BRIEF COMPANY PROFILE
Our client is the world’s leading animal health company. How can science create longer, more fulfilling lives for pets? Our client is committed to answering this and many other questions through a mixture of innovation and compassion, leaning on cutting-edge technologies and deep-seated connections to their communities to create advancements in animal health. Our client discovers, develops, and manufactures vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other technologies for companion animals and livestock. A Fortune 500 company traded on the NYSE (ZTS). The company generated $8.5 billion in revenue in 2023, of which 66% came from companion animal products and 34% from farm animal products. Our client – at a glance 70+ years of experience in animal health. 100+ countries in which our client’s products are sold. 14,100 employees as of 2024. With more than $500 million in R&D spending in 2023, our client advanced its diverse animal health portfolio in 2023 with key innovations, with 15 blockbuster products in 2022 each generating more than $100 million in revenue.

THE POSITION
The Nordic Business Unit Head for Companion Animals (CA) is tasked with running a complex business unit capable of achieving stretching sales targets and market share growth with full accountability for delivering results. The BU Head is also a member of the Nordic Leadership Team and contributes to the forging of the overall Nordic business strategy driving the achievement of the team's strategic goals and the regions financial objectives. The BU Head function is a leader of leaders and a role model of outstanding leadership behaviors and our client’s core beliefs.
POSITION PROFILE
Position title:	Nordic Business Unit Head, Companion Animals.

Reporting line:	General Manager, Nordics.

Reporting to the position:	4 direct reports (Sales Managers, Technical Manager, Marketing Manager)/16 indirect reports.

Location:	Copenhagen.

Traveling:	Travel on a regular basis within the Nordic region.

Responsibilities & Tasks:	Financial management: Delivering agreed operating plan and budget - ensuring sales revenue, margin, operating expenses, and profit exceed targets. Ensuring marketing investments are based on analysis and insights, linking to the strategy. Developing the annual Operating plan for the business unit. Leveraging all revenue streams, long and short term; assets, technology, services, pricing, consultancy, solutions, and process enhancement. Ensuring the financial control of the business unit and maintaining financial integrity in all areas especially on marketing spend and financial forecasting of marketing spend. Producing accurate financial and volume forecasting. Managing the business unit budget with tight control to avoid overspends - report regularly on financial net sales estimates. Using the discretionary budget amount in responsible, value driven, and innovative ways. Conducting ROI analysis both pre and post spend. Conducting regular assessment of payroll cost vs. ROI - leading structural changes to affect ROI when necessary. Planning: Maintaining a constant view of market conditions while anticipating fluctuations. Making calculated judgements to harness the commercial potential from changing market conditions at business unit level. Formulating creative and insightful strategic plans alongside stakeholders, that are based on comprehensive knowledge of customers and markets. Continually assess customer growth opportunities with regular account profiling and finding opportunities for additional needs and possible segmentation. Using business analytics to monitor and measure brand performance; in-line brand market share, equity, positioning, and drivers within the business unit. Implementing wider company strategies within the business unit that relate to in-line product positioning, pricing, packaging improvements, distribution, communications, customer segmentation, and field force structure. Translating the strategy into tactical delivery for the business unit. Effectively allocating resources to enable delivery of the strategy within a corporate setting. Identifying all possible business alliances, acquisitions, licensing opportunities, joint ventures, and co-promotions, and sustain his/her development. Contributing to the development of pan-cluster strategies. Working beyond the Nordics to developing and embedding these. Customer proposition Providing a specific and clear direction for the strategy, objectives, policies, practices, and expectations within the business unit to your direct reports. Leading your team through periods of change that will drive process enhancements and deliver improved results - through action, creating an environment of innovation and entrepreneurialism. Driving the achievement of excellent individual results by using formal people processes; performance management, training & development, and talent & succession planning. Attracting, growing, and keeping competent employees. Developing rigorous and robust processes for the pipelining of talent. Using coaching as a tool to grow the managers in ability and achievement - embedding a coaching culture in the business unit. Ensuring people in the business unit are managed using the expectations set out in the company vision, mission, values, behaviors, and policies. Having in place a thriving culture of reward and recognition in the business unit. Enabling individual results and accomplishments to facilitate a team member’s progress in the company. Ensuring solution selling and field force effectiveness are part of the DNA in your team. Embedding effective cross functional working groups throughout the business that enable idea sharing, relationship building and the development of support networks. Relationships: Creating channels for the sharing of feedback, information, and process improvements. Developing a broad network of contacts – opinion leaders, key influencers, industry consultants, industrial bodies – and maintaining long term relationships with them. Leading a business unit that creates mutually beneficial relationships and knows the importance of win:win:win. Working in partnership with Our client’s teams outside the region - nurturing these relationships and use them as a stream to share best practice. Utilizing the resources of the cluster (COE) in providing knowledge, best practice, training, and greater oversight to the business unit. Maintaining close ties to the Commercial Development & Lifecycle Innovation community within Our client to draw on their wider knowledge and maximize the value of the product portfolio.

Key success criteria:	Strengthening the Our client’s brand in the Nordics. Exerting effective leadership of the Companion Animal team – hereunder setting a clear direction and aligned corporate strategy with high yield activities and action plans. Establishing and building valuable commercial relationships with key customers and industry groups to ensure a high level of customer interaction and centricity. Effectively coaching and mentoring team members through both individual and team development to continuously improve their performance and meet succession planning needs. Delivering according to the annual ambition, budget and strategic plans for the Nordic Companion Animal area – hereunder delivering on KPI’s i.e., net sales, profitability, campaign, and engagement targets.

CANDIDATE PROFILE
Educational background:	The ideal candidate holds a M.Sc.-level degree.

Language:	English – fluent (verbally and written).

Ideal experience:	Demonstrated knowledge of the Nordic Life Science industry - Animal Health industry is an advantage, but not a requirement. Experienced in an international organisation with a fast-evolving environment. Extensive marketing, sales, technical and organisational leadership experience. Demonstrated track record in consistently delivering on budget. Financial management experience - P&L and operating budget management. Well-versed in a strategic and senior leadership role within larger corporate contexts. Demonstrated experience in leading a business through significant change.

Personal & leadership competencies:	Communication Excellent verbal and written English and cross-cultural communication and presentation skills. Able to communicate complex scientific and financial issues in a clear and straightforward way. Take control/responsibility Makes sure stakeholders and management have a clear understanding of the direction and time horizon of the tasks and strategy; drives projects forward to reach pivotal objectives; makes things happen and follows through. Judgment Makes rational, realistic and sound decisions based on the involvement of available facts and possibilities. Results-oriented problem solver Focus on action, activities, and results. Can develop and implement innovative solutions based on customer needs. Can continue working on a specific problem, viewpoint, or action plan until a result has been achieved or it is determined that an alternative approach is needed. Confidently robust Is naturally self-confident, reliable, and able to take severe decisions, while withstanding adverse conditions. Encourages the achievement of set goals by promoting a sense of purpose and demonstrates strong drive, stamina and natural authority, while prompting a strong wish to support and lead the team to success. Personal relations Is able to establish and maintain relations with co-workers, customers, and stakeholders at all levels internally as well as externally, and make people feel at ease. Develops and maintains networks. Achieves agreement by dealing with potential conflicts/ disagreements in a diplomatic and professional manner. Analytical Utilizes critical thinking. Maintains overview in situations that requires quick decisions, including a holistic view to quality and delivery. Intelligently divides problems into relevant parts, sensitively integrates analytical output into a given context and differentiates between key areas and irrelevant and less important areas. Applies a logical mind-set and makes sensible decisions based on available information and a strong business understanding. Visionary/strategic minded Defines a clear vision. Looks beyond the immediate difficulties and focuses on the far-reaching consequences; sees things in a broad perspective; takes tendencies in the environment into account when planning and developing strategies.