Risk & Controls Analyst

Job Title:Financial Risk & Controls Analyst

Location: 100VE, London
Reports to: Financial Risk & Controls manager

Unilever is one of the largest fast-moving consumer goods businesses in the world with more than 400 market leading brands in over 190 countries worldwide. In 2022, our worldwide turnover was €60.1 billion. We operate through five business groups: Beauty & Wellbeing; Personal Care; Home Care; Nutrition; and Ice Cream. Our portfolio ranges from nutritionally balanced foods to indulgent ice creams, affordable soaps, luxurious shampoos and everyday household care products, with long-established brands like Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Lipton, Knorr, Dove, Lynx, and Hellmann’s.

Unilever’s Purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace, and this is underpinned by The Unilever Compass: Purpose-Led, Future-Fit is our new, single growth strategy based on three beliefs; Brands with purpose grow, Companies with purpose last, People with purpose thrive. Our vision is to be the global leader in sustainable business. We will demonstrate how our purpose-led, future-fit business model drives superior performance, consistently delivering financial results in the top third of our industry.

The Group Chief Accountant’s Department (GCAD) is part of the central Finance team. GCAD is responsible for accounting, reporting, risk management and controls activities for the group and acts as a centre of expertise and excellence. This includes compliance with Sarbanes Oxley (SOx), UK Corporate Governance and SEC requirements.

We are looking to increase the expertise of the Risk and Controls team within GCAD to support the group’s risk management and internal financial controls assessment. In 2021, Unilever kicked off the Future of Controls programme aimed at transforming the current control environment across Unilever to one that can keep up with the pace of change of these legal requirements whilst enabling us to meet our strategic objectives. As a result, our control frameworks need to better align to our risk appetite, enable flexibility within the organization and ensure integration across our business processes and systems.

JOB PURPOSE

The purpose of the role is to support the GCAD Risk and Controls team in the delivery of the risk management and controls assurance processes, to ensure that our approach remains future fit and continues to meet with our legal and regulatory requirements.

As part of our Enterprise Risk Management process, you will work with the global risk owners and Business Groups to understand the business risks, assurance mechanisms, and mitigating action plans. You will also support the Group annual risk management process, ultimately owned by the Group controller, which includes analysing the internal and external environment to identify the risks Unilever is faced with.  You will also be supporting the implementation of new processes to meet the risk regulatory requirements.

Within your role, you will also work with the Controls Lead to ensure that the financial controls for specific processes are effective in risk mitigation, appropriately implemented by the markets.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support the preparation of the risk external scan, considering the economic and external environment in which Unilever operates, to identify potential risks and opportunities.

• Update and maintain the assurance map for Unilever’s principal risks.

• Support the documentation of Unilever’s enterprise level risks and mitigation plans.

• Support the preparation of risk documentation to support disclosures in our Annual Report and Accounts.

• Support implementation of UK Corporate Governance Reforms and the impact on Unilever’s Risk and Controls framework.

• Support implementation of Fraud Risk Assessment.

• Increasing awareness of risk management and controls with risk and control owners through training and discussions.

• Support specific process controls implementation in markets and design in light with ongoig transformations.

ALL ABOUT YOU

• Part-Qualified or Qualified Chartered Accountant or other relevant professional qualification such as Institute of Internal Audit, Institute of Risk Management

• Evidence of appropriate experience and knowledge in the field of risk management

• Experience of controls design and operating effectiveness testing

• Understanding of the Consumer Business and / or FMCG sector and its core business processes preferred

• Strong analytical skills and ability to analyse, interpret and communicate data

• Strong written, and verbal communication and influencing skills, having the ability to coherently explain technical concepts to a wider business audience with impact

• Change management / experience of working as part of a multi-stakeholder project team an advantage.

Key Stakeholders

• GCAD Leadership Team

• Business groups

• Global risk owners

• Corporate audit team

• Business Process Owners (Process Excellence teams)

• Country Accounting Teams, Controllers and Risk Managers

• External auditors

• Consulting/expertise partners
  

NOTES

Location

In September 2020, Unilever announced the intention to build a new sustainable campus site in Kingston, London to house the employees who currently work in 100 Victoria Embankment in Blackfriars, Lever House in Kingston, Unilever House in Leatherhead and Graze in Richmond. We are creating our own Unilever sustainable, agile work environment, purposefully bringing us together in our own Unilever ecosystem. The campus is due to be completed in early 2025 and will consist of two interconnected buildings, as well as landscaped surrounding areas.

What We Offer

Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, free gym, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all.

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. 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. We are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to be present your best self. To find out more, click here: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion.

Recruitment Fraud

Cyber criminals advertise fake job adverts with prestigious employers as a way of stealing information or even defrauding individuals out of money. In the most sophisticated cases, they will set up fake websites, which have a similar address to companies like Unilever. They even conduct fake telephone interviews and then offer candidates a role with the proviso they pay a fee for background checks or to cover work visa costs. These types of attacks are becoming more common as more people are looking for employment in the economic climate.

How is Unilever tackling this?

Many of Unilever’s recruitment sites publish a warning to candidates about recruitment fraud. The Cyber Security team also proactively scan for signs of people setting up fake Unilever sites and act to close them down.

What can I do?

If you become aware of potential recruitment fraud, spot fake Unilever recruitment adverts or fake LinkedIn profiles, report them via Una Live Chat.

Unilever does not accept responsibility or liability for any candidates who are financially impacted by recruitment fraud. Your vigilance is key!