The body of Chinese student Mingzi Yang, 29, was found at her terraced house in Sincil Bank, Lincoln, in June.
Wai Hong Tsang, 33, from Scartho, near Grimsby, is to be sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday.
Tsang, who the court heard was involved in a custody dispute with Ms Yang, was described as a "cold and calculating man".
Ms Yang moved to the UK in 2008 and had been studying English at Lincoln College.
The jury was told she died as a result of head injuries after being struck repeatedly and with force to the back, top and both sides of her head.
Tsang had initially given a statement as a witness rather than as a suspect and had lied about his movements, the court heard.
On the day of the murder, he claimed he left his home in Grimsby at about 06:00 BST and drove to Sherwood Forest where he went mountain biking.
But police were able to prove he had travelled via Lincoln, stopping off for over two hours in a secluded lay-by on the edge of the city - giving him enough time to cycle to Ms Yang's home, kill her and cycle back to his car.
Tsang was then arrested but denied he killed his former wife and denied he wanted her dead.
Det Ch Insp Martin Holvey, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: "This was an extremely well planned murder. Tsang is a cold, calculated man who has never owned up to his crime.
"He has left a young boy with no mother and a distraught family in China with no daughter."
A man who battered his former wife to death has been found guilty of her murder.