About the role
We’re looking for a Head of Record to Report (R2R) to lead our financial accounting, compliance, and reporting frameworks across the UK and Benelux. Based in our Caerphilly Business Services hub, this is a high-impact senior leadership role with responsibility for maintaining robust financial integrity, ensuring adherence to regulatory and statutory requirements, and upholding strong governance and control frameworks.
This role goes beyond operational leadership - you will bring a fresh perspective, challenge ways of working, and drive continuous improvement, standardisation, and digital transformation, particularly through close partnership with our Automation and Technology teams.
As part of the Business Services senior leadership team, you’ll lead and inspire a large, high-performing function, shaping both long-term strategy and organisational capability, while fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous development.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead and develop a large R2R function (c.40 FTE), setting the strategic roadmap and contributing to Business Services leadership, governance, and long-term planning
- Manage the associated R2R processes across multiple geographies, ensuring strong financial control, SOX compliance, audit readiness, and balance sheet integrity
- Drive transformation through process optimisation, standardisation, and automation, working closely with technology teams to deliver scalable solutions
- Build strong stakeholder partnerships across UK & Benelux, fostering a high-performance culture, managing risk, and developing future talent while deputising for the Director when required
About You:
- Qualified accountant (ACCA, ACA, CIMA or equivalent) with strong senior leadership experience in complex, multi-layered finance environments
- Strategic leader with a proven track record in transformation, process optimisation, and automation, bringing fresh thinking and challenging the status quo
- Strong expertise in financial controls, compliance, and SOX, with the ability to balance governance and operational excellence
- Strong people and stakeholder leadership skills, with experience building high-performing teams, developing talent, and influencing across geographies and functions
Why Join:
- Play a key leadership role shaping the future of a major Business Services centre
- Lead a high-impact function at the heart of financial integrity and business decision-making
- Drive automation, transformation, and operational excellence at scale
- Work with a diverse international stakeholder group across UK and Benelux
- Opportunity to make a lasting impact through leadership, innovation, and talent development
Benefits
- A competitive salary and discretionary bonus
- 25 days’ holiday + bank holidays
- Pension scheme, life assurance, income protection
- Employee assistance programme and digital GP access
- Cycle to work scheme and discounts on shopping, travel and more
Location: Caerphilly
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
- Qualified accountant (ACCA, ACA, CIMA or equivalent)
- Strong senior leadership experience in complex finance environments
- Proven track record in transformation, process optimisation, and automation
- Expertise in financial controls, compliance, and SOX
- Strong people and stakeholder leadership skills
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
