Area Finance Manger at Maersk Line

The purpose of the role of Area Finance Manager is to drive world class financial leadership in the exciting, vibrant and developing East Africa Area.

We are looking for a seasoned finance candidate to join our team as an Area Finance Manager. In the role, you will provide leadership and guidance to the Area Finance Function, act as a Finance Business Partner to the local Area Manager, be accountable for the quality of the books, ensure compliance with local and statutory regulations, maintain a strong local focus on working capital and ensure that the Area’s result and performance are run with one set of numbers.

The role is based in the Area head office in Nairobi and oversees all 8 daughter countries in the Area.

We offer

A significant and strategic role in a large area where you will utilise your finance expertise to drive business decisions aimed at maximizing value creation.

Through your day-to-day leadership and work, you will gain an in-depth understanding of financial management from a leadership perspective, sharpen your commercial acumen and enhance your stakeholder management skills.

In addition, you will have visibility and exposure in the area leadership and regional and global finance community for future career development within Maersk or the Maersk Group.

Key responsibilities

You will be expected to:

• Bring an active leadership and sparring partner within the Area leadership team
• Represent the company on the various Board structures within the area countries
• Drive the usage of the standard reports
• Share one set of numbers, owned by finance
• Work towards standardized methodologies globally
• Proactively support the Area functional leads improving the business results
• Ensure highest degree of databased decision making in the Area, relying on the data that would have been presented and translated into pro-active business improvements
• Utilizing the ability to balance the need for databased decisions vs. timely decisions
• Proactively drive Customer Profitability and Forecasting throughout the area, with proper focus on the ‘how’, ‘why’ and ‘what if’
• Ensure we are living up to all obligations we have in the countries of the Area
• Contribute to the regional finance community, by actively participating in the community and co-driving the agenda in this community
• Act as a change agent for other global transformation programs and work on Up-skilling the area finance function to cater for new requirements and develop proper pipeline

We are looking for

• An Expert in Financial Control as well as in Finance Business Partnering (preferably 10 years of general finance experience)
• An experienced professional with a strong performance record in finance leadership roles (at least 5 years of leadership experience (with cultural diversity and remote leadership experience) would be a clear advantage).
• A relevant Finance qualification as a must (CA or CIMA or Masters a prerequisite)
• Excellent stakeholder management skills – ability to explain financial data and conclusions based on them to stakeholders with non-financial background
• Excellent communication skills
• Charismatic personality of a real influencer, able to lead people successfully through transformation within the organization and to transform business approach in people’s mindset
• Proven track record in Values based leadership
• Fluent English skills