Finance Assistant, Global Procurement (Home Care)

Unilever; London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading multinational company in London is seeking a Finance Assistant for its Global Procurement team. The successful candidate will be responsible for finance business partnering, managing procurement forecast processes, and driving cash agenda to optimize savings opportunities. Candidates should have a university degree and 2-4 years of experience in finance, ideally within the FMCG sector. Excellent communication skills in English are essential.

Qualifications

• 2 - 4 years financial experience in a comparable role, preferably in FMCG sector.
• Ability to quickly understand new concepts and process chains.
• Flexible, with ability to deal with ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Lead the procurement forecast process through deep-dives and understanding of price impacts.
• Drive the HC procurement Cash agenda and ensure achievement of Cash KPIs.
• Provide effective business partnering and analytics to optimize savings opportunities.

Skills

Analytical ability

Business acumen

MS Excel modelling skills

Communication skills

Education

University degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics

Job description

Overview

Title: Finance Assistant, Global Procurement (Home Care)

Work Level: WL1C

Reporting into: Lahiru Daluwatta

Location: 100VE

Business context

Unilever Global Procurement Home care Team manages an annual spend of €6 billion – procuring a wide range of raw materials from Petrochemicals, Fine chemicals, Inorganics, Flavors and Fragrances, Packaging and Row materials – that mainly goes into across our products. With input cost seeing huge volatilities in past years, competitive sourcing has become ever more relevant for Unilever to maintain its bottom line. Furthermore, given the large global footprint, Home care Team actively invests in suppliers, communities and technology to ensure we source sustainably. For Homecare BG, Europe is a key market with €1billion Procurement spend.

Job purpose

The role requires a highly analytical, agile and driven individual; willing to navigate through challenges of volatile commodity markets and keeping Procurement well prepared to combat inflation and drive Margin performance for Business, while driving any Procurement value creation projects under Light House strategy. The responsible individual must own the end to end Procurement FC process for Homecare, Own the total procurement finance data strategy and lead HC procurement Cash agenda.

Job description

This role provides the finance business partnering through the effective performance management, division partnering and support on various value-delivery projects:

• Lead the procurement forecast process through deep-dives and understanding of the different drivers and causes of price impact
• Lead and drive the HC procurement Cash agenda along with Procurement teams. Ensure achievement of Cash KPIs, provide periodic transparency of cash and payment term view across BG and BUs and analyse and evaluate on cast vs cash opportunities.
• Drive the active performance management reporting to ensure that the business targets and operational KPIs are achieved
• Lead & own the HC Procurement finance data strategy - Drive the continuous improvement and leverage of information technology to improve savings and forecast/analytics tools.
• Ensure that the procurement organization has adequate financial acumen and understanding of policies and procedures through regular and effective training and presentation of relevant finance initiatives, policies and procedures.
• Provide effective business partnering and provide analytics & ensure governance to the portfolio team & BG-BU teams to optimize savings opportunities including Lighthouse savings.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the global business organizations and functional areas (FET Finance, Procurement and BG-BU Finance) and develop relationships required to be an effective ambassador for Procurement Finance and the Procurement.
• Partner with the Home Care BG to ensure latest material inflation and related items – product logic/CMA – is communicated to the business
• Handle projects or work assignments that may be assigned by the line manager from time to time in support of the overall procurement performance

Relevant skills / Experience

• University degree preferably in Business Administration, Finance, Economics or related areas
• 2 - 4 years financial experience in a comparable role preferably in FMCG sector
• Strong Business Acumen – the candidate should be business savvy and should be able bring a business perspective to role
• Highly analytical and ability to quickly understand new concepts and process chains
• Flexible, with the ability to shift gear in a fast-paced environment and deal with ambiguity
• Learning mindset, curious and eager to tackle new challenges
• MS Excel modelling skills and attention to detail
• Excellent communications skills in English (spoken and written) any other language is a plus