Curaleaf International is one of Europe's largest vertically integrated medical cannabis businesses, operating across the UK, Germany, Poland and Australia with EU GMP-certified production facilities in Portugal, Spain and Canada. Revenue is growing rapidly and we are building the commercial infrastructure to match.
This is a newly created role at the heart of our commercial operations. The Director of Commercial Operations is responsible for building the demand-led commercial infrastructure the business needs to scale: the demand planning function, the sales governance framework and the commercial processes that connect market intelligence to supply decisions. Working alongside our market Managing Directors, this person instils the discipline and rigour that turns commercial ambition into an executable plan.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Commercial governance and sales process
Create a long term pipeline visibility: creating the tools, templates and disciplines so the business has a consolidated forward view of commercial performance at all times
Establish the commercial review cadence: weekly market reviews where country heads present pipeline, wins/losses and pricing issues against a consistent framework
Define what good looks like for each market in terms of pipeline visibility and forecast accuracy, then build the process to get there
Own the commercial demand signal
Own the forward-looking commercial demand plan: a SKU-level, market-by-market view of what the business needs to sell and when, grounded in real market intelligence rather than historical patterns or available inventory
Ensure the demand signal is locked and signed off at the start of each planning cycle = supply teams plan against this number, not a moving target
Partner with the Group Demand & S&OP Manager to ensure the commercial demand signal feeds cleanly into the S&OP process
Partner with Finance for monthly re-forecast process; changes to the demand signal are governed and visible, not ad hoc
Perform SKU level market by market demand signal for smaller business entities
Perform long term portfolio planning working with the US based team for insights into how the markets may evolve in the future, regulatory team for insights into potential industry changes and create a forward looking consolidated plan to hand over to R&D and genetics team for future launches
Create mid-high level long term demand plans incorporating market analysis portfolio planning for handover to the GM's on a bi-annual basis, allowing them to translate this into a SKU level forecast
Ensure the demand signal is locked and signed off at the start of each planning cycle = supply teams plan against this number, not a moving target
Partner with the Group Demand & S&OP Manager to ensure the commercial demand signal feeds cleanly into the S&OP process
Partner with Finance for monthly re-forecast process; changes to the demand signal are governed and visible, not ad hoc
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
Experience
10+ years in commercial operations, merchandising, demand planning or commercial excellence with a track record of building these functions, not just operating within them
Background in FMCG direct experience with prescription, pharmacy or clinical channels strongly preferred
Proven ability to design and implement sales governance frameworks and demand planning processes in a multi-market environment where no unified process previously existed
Strong analytical capability: comfortable building SKU-level demand models, margin analyses and commercial dashboards independently
Experience working alongside geo-based commercial teams in a matrix structure, influencing without direct line authority
Preferred
Familiarity with multi-country demand planning across markets with structurally different commercial models
Experience working with or alongside an S&OP function with clear understanding of where commercial demand planning ends and S&OP mechanics begin
You
A playing coach: you design the framework and you do the work; you do not hand over a slide deck and move on