Senior Commercial Finance Manager

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact

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Why join our team?

pladis was established in June 2016 and brings together the much loved, global brands of Godiva, McVitie’s, Ulker, and DeMet’s under one pladis umbrella, to form global giant in biscuits, chocolate, and confectionary. The UK&I pladis region employs 5,000 people across 13 locations in the UK&I (nine manufacturing / distribution sites and four office locations) and  is an anchor market for the business.

The UK&I region has results-oriented plans and the Commercial Finance team play a vital role in ensuring delivery of long-term balanced growth whilst fully understanding current performance. This role will influence the achievement of these plans at a brand level

What will this role achieve?
• The successful candidate will lead the Commercial Finance agenda for the Category,
defining Brand Strategy, driving innovation sufficiency, and ensuring Marketing
investments deliver strong return on investment.
• The role requires a critical friend approach, building strong relationships toward
results-oriented plans and communicating commercials with clarity.
• Maintaining a value creation agenda alongside the Brand Director toward cross
functional engagement and delivery of Brand Strategy is critical
 

The role holder will report to the UK&I Commercial Finance Lead, whilst working very closely  with stakeholders across Marketing, R&D. Finance and Commercial Planning

What will be your key results?

• Proactively inspire and lead your category team as a senior Commercial Leader alongside the Brand Director, acting as role model to more junior colleagues and trusted advisor
• Lead the creation of the Strategic Plan and AOP for the category, defining growth levers and engaging Customer Directors in their role to deliver the plan

• Own category margin , leading Range Optimisation, engaging Manufacturing capability, Commercial Planning, and Sales to create an optimal range through appreciation of the Commercial P&L and manufacturing cost bases, defining price, promotion and pack opportunities to improve value for pladis and retailers

• Partner the Brand and R&D teams to appraise Innovation opportunities, applying  internal and external knowledge, influencing the proposition and understanding costings to deliver margin accretive innovation opportunities aligned to guardrails

• Build detailed business cases to deliver Innovation and Brand opportunities across  capital and marketing investments, managing both financial and consumer return and engaging the UK&I CFO in the business rationale and recommendation

• Achieve full understanding and governance of Marketing investments, aligning volume  based returns, consumer based success metrics and full P&L affordability

• Define Financial priorities to be delivered in the Brand Planning process, leading the Marketing Managers through construction of their Brand Strategies, incorporating revenue and margin growth considerations into investment plans, to drive sustainable growth

• Take ownership for creating a sufficient Innovation pipeline alongside the Brand Director and R&D Director, pressing for sustainable growth platforms and delivery to Global commitments

• Deliver outstanding commercial finance management, focussing and educating planning and forecasting to mitigate risks and achieve opportunities vs AOP across Brands and Channels

• Create and embed clarity over business performance, understanding drivers of revenue and margin performance (including trends, brand/customer/channel profitability and external competitor influences) which enable planning and course correction

• Line manage and develop a Commercial Finance Analyst, enabling their growth, career aspirations and attainment of performance objectives through removing barriers and championing achievements

• Upskill your Commercial partners, delivering focussed and continuous training to enable commercially aware, agile, decision making

• Always remain curious , seeking continual improvement by delivering commercial and process insight in an engaging way to enable a change agenda and effective working practises

What do you need for this role?
Essential
• FMCG Commercial Finance experience 5+ years post qualification (ACA, CIMA,
ACCA)
• Evidenced delivery in Commercial Finance Roles, with strong leadership,
collaboration and communication skills.
• A passion for Commercial Finance, able to understand and communicate internal and external performance trends is essential.
• Absolute drive for continuous improvement with ability to impact change
• Ability to build and develop positive  and constructive relationships
• Ability to work effectively in an ambiguous and ever changing environment
• Strong financial and commercial acumen is essential
• In depth knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly excel and power point.
Desirable
• SAP knowledge of manufacturing
• Knowledge of Snacking categories and experience in Brand Planning
• External data awareness having worked with Kantar/Nielsen data

Our Values
• Purpose-Led - Energised by our promise to deliver happiness to the world with
every bite
• Agile - Ever evolving, never satisfied and never standing still
• Collaborative - Willing to work with others for mutual success, transparent
• Resilient - Quick to adapt to change, fast learner and persistent in the face of
setbacks
• Positive - Self-motivated, optimistic, adventurous, and inspiring

Diversity and inclusion is central to everything we do and is reflected across our business. pladis brings together brands and people from around the globe – and this diversity is our  great strength.
We’re an equal opportunities employer and believe in encouraging an inclusive environment  where we celebrate diversity of thinking and respect everyone’s distinctive qualities and  perspectives.

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List. If you are a recruitment agency and wish to submit candidate to be considered for this vacancy, you must have agreed to, and signed, our terms of business.
We will not accept CVs from any other sources other than those currently on our PSL. We will not pay a fee for any candidate that has not been represented by a provider on our PSL.