About Unilever

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. Unilever has more than 400 brands found in homes around the world, including Dove, Lynx, Lifebuoy, Shea Moisture, Persil, Domestos, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Marmite, The Vegetarian Butcher, Vaseline, Wall’s, and Pot Noodle.

Faced with the challenge of climate change and the desire for human development, we want to move towards a world where everyone can live well and within the natural limits of the planet. That’s why our purpose is ‘to make sustainable living commonplace’.

What we offer

Not only do we offer a competitive salary of £35,000 and a pension scheme, but we also offer an annual bonus, subsidised gym membership, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Diversity at Unilever is about championing inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities, and growing together for better business performance. To celebrate this, we have internal networks and communities created to raise awareness for a cause, which work to create change within the business. These networks include Proud, Empower, Enable and Unity and our communities include Thriving Parents, Carers and All Inclusion Club.

We give full and fair consideration to all applicants, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes, and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all.

Do you require any adjustments in the application or assessment process?

If you do need any adjustments, please inform the Talent Acquisition team who will contact you to discuss the accessibility options available. E.g., If required extending time spent in any ‘timebound’ assessments/interviews.

*We also provide accessibility options such as magnifying glass, decrease/increase font size, change font & colour, screen ruler, screen mask for everyone who would require support.

Please contact the Talent Acquisition team at futurecareers.recruitment@unilever.com.

The role: Finance

Our Future Leaders Programme will ignite the leader in you. This unique programme is designed to develop Unilever’s Future Leaders (UFLs) by providing collaborative and purposeful opportunities that accelerate their readiness to take on managerial roles.

The Unilever Future Leaders Program (UFLP) is a global initiative enabling Unilever to build a strong talent pipeline that will aid our business growth. In the UK, our UFLP is a 36-month rotational development program for which we recruit top-performing undergraduate talent who demonstrate the potential to become managers within our business.

It’s designed to grow you into a manager, through hands-on learning alongside world-class experts. You’ll be hired into a function and further develop responsibility skills by working on live projects which offer you all the experience you need to become ready for your first management role. At the heart of it, it’s about developing people who can lead tomorrow, today.

From day one, you will take on real business initiatives within your function and across the organization. Along the way, you will develop deep core professional skills and build a robust support network. On top of all that, you will have a lot of fun along the journey.

We look for people who want to get to grips with the inner workings of a vast business and have a desire to comprehend how it works. It’s about dedication, real people skills and a deep-seated interest in the business as a whole. You’ll become part of a leading-edge company, where you’ll work with outstanding brands and outstanding people to drive sustainable business growth.

What will I be doing?

You will work across local, regional, and global teams in a range of finance roles, including accounting and controlling, business partnering, and expertise.

Finance plays an integral part in setting the strategic direction of the business, bringing impactful insights to inform business strategy, and ensuring our resources and investments drive profitable growth.

Your influence will directly impact the future of our brands, the way we work with our customers and how we run our supply chain – all having global sustainability implications.

What do we look for?

It might come as a surprise, but we don’t have a specific discipline requirement, so you don’t have to have a background in finance or economics.

We’re looking for strong analytical ability, enthusiasm, a talent for influencing people and a real desire to understand how a business operates and succeeds. Dedication and commitment go a long way. We’re looking for our future financial managers.

What will the programme involve?

The three-year, world-class development programme is packed with a variety of experiences. You’ll develop your individual interpersonal and management skills by working on live projects that offer you all the experience you need to.
You’ll gain experience both in financial and management accounting and you’ll be business-facing, communicating with key business contacts. First-hand experience – it’s the fastest way to learn.
Your role will be underpinned by studying for your Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualification. Accompanying this is a training programme covering finance acumen and understanding Unilever’s end-to-end value creation model. Think of it as an MBA but with real-life business application from day one.
The Unilever culture is varied, friendly and encourages innovative thinking. We will push and support you to achieve your potential, whilst giving you the chance to shape your career path according to your interests, strengths and ambitions.

Closing date

We will close for applications as soon as we receive enough applications for the business area. We, therefore, advise you to apply as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Is travel required? 10%.

Over three years you’ll take on three stretching placements across our businesses. Some of the teams you will work with will be based across multiple countries and there may be opportunities to travel internationally.

If you have any questions about your application or if you require special arrangements/reasonable adjustments to be made to complete any part of the application process, please contact the Graduate Recruitment Team.

If you would like to discuss any mitigating circumstances before making an application, please also contact the team using the following contact details: Phone: 020 3650 2304 or e-mail: futurecareers.recruitment@unilever.com.

UFLP Finance UK 2024