Supply Chain Finance Production Manager at Unilever

About the Role

• The Supply Chain Finance Production Manager is responsible for partnering with Supply Chain, Procurement, and Category Finance teams to drive financial performance, governance, cost optimization, and strategic decision-making across Unilever South Africa's manufacturing network. This role provides financial leadership across Unilever factories and collaborative manufacturing partners supporting the Nutrition, Home Care, Beauty & Wellbeing, and Personal Care categories.
• The role plays a critical part in improving profitability, enhancing operational efficiency, strengthening governance, and delivering sustainable cost savings across the production landscape. You will lead a high-performing finance team while partnering with cross-functional stakeholders to unlock value through productivity initiatives, capital investment management, robust financial controls, and waste reduction programs. You'll be part of a team that believes in doing work that matters — for people and the planet. Because here, we don't just hire for jobs. We invite you to be part of something bigger.

Key Responsibilities

Business Performance Management & Decision Support

• Partner with factory leadership teams to steer business performance through insightful financial analysis and decision support.
• Lead budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning processes across manufacturing and collaborative production sites.
• Provide actionable insights through variance analysis, identifying key performance drivers, risks, opportunities, and corrective actions.
• Support capital investment decisions through robust business cases and evaluation of Capital Expenditure Proposals (CEPs).
• Partner with Supply Chain and Category teams to maximize government incentives and support delivery of key strategic projects.
• Monitor stock losses, material usage variances, and operational performance metrics to support effective decision-making.

Cost Optimisation & Productivity Delivery

• Drive the Cost per Ton agenda through delivery of productivity, efficiency, and cost reduction initiatives across manufacturing operations.
• Challenge and influence factory teams to achieve productivity targets while maintaining quality, service, and safety standards.
• Lead financial governance of waste reduction programmes and identify opportunities to improve manufacturing efficiencies.
• Monitor and evaluate capital expenditure commitments against budgets and expected returns.
• Drive alignment of manufacturing cost benchmarks and productivity improvements across sourcing units and production facilities.
• Partner with Operations teams to reduce production indirect costs and improve overall supply chain competitiveness.

Financial Governance & Controls

• Ensure robust financial controls, governance practices, and compliance standards are implemented and maintained across Supply Chain operations.
• Lead audit engagements and coordinate financial reviews to ensure control effectiveness and compliance with company policies and SOX requirements.
• Maintain the integrity of balance sheet and income statement reporting through strong financial discipline and governance processes.
• Ensure compliance with Unilever's Standard Chart of Accounts and financial reporting requirements.
• Manage journals, provisions, write-offs, and financial adjustments in line with Schedule of Authority requirements.
• Drive timely, accurate, and transparent financial reporting to support operational and strategic decision-making.

Budget Management, Inventory & Working Capital

• Lead annual budgeting processes and standard product costing activities in line with global costing guidelines.
• Ensure accurate financial management of manufacturing and third-party production operations.
• Monitor budget performance and conduct monthly analysis of forecast variances, overspends, and savings opportunities.
• Drive stock governance and inventory management processes, including stock counts, variance reporting, and stock reconciliations.
• Partner with Operations and Planning teams to optimize inventory levels and reduce stock days on hand.
• Support sourcing strategy decisions through financial modelling and development of business cases for alternative sourcing options.
• Drive analysis and reporting of material usage variances and inventory performance across production sites.

UMS & Operational Excellence

• Lead Finance's contribution to the Unilever Manufacturing System (UMS) agenda and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Partner with site leadership teams to drive operational excellence and delivery of key manufacturing performance indicators.
• Support improvements in output reliability, stock record accuracy, customer service levels, and production performance.
• Use operational and financial data to identify opportunities for efficiency improvements and sustainable value creation.

Performance Analytics & Financial Insights

• Develop meaningful performance reporting and dashboards to improve visibility of operational and financial performance.
• Leverage financial and operational data to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities across manufacturing sites.
• Drive data-based decision-making through insightful analysis of productivity, costs, inventory, waste, and capital investments.
• Support business planning and scenario modelling to improve financial outcomes and operational resilience.

People Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a diverse team of 4-8 finance professionals.
• Drive capability building, succession planning, and leadership development across the team.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and inclusion.
• Build strong engagement and support career progression through structured development and coaching plans.
• Partner with broader Finance and Supply Chain teams to strengthen organizational capability and talent pipelines.

Experience & Qualifications

• Professional accounting qualification required (CA(SA), CIMA, or other finance professional qualification equivalent).
• Minimum 5 years' experience in Factory Supply Chain Finance within a manufacturing environment.
• Minimum 5 years' people leadership and team management experience.
• Experience across both factory and head office finance environments is advantageous.
• Strong knowledge of financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, costing, and financial analysis.
• Minimum 5 years' SAP experience.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
• Experience with SOX controls, financial governance, and audit processes is advantageous.
• Proven track record of driving business performance within complex operational environments.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills.
• Ability to navigate complexity, challenge constructively, and build strong cross-functional partnerships.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end Supply Chain Finance principles and value creation opportunities.
• Demonstrated experience leading change initiatives and continuous improvement programmes.