Senior Financial Accountant

NBC Universal; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading media and entertainment company in London is seeking a Senior Financial Accountant. In this role, you will provide operational and financial support, manage month-end processes, and ensure compliance with accounting standards. Ideal candidates are qualified accountants with strong analytical skills and the ability to work in a matrix organization. This position offers an opportunity to contribute to the financial integrity of a global business.

Qualifications

• Willing to learn - open to new skills and methods.
• Strong communicator - able to influence stakeholders.
• Detail-oriented and conscientious with tasks.
• Trusted to deliver autonomously.

Responsibilities

• Manage month-end quarter-end close processes.
• Ensure compliance with accounting policies.
• Act as key contact for finance related queries.
• Manage relationships with outsourced services.
• Assist with FP&A processes and reporting.

Skills

Qualified Accountant or equivalent international qualification

Strong analytical skills

Excellent technical and systems skills

Strong excel skills

Detail oriented

Strong organizational skills

Job description

Company Description

NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. We create world-class content, which we distribute across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming, and bring to life through our theme parks and consumer experiences. We own and operate leading entertainment and news brands, including NBC, NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, Telemundo, NBC Local Stations, Bravo, USA Network, and Peacock, our premium ad‑supported streaming service. We produce and distribute premier filmed entertainment and programming through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Universal Studio Group, and have world‑renowned theme parks and attractions through Universal Destinations & Experiences. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Our impact is rooted in improving the communities where our employees, customers, and audiences live and work. We have a rich tradition of giving back and ensuring our employees have the opportunity to serve their communities. We champion an inclusive culture and strive to attract and develop a talented workforce to create and deliver a wide range of content reflecting our world.

Comcast NBCUniversal has announced its intent to create a new publicly traded company ('Versant') comprised of most of NBCUniversal's cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. The well‑capitalized company will have significant scale as a pure‑play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content. The spin‑off is expected to be completed during 2025.

UP&E globally drives expansion of the company's intellectual properties, franchises, characters and stories through innovative physical and digital products, content, and consumer experiences. Games, fashion, and toys only scratch the surface of ways we take Universal stories and characters from the screen and put them into fans' daily lives around the globe. Along with franchise brand management, UP&E's core businesses include Consumer Products and Games and Digital Platforms. We take properties such as Jurassic World, Minions, Back to the Future, and Trolls from our creative content engines like Universal Pictures, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation partner with best‑in‑class category leaders (e.g. Mattel, Lego, Reebok, Target, Microsoft, etc.) to create amazing products for our fans. UP&E is part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. https://www.universalbranddevelopment.com/

UP&E is committed to attracting and retaining a diverse workforce of the highest caliber. We are committed to fostering equitable and inclusive environments that honor the experiences, perspectives, and uniqueness of each colleague.

At UP&E EMEA, we are proud of our unique culture. We are inclusive, curious and creative; channeling a growth mindset in order to drive the commercial and develop our people. In order to achieve this culture, we live by our 3 values:

• Being Human Matters to Us
• Together We Can Achieve Anything
• We Always Keep Growing

Job Description

The Senior Financial Accountant, is an integral member of Universal Products & Experience, responsible for providing operational and financial support to the Universal Products & Experience EMEA team across all teams (category, retail & marketing, etc). The primary focus will be accounting & business operations, reporting and to support both regional and country teams. The qualified candidate must be able to multi‑task and balance priorities on competing initiatives and be used to working within a matrix organization.

Key Responsibilities

Accounting & Business Operations

• Manage month‑end / quarter‑end close process, including the following:
• Key contact for OpCo finance teams on Controllership related queries
• Management of the Monthly/Quarterly Account Reconciliation process
• Monitor compliance and effectiveness of accounting policies and procedures
• Manage the relationship with Accenture on a day‑to‑day basis to ensure all outsourced activities are being performed as agreed
• Aligning / Standardising applicable UP&E processes to already established international businesses
• Ensuring data integrity, working closely with IT to stabilise and further enhance system controls, processes and procedures, and by being an SAP Super User
• Manage key financial reporting projects with respect to UP&E international operations, including: International Compliance Filings, International Entity Creation/Dissolution, International tax matters, etc.
• Work closely with Global UP&E Finance (LA); International Corporate Finance (London), including Int'l Tax; and other Int'l Business Units (e.g. UPI , UPHE , UNI ) to determine, execute on, and maintain a legal entity structure for all of UP&E Int'l's operations
• Work closely with the Int'l O&TS teams to deliver proactive support to enable business growth - in particular office space, facilities services, IT infrastructure/equipment, applications, and support
• Act as a "project manager" for other support functions - e.g. Legal, HR, Creative, Marketing - to deliver smooth agent transitions, and efficient and well‑controlled business operations that enable business growth
• Assess financial reporting processes outsourced to third party service providers (O2C, P2P, R2R), provide recommendations regarding process optimization, implement optimized processes.
• Advise and support the Global UP&E Finance team with closing procedures to ensure accurate books and records
• Own Overheads planning and actualization process, partnering with in‑market Finance Directors to develop accurate assumptions in overheads spend, and performing variance analyses to ensure spend within budget.

Ad‑Hoc

• Assist with FP&A processes and reporting to deliver the Annual Budget and Quarterly Forecast.
• Assist with the preparation of the overall forecast / close / budget review presentations within defined deadlines - at Country/Hub, Line of Business and Regional Level
• Help to deliver the Quarter Close process, reviewing key P&L movements (revenue and costs) and interpret financial impact (i.e. latest True Ups and Non Accruables and ensuring Guarantee Shortfalls are fully reconciled and understood)
• Support all centralized standard reporting to both finance and commercial stakeholders
• Assist the Finance Manager to ensure EMEA consolidation is correctly reflected in all systems (Revenue, Costs and Overheads)
• Assist with the preparation and accurate reporting of the Line of Business, Country/Hub and Regional P&Ls, providing commercial context, variance analysis and assist with any reconciliation requirements
• Lead and support on ad hoc projects, as requested

Qualifications

About You

• Willing to learn - open to new skills, ways of working, how things work and why.
• Good communicator - honest, transparent, and flexible depending on the audience. The ability to influence stakeholders.
• Relationship builder - able to flex style, understand needs, build a strong network and work within a matrixed environment.
• Global & holistic thinker - understand the wider context.
• Results driven - own the numbers, be invested and be hungry to grow the business.
• Commercially curious - continuously seeking to understand the market.
• Willing to get stuck in - hard worker, who is not rigid with the ability to prioritise, manage own time and respond quickly and efficiently.
• Conscientious - consistent with clear attention to detail.
• Trusted to deliver - autonomous, taking on ownership and responsibility for tasks.
• Passionate - energetic, engaged, positive and desiring to make a difference.

Skills & Experience

• Qualified Accountant or equivalent international qualification
• Commercial awareness and curiosity together with experience in a Consumer Products and/or Retail/Online and/or FMCG business
• Highly numerate with strong excel skills, including financial budget modelling, pivot tables and experience of working with complex data
• Detail oriented with strong financial reporting and analysis presentation skills.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability quickly to grasp the "big picture" and exhibit judgment in drawing conclusions and solving problems.
• Excellent technical and systems skills (including development of reporting templates etc.)
• Budgeting and reporting experience, including reporting systems, preferable with exposure to Micro Strategy
• Acumen to navigate and troubleshoot system issues providing solid recommendations and workarounds where needed
• Strong organizational skills and ability to successfully manage multiple tasks simultaneously, working under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Strong team player with an ability to operate in a collaborative & flexible manner across multiple functions in a matrixed environment to achieve goals
• Sense of humour, with a commercial, pragmatic outlook

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in‑person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [e-mail].