Foods Greater Asia FP&A and Budget Control Lead

Earlier this year, Unilever announced an agreement to combine its Foods business with McCormick & Company, creating a scaled global flavour powerhouse. The proposed combination would bring together iconic Foods brands, including Hellmann’s and Knorr, with McCormick’s portfolio to create a global leader across spices, seasonings, condiments and complementary food categories, supported by strong retail and food service platforms. McCormick brings more than 135 years of heritage, a presence in 150+ countries and territories, and a portfolio of trusted brands. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, with completion estimated for mid-2027. 

Team: FP&A

Job title: Foods Greater Asis FP&A & Budget Control Lead

Work level & grade: WL2C

Reporting to: Greater Asia Chief Finance Officer

Role Purpose

Lead integrated financial planning, forecasting and budget control for Greater Asia, governing the Sales & Operation Planning (S&OP) cycle, Trade Term Structure (TTS), Brand Marketing Investment (BMI) and overhead performance and the quality of close and reporting delivery, enabling leadership to understand current performance, anticipate future outcomes and make evidence-based choices.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead annual planning, forecasting and longer-range planning, setting clear assumptions, timelines and quality standards for the assigned scope.
• Consolidate and interpret P&L, balance sheet and cash-flow outlooks, connecting financial results with operational and commercial drivers.
• Deliver performance narratives, variance analysis and driver-based scenarios, providing clear recommendations to support strategic choices, investments and contingency planning.
• Drive business unit performance management with the BU LT through target setting, business planning, monthly forecast, define and monitor key performances KPI by country and category
• Support BU CFO on financial growth model of Business Unit and drive long term growth and profitability agenda for the business and actively participate in strategic planning and Value Creation.
• Challenge assumptions and align commercial, supply chain, functional Finance and Controllership teams on targets, resource choices, risks, opportunities and corrective actions. Improve planning processes, data, systems and reporting to reduce manual effort and increase insight quality.
• Own the end-to-end Greater Asia S&OP finance cycle, aligning volume, value and P&L forecasts across countries and functions and ensuring timely, consistent regional and global submissions.
• Lead regional budget-control governance across TTS, BMI and overheads, ensuring delivery against approved budgets, financial commitments and productivity targets, with clear visibility of risks, opportunities and corrective actions.
• Oversee period-end financial governance across the region, including accruals, provisions, cost allocations and close-related issues, ensuring accurate and controlled financial outcomes.
• Govern RTR and GMR service delivery across Greater Asia, ensuring period-end close performance against agreed service levels and driving escalation resolution, stabilisation and continuous improvement.
• Set the regional data and analytics agenda for FP&A and budget control, ensuring reporting integrity, harmonised data and dashboards, effective adoption of analytics products, and continued automation and simplification.
• Lead and develop the regional FP&A and Budget Control team, setting clear accountabilities and ensuring effective delivery across S&OP and analytics, TTS/BMI control, overhead control and RTR governance.

EXPERIENCE & SKILLS

• 10+ years of experience in FP&A, budget control, commercial finance or finance business partnering, ideally in FMCG
• Deep understanding of integrated P&L, balance sheet and cash-flow planning and performance drivers.
• Proven leadership of complex planning, forecasting, consolidation and management-reporting cycles across multiple markets.
• Experience governing cost and investment budgets (TTS, BMI and overheads), including controls, accruals and productivity delivery.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders across countries, challenge constructively and communicate a clear financial narrative.
• Track record of driving process simplification, automation and digitisation in planning and reporting.
• Ability to operate and stabilise delivery through organisational change and transition.
• Relevant professional finance qualification or equivalent experience.

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.