Customer Development Finance Manager – Agile and H&B at Unilever

JOB PURPOSE

Find your purpose at Unilever. You will lead innovations, big and small, that will make our business win and grow. You will learn from brilliant business leaders and colleagues in a truly global and diverse culture to ultimately become a better you. Partner the Category strategy (CSPs), Demand Operations Management (DOM), H&B and D-Comm account teams for the delivery of key financial objectives i.e USG, profit and TTS efficiency. 

As the Agile lead, the incumbent also business partners various other functions in delivering on projects within the business.

Scope of role:

• The incumbent will business partner the H&B and DComm Channel Director.
• Role will have extensive engagement with Channel Category Directors, Demand operations, Promo-Hub, Finance Excellence Teams and the BTs.
• Leading the effective planning and forecasting of TTS having consideration to the delivery of strategy and embedding a growth mindset. 
• The role is required to provide extensive financial analysis and strategic decision support to the CD teams.  Therefore, the role will offer a high level of business acumen, bias for action & agility to support the successful implementation of the CD strategy in the channel.
• The incumbent will be the Finance lead on agile projects across the business.  With agile methodology as the basis, this may include involvement in various project squads to investigate & deliver solutions to business challenges to unlock value.
• The role will offer a high level of interaction with senior stakeholders within various leadership teams including CDLT and FLT thus the ability to communicate, present and manage this level of stakeholder groups is desired.
• Also, partly responsible for performance assessment of the broader CD finance team and for mentoring/coaching others in finance as required.  
• There will be management of direct reports (x4) and fully responsible for their development, performance, coaching and mentoring.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• Manage the customer category financial forecast with clearly documented assumptions and supporting the CSPs to make informed decisions/choices in the short, medium, and long-term to deliver the strategy;
• Drive TTS savings programmes and maximize return on investment of trade spend
• Manage the sales target alignment with the CSPs.
• Manage the monthly TTS consolidated performance review to provide insightful analysis to the CDLT.
• Provide information and analysis to help the customer team understand actual performance and corrective actions required.
• Managing the balance sheet by ensuring accounts are fair, accurate and reconciled and that claims are actioned in reasonable time. Provide support on cash collection as required.
• Collaborate with the Promo Hub team to influence how promo ROI can be improved and help the customer teams drive this
• Perform ad hoc analysis as required to help drive performance
• Effectively manage and develop a finance team to achieve stated objectives and deliver high quality finance support
• Provide an appropriate governance framework and ensuring compliance with the schedule of authority and other necessary controls
• Ensure that any proposed changes to trade terms are fully evaluated and signed off per SoA.
• Provide ongoing analysis on ways in which trade terms can be optimized and to maximize BBT spend efficiency.
• Conduct financial presentations to CD community as required  
• Complete business cases on Agile projects as required, and ensure successful implementation of the projects.

Experiences & Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years relevant commercial experience;
• Minimum 5 years relevant managerial experience;
• Prior business partnering experience mandatory;
• FMCG industry experience preferred;
• Strong ability to communicate effectively, influence, and provide clarity on complex issues.
• Strong analytical & problem-solving skills.
• Good balance of strong leadership abilities (Aligned to Unilever Leadership behaviors').
• Relevant Finance Degree
• Professional Qualification mandatory (CA / CIMA)   

Leadership

• You are an inclusive motivator of people. Your team deliver with real passion, growing and learning from each other whilst delivering quick wins.
• You are still responsible for your own results and as a manager, you also need to motivate others to deliver with passion, creating an inclusive and engaging climate around you. You can balance challenge with support and coaching. You understand the wider business context and you are emotionally intelligent enough to motivate people to deliver what is needed.