Regional Marketing Commercial Governance Lead

The Regional Marketing Commercial Governance Lead (GSR8) serves as the commercial backbone, agency SOW process driver, fiscal steward, and compliance anchor across International Markets Group (IMG). Operating across a diverse footprint spanning Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN, South Africa, Middle East, and Asia Pacific Direct Markets (APDM), the role bridges enterprise financial rigor and regional marketing execution.

The primary, most consuming accountability of this role is commanding the end-to-end Agency Scope of Work (SOW) business planning lifecycle. Serving as the authoritative regional Single Point of Contact (SPOC) between Ford Central, 7 national market marketing teams, and agency executive leadership (WPP/VML and partners), the role directs project timelines, reconciles market vs. central scopes to eliminate double-billing, benchmarks rate cards, manages GAMT performance bonuses, and enforces strict sub-supplier auditing alongside daily budget controllership.

• Commercial Governance & Agency Management Track Record: 7–10 years of progressive experience in commercial agency governance, agency management, marketing operations, or budget controllership within a multinational corporate environment, automotive OEM, regional distributor, or Tier-1 advertising agency network.

• Agency SOW Process Leadership & Reconciliation (Critical): Demonstrated mastery of leading end-to-end Agency Scope of Work (SOW) lifecycles: multi-market project management, market-center scope reconciliations, eliminating duplicated retainers, authoring SOW placemats, analyzing staffing rate cards, managing fee reconciliations, running semi-annual agency evaluations, and calculating performance bonuses (GAMT).

• Financial Acumen & SAP / Ariba Purchasing Controllership: Demonstrated track record of directly managing complex marketing budgets ($10M+), purchase order lifecycles (SAP / Ariba / Coupa), accruals, financial audits, and agency SOW reconciliations across multiple international operating entities.

• Internal Controls & Audit Compliance (MCRP / SOX): Proven track record as Lead for Management Control Review Processes (MCRP), SOX compliance frameworks, internal auditing, and corporate governance standards.

• Constructive Governance & Regional SPOC Diplomacy: Ability to act as an authoritative regional SPOC -enforcing compliance, budget caps, and agency governance rules diplomatically but firmly across senior country marketing directors and external agency executives.

• Process Architecture & Rigorous Execution: Exceptional process design and execution capability; ability to develop, document, roll out, and rigorously enforce structured commercial and governance workflows across cross-cultural teams.

• Executive Communication & Analytical Synthesis: Strong written and verbal English communication skills; ability to synthesize complex financial allocations, agency fee structures, and compliance audits into clear, actionable executive summaries.

• High Autonomy & Operational Resilience: High-energy, proactive self-starter with the organizational resilience and autonomy to manage high-volume commercial governance operations with minimal daily supervision.

• Regional Agency SOW Leadership & Process Management (Core Focus): Commands the end-to-end annual Agency Scope of Work (SOW) planning lifecycle across IMG. Establishes master project schedules, critical milestone gates, deliverables roadmaps, and stakeholder alignment cadences across Central IMG, national sales companies (NSCs), direct distributors, and agency executive leadership.

• Regional SPOC & Cross-Market Agency Communications: Serves as the single authoritative regional SPOC bridging Ford Central, local market marketing directors, and agency commercial leadership (WPP, VML, Ogilvy, Mindshare). Manages structured communications, briefing compliance reviews, and multi-market alignment forums.

• Market-Center Scope Reconciliation & Cost Optimization: Directs the multi-market scope reconciliation process across all 7 markets. Rigorously cross-examines market SOW submissions against central initiatives; identifies duplicate scopes, reconciles overlapping retainers, challenges redundant agency resourcing, and closes efficiency gaps to establish a unified, non-duplicative regional agency scope.

• SOW Placemats, Staffing Matrices & Rate Card Benchmarking: Authors standardized SOW planning placemats, staffing summaries, FTE allocations, and resource matrices across creative, production, and digital agency partners. Benchmarks agency rate cards, negotiates commercial pricing models, and aligns agency resource tiers with commercial priorities.

• Central Agency Evaluations & Global Submissions (GAMT): Directs the semi-annual agency evaluation process (mid-year and year-end) across all markets. Establishes KPI scorecards, collects and normalizes market feedback, calculates performance bonuses, incentive pools, and penalty adjustments; coordinates formal submissions to the Global Agency Management Team (GAMT).

• Sub-Supplier Audits & Production Pass-Through Verification: Acts as the commercial gatekeeper monitoring agency master workplans against contracted SLAs. Leads quarterly agency sub-supplier verifications and production pass-through audits, reconciling third-party vendor billing, CGI/licensing fees, and production pass-throughs against contracted rate cards to eliminate billing leakage.

• Financial Controllership & Purchasing Administration: Directs end-to-end purchasing workflow for Central Marketing Communications and Fixed Marketing budgets (~5-year Business Plan horizon). Manages shopping carts, formal PO issuance via Ariba/SAP, goods receipting, monthly accruals, invoice reconciliation, and Profit Improvement Planning (PIP) cost-saving reviews.

• Internal Controls, MCRP & SOX Compliance: Serves as the primary regional Lead for the Management Control Review Process (MCRP) across Marketing Communications. Ensures strict adherence to Global Internal Control standards, SOX audit mandates, anti-bribery policies, and regional Business Continuity Plans (BCP).

• Distributor Enablement & Distribution Hygiene (Secondary Focus): Acts as administrative conduit connecting Central with distributor regional hubs (Dubai, Pretoria, Bangkok). Coordinates digital distribution of approved foundational campaign boxes ('Campaign in a Box'), administers quarterly distributor Co-Op marketing claims, and manages distribution user access permissions on the DCOE / distributor portal.