Unilever Ventures Finance Analyst

Job description

Job Title: Unilever Ventures Finance Analyst – immediately available
Salary: Up to £39,00 + Excellent Benefits
Location: Unilever Ventures, London, SW1Y, UK
Preference: Immediately available
Term: 2 years due to specialist nature of VC/PE investment sector; scope for

significant development whilst in role.

Role: The role will report into Financial Controller – Unilever Ventures Direct

Fund.

Key Responsibilities:

Role will support both Direct Fund and Growth Capital / Fund of Fund

investment teams. Role definition is flexible depending on experience and

capabilities of successful candidate, pace of their development and the extent of

future changes in the organisation.

About Unilever Ventures:

Agility with scale. Unilever Ventures is the Venture Capital and Private Equity arm of Unilever. We invest in young, promising companies, accelerating growth by providing access to Unilever's global ecosystem, assets and expertise. We're looking for tomorrow's world-beaters in Personal Care and Digital. We provide access to a company with unrivalled global reach. Unilever Ventures at a glance:

· Founded in 2002
· c€450 million under management, €135m Direct, €155m Funds, €160m Growth investments
· Over 40 direct investments, hundreds more via equity partners
· Operations in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia
· 3 rd fund launched in 2014 focused on Personal Care and Digital

Key Objectives in Role : Demonstrate increased focus on business partnering, with continued simplification and reduction in current administration.

Business Partnering:

· Control all fund transaction recording and forecasting processes and enabling routine reporting to Investment Committee of:
· Actual cash invested and forecast vs fund limits, ensuring sufficient reserves are held for follow on investments in current portfolio companies
· Fair value of current investment portfolio, current return performance, highlighting impairment issues as required
· Forecast return performance, working with investment team to assess and quantify return risks.
· Participate in the quarterly portfolio review process, ensuring transparency on portfolio company performance and key issues to be managed.
· As capabilities allow, partner investment team on new deal appraisal and post investment action plan

Accounting Operations & Financial Reporting:

· Deliver Unilever quarterly reporting for all investments (subs, non current investments, JV's, associates) and fund management entities, including Acq and Disp, Fair Value and Impairment accounting.
· Manage process for Indirect spend management; processing / budget / forecasting / monthly review of c€4m of overhead and deal costs
· Responsible for right first time vendor and purchase order process, applying standard Unilever systems and processes to UV running and project spend.
· Manage operational relationships with key Unilever teams – GCAD, Parent and Holdings, Legal P2P, ESHR

Potential development opportunities:

· Implementation of VC/PE industry standard investment management systems
· Standardise the models used for valuation and forecasting purposes across Funds
· Gain insight on e-commerce metrics and trends by collection and analysis of key performance metrics, with comparison across UV, Unilever and 3rd party best in class
· Partner investment team on financial performance and controls due diligence for new deals
· Continue to reduce investment administration (legal, tax, financial)
· Review and simplification of Unilever Reporting and Forecasting processes, delivering value added analysis from output.
· One set of management info and processes for Direct and Growth team cost and investments; remove / automate / consolidate as required

Experience required:

· Qualified / Part Qualified Accountant (CIMA, ACCA etc)
· Previous data management / process improvement project experience
· Sound accounting operations and reporting experience; ideally with financial bookkeeping and/or financial close experience.
· Experience of management budgeting reporting of overheads, cash planning etc
· Be confident and have an ability identify individual needs without constant direction. This role could be ideally suited to someone wishing to act in a semi autonomous environment, where business knowledge and creating relationships is key.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Online Application >> Digital Interview >> Face to face Interview >> Job Offer

Please note: As part of the job application, you will be asked to complete a brief online application form. Completion of the form is required in order to be considered. Please allow yourself enough time to complete the application form as when filled out partially or not at all it may adversely affect the progress of your application. Please be aware that you will have to complete the form at once as you will be unable to return to it later.