Director, Commercial Excellence

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We are looking for a Commercial Excellence Director to join our group Marketing and Communications team. The role leads the formation of a UPM level Center of Excellence (CoE) that drives UPM’s commercial excellence development together with our business areas.

Greetings from your future manager

“We are looking for an experienced professional who can develop and turn into practice our commercial excellence framework and lead change across businesses. This is an opportunity to contribute to UPM’s commercial success and work closely with our business areas to embed common commercial practices, build capabilities and support stronger commercial performance.” - Katja Ollila, Vice President, Marketing and Communications.

What you will do

UPM has created a company-wide Commercial Excellence framework to systematize and scale commercial excellence throughout the company. The framework covers the commercial process from segmentation and commercial plan through go-to-market planning, pipeline build, and sales execution to performance management.

As Director, Commercial Excellence, you will be accountable for leading the implementation of the framework and forming a CoE. Together with commercial excellence experts, Sales, Marketing and other experts in the business areas you will build the CoE ways of working to deliver expertise and support in agreed areas.

Commercial execution and performance remain the responsibility of each business area. The purpose of this role and team is to take the framework, methodologies and tools from the ComEx program into use consistently across the business areas, and to support the businesses in agreed areas. The framework is owned by EVP, Marketing, Sustainability and Communications.

In this position you will

• Lead the implementation of UPM’s commercial excellence framework, methodologies and tools in the business areas, scaling from pilots conducted in each BA
• Support the business areas in their implementation plans and how to follow up
• Lead the Center of Excellence: build its services, operating model, and ways of working with the business areas
• Support the business areas in the CoE focus areas with expertise, methods, tools and hands-on help
• Run implementation in collaboration with a network of responsible people in the business areas, and keep the framework current based on what the business areas learn during their implementation journeys
• Together with HR, develop systematic onboarding and capability building programs for commercial excellence
• Set up performance tracking and reporting for Commercial Excellence and use it to steer implementation and CoE priorities
• Define and run the governance that enables implementation across the business areas

Who you are

• Relevant university degree (e.g., Business, Economics, Engineering or equivalent)
• 10+ years of relevant commercial experience, ideally across B2B environments (sales, key accounts/customer management, commercial strategy, pricing, product management, marketing/GTM)
• Strong capability in pricing and value-based selling and/or commercial strategy (segmentation, GTM design, sales effectiveness)
• Experience leading cross-business change and harmonization
• Hands-on program leadership: ability to set up and run an implementation engine, working through a network of business stakeholders/capability owners
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, able to operate credibly with senior leadership, while collaborating effectively with business leadership and sales organizations
• Analytical and KPI-driven mindset: comfortable defining and tracking commercial performance indicators (activity, pipeline, conversion, closure speed, pricing performance and value leakage) and using insights to drive coaching and improvement
• Excellent communication skills in English

Additional information about the position

The position can be based in Helsinki or at another UPM business location, preferably in Europe, but other locations can be considered

The position holder will report to the VP, Marketing and Communications.

For further information about the role, please contact Katja Ollila, VP, Marketing and Communications, at +358 505382757.

How to apply

To apply, please submit your CV and cover letter by November 7, 2026. Please note that we accept only applications submitted through our online application system. We begin reviewing applications as they are received, and you may be contacted before the application deadline.

For support with submitting your application, please contact our HR Services team at UPM Service Portal or tel. +358204146600.

Learn more about how to apply from our Careers page.

Country-specific information

A security background check may be performed for those selected to UPM positions, in accordance with the company recruitment guidelines and the Security Clearance Act 726/2014.

UPM

UPM is a material solutions company, renewing products and entire value chains with an extensive portfolio of renewable fibres, advanced materials, decarbonization solutions, and communication papers. Our performance in sustainability has been recognized by third parties, including EcoVadis and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. We operate globally and employ approximately 15,100 people worldwide, with annual sales of approximately €9.7 billion. Our shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.

UPM – we renew the everyday
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