Commercial Experience: Head of Finance Market Operations – Europe _PTAB _Africa

ABOUT UNILEVER

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. Our strategy begins with a purpose that places consumers at the heart of everything we do: Brighten everyday life for all. Our goal is to deliver best-in-class performance with market-making, unmissably superior brands. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world. At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our collaborative, and flexible working environment. Our organizational ambition centers around creating workplaces that foster equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging across all aspects of our business. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future

JOB PURPOSE

The Commercial Experience Purpose is to protect value and provide fuel for growth through excellent execution and continuous optimisation of finance and supplier processes. Its strategic focus is to deliver full scale and edge to edge Supplier and Finance experience through upscaling of Operations Capabilities and Transformations. 

The Commercial Experience Vision is to become a Best-in-Class solutions organization recognized both externally and internally. Within this context, it requires balancing sometime contradicting priorities around cost, experience, discipline, and compliance become critical and need very capable leaders at the helm who can steer and balance both challenge and support to the Markets organization.  

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

Head of Finance Market Operations is the main point of contact for Europe, PTAB and Africa Finance senior stakeholders for the ComEx Finance products delivery. He/ She is responsible for the operations and delivery of Record-to-Report (RtR) and Supply-Chain-Finance-Service (SCFS) performed out from the Operating Canters. He holds accountabilities for the end-to-end processes of the service, continuous improvement, driving discipline across the 3 Tiers and driving cost saving projects in these products as well as any new product that Comex will expand into.

This role holds also a Global and central responsibility for Finance Market Operations, to ensure alignment and streamlining across the Market operations teams. He is a member in the ComEx Executive LT, partnering closely with the Finance Products Owners.

The role offers a unique opportunity to partner with the senior leaders of Unilever Finance and ComEx as a whole.

i.  The person is accountable and responsible for:

Leadership and talent development of c. 200 people based in the OCs/Hubs across the globe.

• Managing directly 2 directors and 4 managers

• Holding direct leadership of the Katowice (Poland) hub.

Leading the Finance engagement with the Finance Leadership in Europe, PTAB and Africa Drive effective and comprehensive Joint Business Plans between the market and ComEx – including effective delivery and performance management against the same. This will include among others:

• Deployment and delivery of global & local cost reduction and process improvement projects with strong governance

• Maintaining the controls discipline and hygiene in countries while supporting Control Services Teams & Corporate Controller teams to improve the country capabilities in terms of risk management & mitigation

• Integration of the ComEx products to ensure that all global and regional services are delivered to the business in accordance with agreed service levels and performance targets, continuously minimizing the probability and impact of any unplanned service interruption

• Foster close relationships with ComEx Products Owned to ensure tight integration and harmonized ways of working as part of the wider Global operating model.

• Act as the escalation point for most significant day-to-day issues or problems in the Market Cluster(s)/business area

• Performing continuous feasibility & business case analysis for any opportunities of transition & transformation activities for the market in scope

Managing the relations with third party service providers (3PSPs) with the right balance between creating accountability & strong visible partnership whilst ensuring control framework compliance within the region Building effective ongoing relationships, with key stakeholders in the MCO/business area

II. The role holder should be passionate on growth, excellence & service and will demonstrate the following:

• Ability to identify the improvement opportunities as per business needs & global agenda

• Ability to create impact with strong governance & communication

• Inspirational leadership to lead sizeable teams and help people to discover their full potential

• Strong working knowledge various business processes & strong finance knowledge

• Strong risk management knowledge to spot the possible risks and proactively mitigating them

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to build effective relationships with senior stakeholders, extended teams, and external parties.

• Experience and awareness of working in a global role, demonstrate awareness and empathy to cultural diversity

• Customer and service centric mind set, placing the user at the heart of the solution

• Ability to work under pressure and at times in ambiguous situations and speed in decision making

III. Key Interfaces:

• Regional and Global Leadership Team

• Country Finance Controllers

• Third party business partners

• Other teams (Process Excellence Team, GCAD, Internal Audit, Cluster/Country Tax & Legal teams, Global Performance Management Team, etc)

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences & Qualifications

An MBA, CPA, CIMA or equivalent Business Management or Finance degree with minimum 12-15 years of overall experience in Business Partnering, Controllership and Management roles Strong knowledge of key financial processes, accounting standards and principles Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills Solid people management skills and demonstrated peer leadership Experience in a global or change management role would be preferred

Skills

Broad Financial acumen, understanding of Finance processes and controls. Influencing skills, Stakeholders and Escalations management Communication and Change management skills People leadership

Leadership

• You are now a Leader of Change. People look to you to provide safety in a storm, and you also appropriately challenge to get even better results. You role model resilience and care. You navigate these uncertain times by flexing plans and your leadership style, always with authenticity.

• You are still responsible for delivering to the highest standards. You must be resilient so you can lead others to deliver with passion through uncertainty and create opportunities through the core and beyond. You must be able to flex your style and your plans to guide others through difficult times.

• Critical SOL (Standards of Leadership) Behaviors

• PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results. Generates intensity and focus to motivate people to deliver results at speed.

• PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Actively builds own wellbeing and resilience.

• CONSUMER & CUSTOMER LOVE: Brings the voice of the consumer into everything we do, always.

• PURPOSEFUL IMPACT: Has humility, understanding that leadership is service to others, inside and outside Unilever.

• AGILITY: Explores the world around them, continually learning and developing their skills.

• TALENT CATALYST: Inspire people to grow, with support and honesty.

• BUSINESS ACUMEN: Creates opportunities for profitable growth through the core and beyond.

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life! This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

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