Country Head, Philippines

• Position: Country Head, Philippines
• Reporting to: General Manager Opella ASEA - CHC AMEA Region
• Location: Philippines

Opella is the self-care challenger with the purest and third-largest portfolio in the Over-The-Counter (OTC) & Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements (VMS) market globally.​

Our mission: to bring health in people’s hands by making self-care as simple as it should be for over half a billion consumers worldwide.​

At the core of this mission is our 100+ loved brands, our 11,000-strong global team, our 13 best-in-class manufacturing sites and four specialized science and innovation development centers. ​

Headquartered in France, Opella is the proud maker of many of the world’s most loved brands, including Allegra, Buscopan, Doliprane, Dulcolax, Enterogermina, Essentiale and Mucosolvan.​ B Corp certified in multiple markets, we are active players in the journey towards healthier people and planet.​

Find out more about our mission to bring health in your hands at www.opella.com.

Role Summary

The Country Head - Philippines is the enterprise leader for Opella in the market, accountable for setting the country ambition and strategy, leading the full country P&L, and delivering sustainable profitable growth, market share and organisational health.

The role integrates commercial, brand, science, supply, finance and people priorities into one country plan and represents Opella with key external stakeholders.

The Philippines is a strategically important growth market with strong positions in Digestive Wellness, a pharmacy-led route to market and rapidly developing digital commerce. The Country Head must convert these advantages into a clear portfolio and category growth agenda, while strengthening commercial capabilities, forecasting discipline, customer planning and execution.

You will be accountable for the total country outcome, bringing together strategy, growth priorities, P&L delivery, resource choices, risk, governance, culture and cross-functional execution. Success requires enterprise leadership: mobilising the whole country organisation, including matrixed teams, around shared priorities and shared accountability for the Philippines business.

Main Responsibilities

Country Strategy, Enterprise Leadership & Business Delivery

• Set the Philippines ambition, strategic choices and annual country plan, aligned with ASEA and Opella priorities.
• Own delivery of the total country P&L, including net sales, gross margin, EBITDA, cash and market share objectives.
• Shape the Philippines growth strategy and market priorities in close partnership with regional Brand & Innovation and Trade & Revenue Management teams, connecting market insight with portfolio, brand, pricing, investment and commercial choices.
• Lead the Philippines Leadership Team, establish clear governance and operating rhythms, and hold functions accountable for one country outcome.
• Act as the integrator for the Philippines, connecting country and functional plans, managing dependencies and aligning all teams behind one country ambition and one set of priorities.
• Lead through influence across matrixed teams, including colleagues who do not report directly to the role; build commitment through clarity, credibility, relationships and shared purpose.
• Create the conditions for constructive challenge, fast decisions and disciplined execution; surface tensions early and resolve cross-functional trade-offs in the best interest of total country performance.
• Anticipate market shifts, competitive moves and enterprise risks, and take timely corrective action.

Portfolio, Category & Market Growth

• Turn consumer, customer and competitive insight into clear market growth priorities, working with regional Brand & Innovation partners to shape portfolio and brand choices and enable strong local activation.
• Use the Philippines as a proving ground for category-led growth where appropriate, with clear brand roles, one category story and measurable evidence before scale-up.
• Champion priority growth platforms, including Digestive Wellness, connecting regional portfolio and brand plans with local consumer, customer, healthcare professional and execution opportunities.
• Bring strong Philippines market evidence and perspective to regional and global teams, helping shape innovation, claims, medical and regulatory priorities and mobilising excellent local execution.
• Balance growth from established pharmacy channels with expansion in modern trade, independent pharmacy, hospitals, eCommerce and other relevant white spaces.

Commercial Model, Customers & Route to Market

• Co-shape the country commercial agenda with regional Trade & Revenue Management and the local Sales team, translating strategy into executable trade plans, customer priorities and route-to-market choices.
• Ensure robust Joint Business Planning with strategic customers and senior relationships with pharmacy chains, distributors, wholesalers and other key partners, integrating local Sales execution with Zone Trade & Revenue Management priorities.
• Hold the Sales Director accountable for sales force leadership, channel strategy, customer and channel P&Ls, negotiation quality and in-market execution.
• Build an integrated omnichannel agenda that reflects the importance of pharmacy, wholesale and the fast-growing online OTC channel in the Philippines.
• Ensure pricing, revenue growth management, trade plans and commercial investment choices are developed with the right regional partners and executed locally with discipline.

Integrated Planning, Performance & Resource Allocation

• Own the IBP process and establish one trusted forecast across commercial, finance and supply.
• Chair business performance reviews with clear decisions, owners, corrective actions and follow-through.
• Create a high-accountability performance rhythm in which priorities, decisions, owners, milestones and corrective actions are explicit and consistently followed through.
• Make disciplined country resource trade-offs and provide strong market recommendations into regional investment and portfolio decisions.
• Make sound country-level investment and resource decisions, supported by clear Philippines evidence, business cases and recommendations.
• Ensure reliable demand planning, supply continuity, working-capital discipline and readiness for launches and commercial peaks.

Cross-functional, Zone & External Leadership

• Partner closely with regional Brand & Innovation teams, bringing Philippines consumer, customer, category and competitive insight to shape choices and ensure strong local activation.
• Partner closely with regional Trade & Revenue Management teams to translate commercial strategy into strong local trade plans, pricing, revenue growth management and investment execution.
• Act as the single point of enterprise accountability for the Philippines and represent the market in ASEA and wider Opella forums.
• Build a highly collaborative operating model across Brand & Innovation, Trade & Revenue Management, Performance Analytics, eCommerce, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Finance, People & Culture, Science Affairs, Communications and Legal.
• Influence global and Zone stakeholders in a matrix to secure decisions, resources and capability support for the Philippines.
• Represent Opella with priority customers, industry bodies, healthcare organisations, partners and relevant external stakeholders.
• Protect and enhance Opella’s reputation through transparent, responsible and fact-based leadership.

People, Organisation & Culture

• Build a high-performing, diverse and engaged Philippines organisation with clear accountability and strong cross-functional collaboration.
• Attract, retain and develop leadership talent; maintain succession plans for critical roles and build future enterprise leaders.
• Coach the Leadership Team through change and complexity, encouraging courageous decisions, disciplined execution and radical simplicity.
• Create an environment where teams challenge constructively, learn quickly and remain accountable for outcomes with integrity.
• Create psychological safety for colleagues to speak up, disagree respectfully, learn quickly and hold one another accountable for enterprise outcomes.
• Use visible leadership, regular country communication and meaningful recognition to strengthen engagement, belonging and alignment across the whole Philippines organisation.

Business Ethics, Compliance, Quality & Safety

• Carry ultimate country leadership accountability for ethical conduct, compliance, quality, pharmacovigilance, governance and appropriate risk escalation.
• Ensure business decisions and activities meet Opella policies, applicable legal requirements and delegated authority standards.
• Promote safe systems of work and compliance with local and corporate health, safety and environmental requirements.
• Lead by example and ensure concerns, non-conformance and significant incidents are reported and addressed promptly.
• Ensure effective business continuity and crisis leadership, with coordinated decisions when issues affect employees, consumers, customers, supply, quality or reputation.

About You

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, Science or a related discipline; an MBA or equivalent advanced qualification is an advantage.

Required Knowledge and Experience

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in Consumer Healthcare, OTC, FMCG, retail pharmacy or a comparable consumer-led sector.
• Proven country or general management leadership experience with full P&L accountability and broad cross-functional business exposure.
• Demonstrated success leading a complex, cross-functional organisation and influencing Zone or global stakeholders in a matrix.
• Strong track record of profitable growth, portfolio choices, resource allocation and disciplined performance management.
• Deep commercial understanding of pharmacy, distributors, wholesalers, modern trade and eCommerce, with strong customer and route-to-market judgement.
• Experience building capabilities, strengthening commercial processes and leading teams through transformation or organisational change.
• Strong financial acumen, strategic judgement, communication, negotiation and external stakeholder management.

Leadership Expectations

• Thinks and acts as an enterprise leader, not as the head of one function.
• Sets a bold but pragmatic direction and converts it into simple choices, clear accountability and pace.
• Makes balanced, fact-based decisions and takes personal accountability for outcomes.
• Builds trust across functions, channels and geographies while addressing issues directly.
• Develops people, raises organisational capability and creates space for strong leaders to lead.
• Keeps consumers, customers and healthcare professionals at the centre of decisions.
• Leads without relying on hierarchy, building trust, alignment and momentum across matrixed teams and senior stakeholders.
• Sees the whole system, connects functions and makes choices for total country value rather than optimising a single agenda.
• Invites constructive challenge, raises difficult issues early and makes courageous decisions with integrity.
• Stays resilient and adaptable through ambiguity, sustaining pace while maintaining sound judgement and care for people.
• Simplifies complexity, removes friction and creates clear, practical ways of working that help teams execute faster.
• Builds external perspective and senior partnerships, converting market, customer and competitive insight into advantage.

Why us?

At Opella, you will enjoy doing challenging, purposeful work, empowered to develop consumer brands with passion and creativity. This is your chance to grow new skills and be part of a bold, collaborative, and inclusive culture where people can thrive and be at their best every day.

We Are Challengers.

We are dedicated to making self-care as simple as it should be. That starts with our culture. We are challengers by nature, and this is how we do things:

All In Together: We keep each other honest and have each other's backs.

Courageous: We break boundaries and take thoughtful risks with creativity.

Outcome-Obsessed: We are personally accountable, driving sustainable impact and results with integrity.

Radically Simple: We strive to make things simple for us and simple for consumers, as it should be.

Join us on our mission. Health. In your hands.

www.opella.com/en/careers