Latest Jobs at Unilever

Job Purpose

• As the FET Lead Finance Manager, you will play a pivotal role in driving business performance, strategic planning, and financial management. You will work with innovations across the organization, working with global leaders and colleagues in a diverse culture. Key responsibilities include overseeing corporate management accounting systems, budgeting, planning, reporting & insights, and performance management.

Key Responsibilities
Business Performance & Leadership

• Drive and shape business performance through analysis and interventions to achieve financial targets.
• Provide leadership and decision-making support on strategic planning, target setting, and resource allocation.
• Influence senior stakeholders and lead teams to deliver results.
• Manage monthly, quarterly, and year-end close processes, ensuring accurate reporting for local and global requirements.
• Operate financial controls in line with the Global Financial Controls Framework (GFCF).
• Prepare variance analysis, board materials, and executive presentations.
• Consolidate CEO updates and maintain integrity of historical data.
• Develop robust business planning and performance monitoring processes for enhanced analysis, modelling, and forecasting.
• Maintain alignment across reporting systems (SAP, BW, GCUT, Ifinance).
• Build and maintain effective relationships with business partners globally and within Southern Africa.
• Update financials for income statement commentary and variance analysis.

Business Planning & Forecasting

• Lead engagement with divisions and global teams on targets, Annual Operating Plan, and financial forecasts.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly forecasts, supporting analysis, and participate in reviews with leadership teams.

Performance Management

• Drive growth and gross margin improvement.
• Lead project Symphony and optimize returns from marketing investment.
• Implement pricing strategies using NRM/NRR.
• Deliver 5S targets and identify risks and opportunities for target achievement.
• Develop corrective actions to close gaps and make significant adjustments to forecasts as needed.
• Enhance resource allocation and budget setting decisions.
• Partner with divisions on active portfolio reviews to delivery the long term business strategy.
• Own and manage the end-to-end budget process, and driving performance improvements.

Talent & Team Leadership

• Provide leadership and development for team members.
• Interface with and influence leads.
• Champion diversity and inclusion, integrating these values into recruitment and development.

Information & Analytics (I&A)

• Lead simplification and automation initiatives to advance the Finance Digital Agenda.
• Collaborate with I&A, offshore teams, and partners to accelerate digital, RPA, and cognitive capabilities.
• Deliver monthly insights to business leaders, providing accurate and timely performance and forecast packs.

Reporting

• Ensure accurate submissions of actuals and forecasts to local and Global teams, maintaining high reporting standards.
• Oversee timely and accurate delivery of board materials, including performance commentary.
• Provide GMVA reporting and commentary variance analysis.

Ad Hoc Responsibilities

• Conduct customer-level CD reporting and manage year-end restatements.
• Resolve reporting system issues (BW, GCUT, Ifinance).
• Provide information for decision support and prepare P&L reports for auditors.

Overheads Management

• Prepare and submit annual overhead forecasts for Southern Africa.
• Increase visibility and accountability for overheads, promoting efficient spending in line with Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB).
• Align processes with Global Overheads FET Team objectives
• Prepare and communicate phased overhead forecasts and performance updates.
• Maintain standard operating procedures for Finance
• Drive continuous improvement, simplification, and standardization in overhead management.
• Ensure monthly accruals and provisions,
• Benchmark for efficiency improvements and perform ad-hoc analyses.
• Coordinate data cleansing and SAP IO maintenance.

Experience, Qualifications & Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree plus a professional finance qualification (CA, CIMA, or equivalent).
• 12-15 years’ experience in various finance roles with strong business partnering credentials.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and teams not directly reporting to you.
• Solid understanding of finance disciplines, including controllership.
• Active networking and relationship-building capabilities.
• Confident leadership and immediate stakeholder impact.
• Proven project and process management skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment with flexibility.
• Strong organizational and prioritization abilities.
• Experience working with multi-geographical and multicultural teams is desirable.
• Head office and factory finance experience is advantageous.
• Strong influencing and leadership skills, with the ability to motivate and inspire.
• Minimum 3 years’ experience with SAP; proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Proven effectiveness in complex environments and driving business performance.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Objectivity, integrity, resilience, and courage under challenge.
• Ability to manage multiple senior stakeholders and drive change management initiatives.
• Skill in presenting complex information simply and explaining finance concepts to non-finance stakeholders.
• Direct responsibility for budgeting, forecasting, and quarterly reporting.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to communicate findings both verbally and in writing.
• Initiative and the ability to work independently and under pressure, especially during month-end reporting.
• Experience with SAP, GCUT, and finance systems.

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About the role

• The Engineering Manager holds overall responsibility for engineering projects and maintenance across the site, including utilities, production lines, processing plants and buildings. The primary objective is to implement improvements that contribute to the factory's performance targets and to effectively maintain all operational and support elements of the sourcing unit.
• The role manages engineering spares, assets and site services to support manufacturing activities, while leading the engineering team in delivering projects, innovation, infrastructure and services. 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
Engineering Strategy & Innovation

• Manage the technical and maintenance teams responsible for delivering Projects, Innovation, Infrastructure and Services to the site.
• Lead innovation implementation on site, evaluating best design-to-manufacturing alternatives and following USCC / category technology selections; support innovation delivery as part of the regional network.
• Develop, build and make available within the organization the product, process and packaging expertise relevant to the asset base.
• Liaise with Category and Engineering Excellence teams for technology upgrades.
• Implement engineering standards and drive their rationalization and standardization across the site.

Capital Projects & Budget Management

• Prepare and manage the Capital Budget and Capital Expenditure Proposals in coordination with cluster and category requirements.
• Lead the implementation of the capital projects portfolio post-approval through to project closure, following TPM principles for Early Equipment Management.
• Sign off on engineering project designs; raise budgets and ensure projects remain within approved budgets.
• Implement projects on the Energy Efficiency programme and sustainability agenda.

Maintenance & Asset Care

• Lead the Early Equipment Management and Planned Maintenance TPM pillar, including SIMAS application.
• Establish and maintain an effective system of preventive maintenance applicable to plant and services (TPM-based); optimize MTBF and MTTR for production lines.
• Optimize spare parts safety stock levels in line with working capital targets; implement control measures to ensure system accuracy in accounting of spares and spares consumption.
• Manage engineering contractors and ensure statutory and legal compliance.
• Create and implement plans to continuously improve site infrastructure including energy, water, treatment, steam and all infrastructure services, contracts and contractors.

Safety, Health & Environment

• Responsible for the safety of all project-related operations within the factory; maintain and set safe working procedures.
• Manage Health, Safety and Environmental aspects of project management from design (PHA, HAZOPS, MDSAS) through equipment selection, project implementation, commissioning and final project handover.
• Ensure quality of all work conducted is to the highest possible standard and at the lowest cost.

Digital Engineering & Smart Maintenance

• Drive adoption of digital maintenance systems, plant data analytics, smart factory tools, condition monitoring and predictive maintenance technologies to improve engineering reliability and performance visibility.
• Use maintenance, downtime, cost and asset data to identify improvement opportunities, prioritise technical interventions and strengthen data-driven engineering decisions.
• Partner with Supply Chain Digital, Operations and Engineering Excellence teams to embed smart maintenance routines and digital performance management across the site.

Asset Lifecycle & Reliability Strategy

• Develop and govern asset lifecycle strategies for critical production, utility, building and site services assets.
• Lead reliability improvement plans, condition-based maintenance and critical asset risk management to improve MTBF, MTTR and equipment availability.
• Ensure asset care standards, spares strategies and maintenance master data support long-term reliability, working capital discipline and operational resilience.

Sustainability & Decarbonisation

• Lead engineering initiatives that reduce energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions and resource losses in line with site and Unilever sustainability priorities.
• Identify and deliver sustainable engineering solutions across utilities, manufacturing processes, infrastructure and capital projects.
• Ensure capital projects and infrastructure improvements consider decarbonisation, resource efficiency and total cost of ownership.

Engineering Governance & Risk Management

• Own and embed engineering standards, technical risk controls, project governance and statutory assurance processes across the site.
• Maintain engineering compliance visibility through a disciplined statutory and legal compliance calendar, audit follow-up and risk-based action tracking.
• Ensure engineering project governance includes design review, safety-by-design, technical risk assessment, commissioning controls and handover discipline.

People Leadership & Technical Capability Development

• Coach and develop the engineering team across technical, maintenance, project, utility and technology domains.
• Build succession depth and future engineering leadership capability through structured development plans, exposure and coaching.
• Develop technical capability for engineers, artisans and contractors in maintenance standards, safety-by-design, reliability practices and project execution discipline.
• Develop plans to ensure the best utilisation of assets and provide guidance on the maintenance, improvement and lifecycle management of such assets.
• Collaborate with the Operations Team to drive site and line efficiencies, reduce waste and strengthen technical ownership across production teams.

Experience & Qualifications

• BSc Engineering Degree (Mechanical or Electrical).
• Government Certificate of Competency (GCC) — essential.
• 8–10 years' experience across Engineering roles.
• 3–5 years in FMCG / manufacturing operations experience.
• Engineering experience in FMCG Supply Chain (Planning, Customer Service, Logistics, Process).
• Proficient leadership and management experience across large teams, stakeholders and suppliers / third parties / contractors.
• Must have led projects end-to-end including design, budget creation and control, and project execution.
• Experience with digital maintenance systems, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance or plant data analytics is advantageous.
• Experience leading sustainability, energy reduction, water reduction or decarbonisation projects is advantageous.
• Experience in engineering governance, statutory compliance assurance and critical asset risk management is advantageous.