We recently sat down with a senior Supply Chain Finance leader at one of Australia's well-known FMCG businesses. The conversation covered everything from commodity volatility and SAP transformation to the evolving role of finance business partners and what really matters when hiring talent in this space.
Here are the key takeaways.
Input cost volatility continues to dominate the supply chain finance agenda. Commodity-linked ingredient agreements, packaging tied to plastic and oil prices, and fuel surcharges on transport contracts mean that even "fixed" supplier arrangements have escalators baked in. The expectation from the top is clear: absorb inflation through efficiency rather than passing it to the consumer.
Every cycle, finance teams are being asked to find more value, optimise harder, and challenge the cost base — because affordability is a real constraint in the current market.
The most striking theme of the conversation was the deliberate shift away from finance teams sitting in the office "protecting numbers" and toward being physically embedded in operations.
"I want my people on the line, not behind a laptop. If a finance business partner on site doesn't know how the line works, they're not adding value."
The leader described pushing standardised reporting and transactional work to shared services, freeing up site-based business partners to focus on operational drivers — the things that actually move the P&L. The bar for the modern manufacturing finance business partner is high: commercial acumen, influencing skills, and enough operational fluency to step in and run a site if needed.
A consistent frustration: too much data, too late.
"I don't want to know how last week went. I want to know tomorrow morning what happened today — and more importantly, what's about to go wrong before it does."
The shift toward leading indicators, real-time visibility, and predictive insight is reshaping what finance teams need to deliver. AI is part of the toolkit, but it's not a silver bullet. The leader was candid that the risk with AI and data-rich environments is overload — more information doesn't automatically mean better decisions.
The skill is filtering for what matters.
SAP migrations, factory integrations across borders, process simplification — large FMCG businesses are in a state of perpetual transformation. Finance leaders are increasingly expected to bring change-management capability alongside technical accounting depth. That's reshaping what "good" looks like at the business partner level too.
Perhaps the most useful insight for anyone hiring (or job hunting) in this space: the hiring bar isn't about a perfectly matched CV.
This leader, like several others we've spoken to recently, places far more weight on:
Technical FMCG manufacturing experience is valuable, but increasingly leaders are hiring people from adjacent industries or transformation backgrounds who bring fresh thinking.
One example shared during the conversation: a Head of Supply Chain Finance hired from a transformation background with no prior manufacturing experience — and made it work because the mindset was right.
When asked about hiring channels, the answer was direct: internal talent, then known network, then advertised search. Strong leaders in this space build deep networks over years and rely on them heavily. For agencies, this means the transactional "here's a CV" approach has limited shelf life.
What gets traction is genuine market intelligence — flagging standout talent in hard-to-find pockets (manufacturing and logistics finance being a perennial example) rather than spec CVs every week.
Interim and contract solutions are valuable, but the leader was clear that at senior business partner level, ramp-up time often outweighs the benefit. Contractors land more naturally in junior roles, parental leave backfills, or project-based work where the scope is contained.
For finance professionals at the senior end of supply chain, the market is tight. Roles exist, but they're competitive. Timing matters enormously — we've seen people walk straight from redundancy into new roles, and others still searching six months later. Staying networked, visible, and well-referred is more important than ever.
The role of finance in FMCG supply chains is changing fast. The leaders winning are the ones building teams of commercially-minded business partners who live in the operation, anticipate problems before they hit the P&L, and have the influencing skills to drive change. If you're hiring — or thinking about your next move — those are the qualities worth investing in.
At DMC Recruitment, we partner with finance and commercial leaders across FMCG, infrastructure, and industrial sectors to build high-performing teams. If you'd like to chat about the market, your team, or your next career move, get in touch.