We’re L’affare - Wellington’s original coffee business, born in 1990 out of a love for espresso. It all started at our café and HQ on College Street, and over 30 years later, we’re still proudly there. Over the years, we’ve grown into a full-scale roastery in Mt Cook, fuelling New Zealand’s coffee culture one cup at a time.
Our people make us who we are today. We’re a mixed bunch of creative, industrious, adventurous humans, all with a great love for serving NZ the freshest and best coffee possible.
As our Commercial Manager, you'll play an influential role in a business renowned for its passion for coffee, commitment to quality, and focus on delivering exceptional experiences to customers across New Zealand.
Your Focus
This is a key leadership role, reporting directly to the General Manager, L'affare. You will partner with stakeholders across the business to support commercial decision-making, providing financial and strategic insights that drive performance, enable growth, and help shape the future direction of the business. In addition to supporting L'affare, you will also provide commercial finance leadership to our other specialty coffee brand, Atomic Coffee Roasters.
As a trusted commercial partner, you will balance strategic thinking with effective execution, translating business priorities into actionable plans and outcomes. Leading a small team, you will provide coaching, guidance and support while fostering collaboration and capability development.
You will deliver meaningful analysis and insights across innovation projects, supply chain initiatives, new business opportunities and tender proposals. You will also play a key role in business performance reporting, forecasting and planning, helping leaders understand performance drivers, risks and opportunities.
Your Profile
This role requires someone who can build strong relationships across the business, provide insightful commercial and financial guidance, and help shape the future direction of the organisation. The ideal candidate will bring a balance of commercial acumen, leadership capability, and the confidence to influence at all levels.
- 10 years' experience in commercial finance, including approximately 4 years in a leadership role. You'll bring strong FP&A expertise across forecasting, planning, modelling and decision support. This role is suited to a commercial partner rather than someone with a purely financial control background.
- Previous experience partnering within a manufacturing environment, with a solid understanding of cost accounting, inventory management, product costing, and operational performance drivers.
- Confident operating autonomously, you can easily switch between strategic leadership and hands-on delivery. You're able to focus on what matters, cut through complexity, and provide clarity to stakeholders.
- Relatable and credible with senior leaders, you build trust and strong relationships across the wider business. You communicate with influence, collaborate openly, and bring others on the journey.
- A proven people leader, you have a track record of developing analysts, raising the bar in performance and capability, and role modelling accountability.
- Known for your resilience, curiosity, and solutions-focused mindset, you challenge constructively, drive innovation, and continually seek better ways of working.
We pride ourselves on offering a flexible work environment that supports both professional and personal growth. Our commitment to your development includes career progression opportunities and a strong focus on wellbeing. As part of this, we provide 'recharge leave' - five additional days each year dedicated to rest, reset, and refuel. And of course, you'll enjoy the perks of coffee on tap and beans to take home, keeping you connected to the craft we're passionate about.