Job Title: Senior Finance Manager Deodorants & B&W CD
Location: Kingston Head Office
Work Level: 2B/C
Job Purpose
This role sits within the UKI Personal Care Finance team as Finance Lead for Deodorants (c€400m), owning strategy and performance and partnering the Deos Category Director to drive multi-year profitable and competitive growth. This includes end-to-end business partnering of the Deos marketing team, CSP and CAMs.
In addition, this role is the CD Finance Lead for total BPC, directly partnering 3 CD Directors and all CBMs across both Personal Care and Beauty & Wellbeing.
Core outcomes (both levels):
• Sustained Deos performance through sharper strategy, robust innovation business cases and rigorous in-year interventions.
• Disciplined customer execution through strong CD partnering, investment evaluation and clear decision support.
• Improved operational effectiveness by embedding Anaplan into forecasting and cash-up to reduce manual intervention and align behind one version of the forecast.
Key Responsibilities
Deodorants Strategic Leadership (P&L Roadmap + Growth Acceleration):
• Lead Deodorants strategy and performance: shape the strategic financial plan, P&L shape and business model with the Deodorants Director; strengthen grip on plan, forecast, profitability, risks/opportunities and interventions.
• Support premiumisation and growth segments: help define and deliver the Deodorants premiumisation agenda, including the ongoing development of the Refillable and Whole Body segments—ensuring clear milestones, choices, and value delivery.
• Own the strategic P&L roadmap for Deodorants: build and maintain a multi-year roadmap that makes growth and gross margin expansion levers explicit (pricing/mix, pack-price architecture, portfolio, investment levels, COGS/efficiency opportunities), and drives decision-making rather than reporting.
• Innovation and business case leadership: build (and progressively standardise) robust business cases for Deodorants initiatives—challenging assumptions, landing trade-offs, and embedding post-evaluation routines to ensure delivery of full potential (with particular focus on Refillable and Whole Body).
• Drive gross margin expansion: partner cross-functionally to identify, quantify and track margin opportunities (mix, pricing, portfolio choices, investment efficiency, COGS initiatives), and convert them into accountable actions with owners and timelines.
BPC CD Finance Leadership:
• Lead BPC CD finance partnering across PC + B&W: shape JBPs, customer strategy and investment choices with clear economics, scenarios, and decision asks; act as a senior finance partner and escalation point as required.
• Own and embed customer investment governance: critically assess investment proposals; drive disciplined stage-gates, ROI logic and post-evaluation follow-through; improve decision quality and consistency across the CD agenda.
• Lead CD performance management and forums: prepare materials and lead the CD business performance reviews as the finance representative; bring insight on internal and external performance drivers and drive corrective actions with CSP and CD.
• Operational effectiveness—Anaplan into Cash-up: working closely with Supply Chain and the relevant UKI performance/PC finance leadership, embed Anaplan into core forecasting and cash-up routines to deliver one version of the forecast, reduce manual intervention and reconciliation, and clarify ownership of inputs, timing and approvals; define templates, handoffs, control points and "definition of done," and drive adoption.
• Drive interventions and simplification: lead performance interventions and process simplification that improve end-to-end finance processes, pace and decision quality across Deodorants and CD.People Leadership:
• Coach across the broader team (beyond line) to embed higher standards in storytelling, governance and simplication
Experience/Skills Required
• Qualified (preferred): professionally qualified accountant (e.g., CIMA / ACCA) or equivalent experience.
• Senior partnering & presence: credible at senior table level; able to influence directors and lead challenging discussions with authority.
• Decision leadership: consistently turns ambiguity into clarity—frames options, lands decisions, and drives action closure without relying on escalation.
• Operating model builder: experienced in designing and embedding ways of working (cadence, governance, templates, controls), improving pace and consistency at scale.
• Value creation mindset: strong commercial acumen with a track record of delivering outcomes through a robust understanding of the P&L levers
• Strategic + operational grip: can move seamlessly from multi-year P&L roadmap thinking to in-year interventions and delivery tracking.
• High-impact communication: builds clear and concise narratives, strong engagement, and able to simplify complex topics for fast decisions.
• Analytical judgement: strong analytics coupled with prioritisation; able to focus on what counts
• Tools & transformation: excellent modelling skills and confident leading tool adoption and process transformation (e.g., embedding Anaplan into core routines) to remove manual work and create one version of truth.
NOTES
Please apply via this portal as e-mail applications may not be processed and include your talent card if completed.
By applying for this vacancy, you are confirming that you have made your Line Manager aware of your application and that you are at a point in your career with Unilever where it is appropriate for you to be applying for other positions.
Should you require additional information or reasonable adjustments to allow you to present your best self during this process, please contact your Talent Partner listed at the right hand side of this vacancy.
What We Offer
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 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, including about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here Equity, Diversity & Inclusion ).
Location
In September 2020, Unilever announced the intention to build a new sustainable campus site in Kingston, London. This site will house some employees who currently work in 100 Victoria Embankment in Blackfriars together with colleagues who are currently located in Lever House in Kingston. We are excited to be creating our own Unilever sustainable, agile work environment. The campus is due to be completed in 2026.
Relocation to the UK
Please be aware if you are applying for this role from outside the UK, if successful, your application will be treated as a self-initiated Change Location Outside of Country (CLOC) transfer. This means any relocation costs must be self-funded with the potential to reclaim some specific pre-approved expenses up to £5,000. Please speak to your Talent Partner if you have any questions.