FET Business Partner (Finance Excellence)

Unilever is currently hiring for a FET Business Partner

Reports to: FET Lead

Scope: Local

Location: La Lucia Ridge, Durban

Terms & Conditions: Full Time/ Permanent

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world. 

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our inclusive, collaborative, and flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

JOB PURPOSE

Act as the horizontal finance support to the FET Lead and CFO, providing consolidated commercial, capital and scenario-planning perspectives to enable faster, clearer leadership decision-making.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

Centralised Scenario Planning

• Lead support for centralised scenario planning by consolidating customer, pricing, mix, trade investment, volume and margin inputs into clear, decision-ready commercial views.

• Assess trade investment, promotional spend and ROI performance for ad hoc, project-based and leadership review requirements.

• Support global and central ad hoc forecast, performance and project requests with concise financial summaries and scenario implications.

• Prepare project reviews and what-if analysis to support corporate scenario planning, investment choices and business trade-off decisions.

• Provide finance input into capital and investment reviews alongside the Supply Chain team, ensuring global and central context is clearly reflected.

• Conduct high-level post-investment reviews and track benefits realisation against approved business cases.

Business Partnering

• Prepare board, executive committee narratives that translate complex financial scenarios into clear choices, risks and recommendations.

• Deliver rapid-turnaround strategic, commercial and investment analysis to support emerging business questions and priority projects.

• Partner with CD Finance, Supply Chain Finance and Marketing Finance to create aligned, consolidated views for leadership decision-making.

• Engage Procurement and Supply Chain teams on capex and investment governance, ensuring finance inputs are connected to operational realities and global requirements.

• Coordinate with Strategy & Transformation on project priorities, scenario assumptions and business case implications.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences & Qualifications

•    3-5+ years experience in Finance, with strong exposure to business performance, scenario planning, investments and financial planning.
•    BCom Accounting or equivalent qualification is required.
•    CA(SA), CIMA or similar professional qualification is advantageous.
•    Experience in FMCG or a similar fast-paced, high-volume industry is required.
•    Strong ability to translate complex financial analysis into concise executive-ready summaries and recommendations.

Unilever Behaviors

• Care Deeply: We care deeply about how consumers experience our brands every day, everywhere; about our people’s growth and development, and our impact on the planet. We care about our performance, to a point where it hurts when we don’t win.

• Focus on What Counts: We ruthlessly prioritise what truly matters, and so do fewer things brilliantly. We set clear goals & direction and recognise others for maximum impact.

• Stay Three Steps Ahead: We think boldly and creatively to make breakthroughs in performance. We are always curious and confident - anticipating and staying ahead of consumer needs and external trends, to beat the competition.

• Deliver with Excellence: We deliver excellence in what we do at pace. We take personal ownership and hold each other to account – always finding a way to do what we said we will do.

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life! This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

Unilever is an equal opportunities employer and committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.  We are intentional in employing the best talent that reflects the demographics of our country and which will help build representation of currently under-represented groups. We therefore invite applications from all candidates representing diversity of age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief. When appointing potential candidates, the South African Employment Equity and Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Legislation will be considered.  

We are required by law to verify your ability to work lawfully in South Africa. If you are applying as a foreign national, please note that you may be requested to provide supporting documents supporting this.

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.