Ready to grow your finance career with a leading sustainable packaging business?
We’re looking for a detail-oriented and ambitious Assistant Accountant to join our Business Services Finance team at DS Smith. This is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to delivering world-class accounting support across our UK sites and build your expertise in a dynamic and supportive environment.
About the role
Working alongside a team of experienced finance professionals, you’ll be helping to deliver high-quality accounting and reporting services in line with our service level agreements. You’ll gain a broad understanding of business processes across various sites and work closely with colleagues in the Purchase to Pay and Credit & Collections teams.
Your key responsibilities will include:
- Assisting with the production of monthly management accounts, P&L, and balance sheets
- Preparing timely and accurate financial reports, including variance analysis
- Supporting our Group and Divisional reporting requirements
- Carrying out standard and non-standard journal entries
- Helping with the Annual Planning and Forecasting processes
- Providing ad hoc analysis to support site operations, Finance Business Partners, and Group Finance
- Reconciling general ledger accounts and ensuring financial data integrity
About You
We’re looking for someone who is proactive, keen to learn, and thrives in a collaborative environment. You’ll bring:
- A degree or qualification in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
- Strong Microsoft Excel skills and general IT proficiency
- Great time management, with the ability to meet deadlines and support the team during busy periods
- A desire to grow and develop your skills, both independently and as part of a team
- Experience in accounting or reporting is beneficial (but not essential)
- Familiarity with SAP or similar ERP systems would be an advantage
What We Offer
We’re committed to helping you build a rewarding career. In return for your hard work and enthusiasm, you’ll enjoy a comprehensive benefits package, including:
- Competitive salary & discretionary bonus
- Study support for professional qualifications
- 25 days holiday + bank holidays
- Pension scheme, life assurance & income protection
- Cycle to work program
- Employee Assistance Programme, Digital GP & Health Checks
- Retail and leisure discounts
Join us at DS Smith and help shape the future of sustainable packaging — while shaping a successful future for yourself.
Apply today to take the next step in your finance career.
Location: Caerphilly - we operate a hybrid model, so you'll spend 3 days a week in the office and 2 at home as standard
About us
We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fibre-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 65,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organisation and do your best work with us!
Fair recruitment at DS Smith
To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria
#LI-CE #DSCAE
Skills Required
- Degree or qualification in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
- Strong Microsoft Excel skills
- General IT proficiency
- Good time management and ability to meet deadlines
- Desire to grow and develop skills and work well in a team
- Experience in accounting or reporting
- Familiarity with SAP or similar ERP systems
DS Smith Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about DS Smith and has not been reviewed or approved by DS Smith.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered okay to good across many roles, with some plants indicating competitive or above‑market hourly rates for operators and similar positions. This supports a broadly fair perception of base pay even as experiences vary by site.
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Healthcare Strength — U.S. offerings include day‑one medical/vision and dental, employer HSA contributions, and 100% company‑paid life and short/long‑term disability, alongside an EAP. Some role descriptions also highlight mental‑health and fertility options.
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Retirement Support — Packages commonly reference a 401(k) with company match and, in some locations, pension eligibility or company‑funded retirement contributions. This positions retirement benefits as a meaningful component of total rewards.
DS Smith Insights
What We Do
DS Smith provides innovative packaging solutions, paper products and recycling services with a commitment to sustainability and a circular economy. Our core purpose is to Redefine Packaging for a Changing World, and our expert teams work closely with like-minded partners to incorporate renewable resources for products that minimize our environmental impact, reduce complexity and increase profitability through supply chain optimization
