & Management Reporting

• Establish and maintain standardised frameworks for bid costing, pricing, project budgeting, forecasting and commercial reviews.
• Prepare periodic management dashboards covering bid pipeline economics, approved margins, project profitability, EAC, billing, collections, working capital and key commercial risks.
• Provide the Head of Finance and CEO with timely visibility of material deal risks, underperforming projects, margin deterioration and cash-flow exposure.
• Maintain appropriate controls over pricing exceptions, commercial approvals, project budget changes and financial commitments.
• Drive continuous improvement in commercial finance processes, forecasting accuracy, reporting quality and cross-functional financial discipline.

Key Performance Indicators

• Bid costing and forecast accuracy
• Actual vs. approved project gross margin
• Margin leakage identification and resolution
• Project cash flow and working-capital performance
• Timeliness and quality of RFP financial submissions
• Compliance with commercial approval processes
• Accuracy of project estimates-at-completion
• Timely identification and escalation of commercial risks
• Timeliness of milestone billing & Working-capital performance
• Timely Project financial closure and reconciliation of completed projects.

Candidate Profile

• 8–12+ years of experience in Commercial Finance, Project Finance, Bid Finance, Project Controlling or similar roles.
• Preferably from IT Services, Systems Integration, Telecom, Managed Services, Technology Consulting or project-based businesses.
• Egyptian ESAA/CPA / CMA with 8+ years post-qualification experience, or MBA (Finance) with 8+ years post-MBA experience, in commercial finance, bid finance or project controlling.
• Prior experience with large MNCs in Egypt or GCC countries is strongly preferred.
• Strong expertise in project costing, pricing, P&L management, financial modelling, forecasting, cash flow and working capital.
• Strong commercial mindset with the ability to challenge Sales and Delivery assumptions constructively.
• Excellent stakeholder management, analytical and communication skills.
• Advanced Excel/financial modelling capabilities.
• Strong analytical, communication, presentation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work independently, exercise sound commercial judgement and present clear financial recommendations to senior management.
• Expert fluency in Arabic (spoken and written), with the ability to review commercial documents, contracts and tenders in Arabic and engage directly with regional customers, vendors and authorities.