Role Purpose

The Head of Commercial is responsible for leading the company's customer-facing organization and ensuring the successful execution of every client program from initial inquiry through production handover.

This role owns all commercial activities, including customer relationship management, merchandising, sample development, product innovation, design coordination, and commercial costing. Acting as the primary commercial leader of the business, the Head of Commercial ensures exceptional customer service, timely sample development, accurate costing, explicit communication, and world-class execution for global fashion and luxury brand partners.

As one of the senior leaders of the organization, this individual serves as the public face of the company alongside the CEO, representing the business in customer meetings, business development opportunities, factory visits, and strategic partnerships.

Organizational Responsibility

The Head of Commercial will lead and oversee:

- Merchandising Department

○ General Manager - Merchandising

○ All Merchandisers

- Sample Room

○ Sample Room Head

○ Pattern Makers

○ Designers

○ Tailors

○ Sample Coordinators

- Leather R&D; / Sampling Department

○ Leather R&D; & Sampling Head

○ Leather Development Team

- In-House Design Team

Key ResponsibilitiesCommercial Leadership

- Own all customer-facing commercial operations.
- Build and maintain long-term relationships with global apparel and luxury brand customers.
- Serve as the senior escalation point for customer issues and commercial decisions.
- Represent the company during customer visits, presentations, trade shows, and strategic meetings.
- Partner with the CEO on major customer relationships and business development initiatives.

Customer Relationship Management





- Develop trusted relationships with key customer stakeholders.
- Ensure exceptional responsiveness and service levels.
- Drive customer satisfaction and long-term account growth.
- Identify opportunities to expand business within existing accounts.
- Support negotiations on commercial terms where required.

Merchandising Leadership

Provide leadership to the merchandising organization by ensuring:

- Customer requests are managed efficiently.
- Development timelines are met.
- BOMs and specifications are accurate.
- Pre-production activities remain on schedule.
- Internal coordination across departments is seamless.
- Merchant workloads are balanced and priorities are clearly communicated.

Review departmental workload and resource allocation to maintain high levels of execution.

Sample Development Management

Own the company's sample development process from customer request through dispatch.

Ensure:

- Samples are developed according to customer expectations.
- Internal milestones are achieved.
- Priorities are communicated across teams.
- Bottlenecks are identified and resolved early.
- Sampling capacity is optimized across customers and seasons.
- High-priority samples are reviewed and approved before dispatch when appropriate.

Commercial Costing & Pricing

Own the commercial costing process by ensuring all quotations are accurate, competitive, and aligned with the company's profitability objectives.





Responsibilities include:

- Review and challenge all product costings and costing drafts prepared by the Merchandising team before submission.
- Validate BOMs, material consumption, labor assumptions, overhead allocations, and commercial assumptions in collaboration with Product, Production, and Finance.
- Ensure costing methodologies are standardized and consistently applied across customers.
- Recommend pricing strategies that balance customer competitiveness with target margins.
- Coordinate final pricing and costing approvals with the CEO in accordance with the company's commercial approval matrix.
- Ensure approved quotations are communicated promptly to customers and internal teams.
- Continuously improve costing accuracy through post-order reviews and variance analysis.

Product Development & Innovation

Partner closely with the Leather R&D; and Design teams to:

- Translate customer concepts into manufacturable products.
- Introduce new leather finishes, constructions, and design ideas.
- Improve product quality and manufacturability.
- Drive innovation aligned with market trends and customer expectations.

Cross-Functional Coordination

Work closely with:

- Product
- Production
- Planning
- Quality
- Finance
- Supply Chain

Ensure all commercial commitments are realistic, achievable, and communicated effectively across the organization.

Forecasting & Development Planning

- Maintain visibility over all active developments.
- Forecast sample volumes and seasonal workload.
- Allocate resources proactively.
- Ensure development schedules align with factory capacity.
- Implement systems to monitor project status, risks, and customer commitments.
- Lead weekly commercial pipeline and

📌 Commercial Head - Leather R&d/design (Chennai)
🏢 Frokme
📍 Chennai