Decision Support F&R + BMI Reliever at Unilever

Main Job Purpose

• Provide regular decision support within the Food & Refreshments (F&R), Country Category Business Team (CCBT) focused on: marketing, sales, gross margin, mix, Trade / customer investment, pricing, promotions, Brands & Marketing Investments (BMI) budget investments, Investment decisions, Business Cases & innovations, understanding key drivers of actual and forecast business performance
• Manage BMI budgets for CCBT’s and drive investment decisions for the business in ensuring effective investment & returns

Job Summary

Country Category Business Team (CCBT) Decision Support

• Act as the lead Finance expert on Growth Margin (GM) & Mix and use tools to resolve challenges, help drive improved business performance and ensure in-market competitiveness
• Drive understanding of actual & forecast F&R category performance to CCBT’s with clear understanding of key drivers impacting Profit & Loss (P&L) performance & guide the CCBT on key drivers to improve/maintain sustainable performance of the category
• Prepare business case for innovations & drive decision making within the CCBT’s on impact to the category/business
• Lead Net Revenue Management within the F&R CCBT
• Drive Gross Margin Improvements & Work closely with CCBT Finance lead and other stakeholders in CCBT’s on Planning, forecasting and risks management around GM delivery.
• Work with CMI to bring insights from Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) and analytical tools to account teams around how to drive better return on trade investment
• Own and drive the Gross Margin improvements including working with the F&R CCBT Finance Business Partners on planning, forecasting, and risk management around overall Gross Margin delivery
• Prepare analysis on Consumer Price Changes (CPC) by category, including developing a standard tool/template for CPC analytics, model various CPC scenarios as required to pro-actively identify areas where price changes should be explored
• Support decisions around Customer Development (CD) promotions and work with CD Operations around accruals
• Prepare regular pricing reporting to the CD and Marketing functions to develop insights via these reports that will drive better pricing decisions
• Support the Finance Excellence Team to deploy and maintain ‘quick analytic’ tools to enable CD & Marketing to evaluate the feasibility and return on single promotional activities and full promotional plans on their own (smaller investments) or with support (larger investments)
• Build & maintain process documentation (e.g. which explains how to implement a list price increase with customers and includes relevant case study examples)
• Provide end to end guidance to CCBT’s on all matters related to finance

Brands & Marketing Investment (BMI)

• BMI lead within the FET CCBT Decision support team
• Drive Annual BMI budgeting process with CCBT leads
• Manage BMI budgets through out the year to ensure control of spend & effective returns of the investment
• Manage the Internal Orders’ (IOs) for BMI spend
• Manage dynamic management of BMI budgets as per S&OP volume/TO/business priority changes
• Consolidate, review and submit Brands and Marketing Investments (BMI) Forecast for all brands across the three EA countries to Sales & Operations (S&OPs) Forecasting.
• Analyse BMI spend on a monthly basis and providing a scorecard of variance from forecast with the necessary commentaries.
• Prepare & share out a monthly tracker to help partners have a snapshot of their overall budgets (Full Year Budget, Year to Date spend & Year to Go balance) for each of their brand.
• Track monthly spend of BMI weekly against the monthly forecast and share out the tracker to monitor spending.
• Ensure effective BMI control processes are in place
• Continuous budget control and monitoring spend relating to BMI and engaging the respective brand or category manager.
• Ensure Month End Closure (MEC) activities relating to BMI are carried out accurately and on time and aligning with Reporting Accountant.
• Review any write-backs that relate to BMI and obtain the necessary approvals.
• Reconcile all Balance Sheet General Ledger Accounts relating to BMI.
• Ensure new joiners in Brand Building (BB) team are trained on BMI essentials.
• Enforce governance process around BMI Accounting to ensure integrity of data posted including communicating any Standard Chart of Authorities (SCOA)+ changes.
• Ensure data accuracy and integrity in the posting and reconciliation on BMI in SAP system.
• Monitor BMI Purchase Orders Ariba – SAP interfacing status and advising on corrective action.
• Liaising with Indirect Procurement team to resolve issues relating to BMI Purchase Orders & Goods/Service Received Note
• Ensure that Non-Working Media targets are achieved by reviewing postings and undertaking both preventative and corrective measures.
• Liaising with CCM Manager, Marketing to ensure Agency fees (Mindshare) Purchase Orders are raised correctly and on time.

Key Skills And Competencies

• Strong analytical skills, Excel modelling skills and attention to detail
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills
• Strong engagement, presentation and communication skills to large and complex set of stakeholders
• Ability to work fluidly with data and across systems
• Ability to present complex information in a simplified manner

Relevant Qualification

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting / Finance or other related field
• Qualified accountant or equivalent (or studying towards a professional accounting qualification)
• Relevant experience in understanding the P&L (e.g. gross margin variance analysis and pricing) and holding others accountable (particularly peers and senior leadership)

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.