Decision Support – Spend Business Partner
Job Description :
About us
From Arthur Guinness to Johnnie Walker, our business was founded on people of great character, and in 250 years, nothing’s changed. We’re the world’s leading premium alcohol company. Our brands are industry icons. And our success is thanks to the strength of our people, in every role. It’s why we trust them with our legacy. And it’s why we reward them with the career-defining opportunities that they deserve.
Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected Consumer Products Company in the world. To achieve these, we need the world’s very best people.
Serengeti Breweries (SBL), subsidiary of Diageo, has three breweries in Dar, Moshi and Mwanza where it produces leading local brands such as Serengeti Premium Lager, Serengeti Premium Lite, Pilsner and Guinness as well as importing Diageo’s world-renowned spirits brands including Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker whisky and Baileys
Within the Finance function Commercial Finance is the main business partner for the Commercial and Marketing teams. It’s remit is to drive the profitability of the business through robust commercial performance management, analysis and decision support.
Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you.
Market Complexity
In order to drive business performance both commercial functions are orienting themselves around sustainable profit growth with the vision of Regional Commercial Managers fully owning their gross profitability and direct overheads and Brand Managers owning the Contribution After A&P (CAAP) of their brands
Commercial Finance has a crucial role to play in this transition by combining activity, market and financial data into a holistic BPM process that drives positive commercial behaviours and outcomes; by acting as a trusted business partner to both functions, ensuring that trade and brand investments are based on sound commercial decisions; and by providing robust financial support to the innovation and capex processes
Leadership Responsibilities
As a key Finance business partner the incumbent must have strong leadership skills as well as the ability and credibility to engage and influence senior Commercial and Marketing stakeholders and act as a catalyst for change
The incumbent must be able to contribute creatively and strategically in identifying and pursuing opportunities to drive a profit and performance-driven culture and will be the Finance lead on Commercial & Marketing spend performance management and decision support
Purpose of Role
This role is the key Finance business partner for the Marketing and Commercial function supporting performance of spend (Both Advertising & Promotions and Volume driving spend)
Key responsibilities include:
- Driving a profit orientated, high-performance culture amongst Commercial and Marketing teams by:
- Leading Brand PnL reviews with brand managers on monthly basis
- End to end close monitoring and evaluation of all A&P and Trade Spend Internal orders.
- Developing and delivering tools and training to build Commercial and Marketing teams’ awareness and understanding of their profit drivers
- Supporting strong commercial strategy and planning processes by:
- Preparing pricing and channel reviews
- Support of trade strategy
- Ensuring compliance to all A&P and Trade Spend policies
- Supporting the Marketing and Commercial AOP process
- Driving the increased productivity of trade spend and A&P by:
- Preparing pre-evaluation and post financial evaluations of trade spend and A&P activities
- Undertaking specific reviews and deep-dives on the different elements of trade spend and advising on the optimum way to align them with SBL’s commercial objectives
- Providing robust financial input to innovation and Supply capex projects
- Supporting the strengthening and development of the Commercial Finance team through:
- Actively seeking ways to strengthen our strategies, systems and processes, including identifying and implementing opportunities for automation
- Undertaking other tasks as required to deliver the function’s objectives
Top Accountabilities
- Driving the Brand performance reviews (A&P and Trade Spend)
- Maintaining PACE and M&E trackers and ensuring everything is approved timely with accordance to SoA and any other relevant policies.
- Pre and post financial evaluations of trade spend and A&P
- Creating, monitoring and review of all A&P and Trade Spend Internal orders.
Qualifications and Experience Required
- Professional qualification in accounting (CPA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent)
- Minimum 4 years experience in finance relates roles
- Strong knowledge of commercial decision making, pricing & BPM ideally in a FMCG context
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills; ability to engage at exec level
- PC literate; particularly MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Outlook
- Ability to prioritize when faced with conflicting demands
- Proven ability to facilitate business change