Finance Director

For our client, a global market leader in the food industry, we are looking for a Finance Director who will drive the implementation of the Business Unit’s strategy.

As a member of both the Business Unit Management Team as well as the Divisional Financial Management Team, you will act as a performance coach and business partner to reach overall company objectives.

You will lead and develop the finance team and collaborate across functional and geographical boundaries. You will coordinate and execute the monthly reporting and variance analysis as well as financial planning processes (long range plan, budgeting, forecasting and outlook) for the Business Unit. 

Business Partnering

• Key member of the Management team of the Business Unit and the Divisional Finance Management Team;
• Interact with all levels and functional areas of the organization to obtain a key understanding of business drivers. Meet company objectives by pro-actively identifying risks and opportunities, providing actionable management information, challenging the business and following up on remediation and/or action plans;
• Aid the organization in managing working capital, improving ROIC and ensuring the “cash is king” principle;
• Manage capital expenditures, create business plans to demonstrate the validity of investments, prepare capex requests for approval, monitor spending and prepare post calculation reviews;
• Exercise governance over master data, ensure accurate and relevant data is used to address business issues;
• Work closely with both local, divisional and corporate finance teams;
• Identify opportunities to improve processes and systems.

People Management?

• Lead, mentor & and develop your financial Team, providing support & guidance in order to motivate and unite your team and optimize their full potential.

Monthly financial reporting & analysis

• Own the monthly management and financial reporting process (P&L Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement);
• Ensure accurate and timely monthly reporting towards the Division and Corporate office;
• Perform variance analysis comparing actual performance to forecast, budget and prior year;
• Maintain, report and benchmark Key Performance Indicators (financial, operations, logistics);
• Coordinate inventory valuation and ensure a common approach to product standard costing.

Financial Planning (long range plan, budgeting, forecasting & outlook)

• Drive the long range plan to further improve company ROIC;
• Plan and coordinate the budget process and ensure a timely and accurate execution;
• Prepare the monthly rolling forecast and outlook at business unit level; identify outliers, create remediation plans if required and ensure a timely execution thereof. Maintain and improve forecast accuracy;
• Keep oversight on working capital (managing the cash conversion cycle), weekly liquidity planning and cash flow forecasting.

Procedures and policies

• Ensure compliance with divisional and corporate procedures;
• Review statutory financial and tax reporting.

Projects

• Coordinate continuous improvement projects;
• Participate in financial modeling, M&A and divestures

• 8-10 years of relevant professional Management experience, preferably in an industrial company that is operating internationally;
• Master’s degree in economics;
• Fluent in English and Dutch, other languages, especially French are an asset;
• Strong business acumen;
• Excellent leadership skills;
• Proven track record of business partnering;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, ERP (SAP S4Hana) and experience with BI tools (QlikView + IBM);
• IFRS knowledge.