Financial Controller

takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Financial Controller to join our Group Finance team in Cape Town.

We are a young, dynamic, hyper growth company looking for smart, creative and hard-working people with integrity to join us.  We offer a market related Total Remuneration Package, which allows full flexibility according to your needs, a great work environment and a promise that you won’t be bored, as long as you are prepared for a challenge and want to build something great.

The position reports to Head of Finance: Supply Chain & Logistics

Your responsibilities will include:

• Design and build financial reports that facilitate business decision-making and enables the business to meet financial and strategic objectives
• Seek out opportunities for automation through review and redesign of existing processes and reports
• Analyse and manage cost control initiatives in line with budget and plan
• Monitor and manage capital expenditure spend, including the planning of cash flow
• Understand business processes to identify areas for improvement/streamlining through gaining an understanding of dependencies, systems, automation risks and challenges within the finance team
• Monthly performance reporting in place for the division and departments, with variances highlighted and recommendations made to improve divisions profitability.
• Consider multiple scenarios and points of view and potential outcomes for recommending actions based on analysis
• Communicate and share recommendations and relevant information; and iterating analysis based on different business scenarios and assumptions
• Perform analysis to provide insights into areas of risk and opportunity to influence strategies and decisions
• Participate in special projects as needed to provide analytical and decision support on new initiatives
• Develop and maintain cross-functional relationships with key business partners to ensure alignment on strategies to maximise financial results
• Assist and be actively involved in the annual budgeting process
• Perform ad hoc tasks as requested by the senior finance and management team

Attributes required:

• An understanding of the accounting, decision support models, operations and financial levers that drive profit, loss and customer experience
• Ability to translate business needs and goals into analytic approach and response
• Ability to work independently, productively, proactively and follow through on all responsibilities to bring projects to a successful conclusion
• A willingness to get your hands dirty and take accountability, e.g. if you see something isn’t working, get it fixed
• Strong aptitude to learn new systems
• Strong analytical and critical thinking, using data to inform decisions
• Ability to present ideas succinctly, in writing and verbally
• Versatile and with an appetite to learn by doing
• Highly structured thinker with exceptional attention to detail
• Ability to handle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Work under pressure
• Deadline driven
• Comfortable with constant change

Qualifications and Experience:

• Relevant financial degree/qualification
• 3+ Years relevant experience in an analytical/finance role
• CIMA / CA (SA) Advantageous
• Knowledge of accounting, financial reporting and financial analysis acquired through related work experience
• Warehouse cost management experience will be an advantage
• E-Commerce or Retail experience will be an advantage
• High proficiency in advanced Excel
• Basic SQL and advantage
• Exposure to existing systems (Oracle, TM1, Looker, Qlik, Sage, PowerBI) and advantage

 The Environment:

• takealot.com employees are entrepreneurial and dynamic, smart, customer-centric, fun and have the shared ambition of takealot.com being the leading e-commerce company in Africa.
• We have fun, work hard, take ownership, work in teams to create solutions, and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve
• We are short on ego and high on output
• We are doers and not only thinkers, it’s all in the execution after all
• We love what we do and what we are creating

We seek to Employ an Extra Ordinary Mind who:

• is respectful but forthright
• is an expert at doing, who can not only design but also execute
• is analytical, able to use data to make decisions
• is competitive, self-directed and strive to be the BEST (GREAT requires a lot of work and does not only happen during business hours
• is passionate about the potential of e-commerce and delivering a world-class customer experience
• is entrepreneurial, thrives under change and accepts it is a constant and always looks for solutions to do something better and faster
• is business SMART. Able to think about problems from a business perspective using technical and product input;
• is curious and challenge the status quo
• is innovative and enjoys iteration
• is collaborative
• will be at the cutting edge of developing new concepts for takealot.com
• thinks like an owner of the business
• is SMART, has INTEGRITY and is HARD WORKING
• If you meet the above criteria and are an Extraordinary Mind, come and join us!

 Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from the previously disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.