About the Role
We are seeking a commercially focused Manager, Business Finance to support a globally active commodity marketing, trading, and manufacturing business with sales spanning across continents, including significant Africa-bound trade flows.
The role sits within the business finance function and partners closely with marketing/trading, treasury, and operations teams to deliver financial insights, manage trade-related risks, and strengthen financial discipline across global trading and manufacturing activities. This position is well suited for finance professionals who enjoy operating in fast-moving, commercially driven environments rather than purely statutory or reporting-focused role.
Key Responsibilities
1. Business Finance & Commercial Partnering
- Act as a business finance partner to commodity marketing/trading teams, providing margin analysis, performance insights, and financial support for marketing/trading and sales decisions across a broad portfolio of commodity products.
- Support deal reviews, pricing structures, and contract assessments, including transactions where Africa-related counterparty, settlement, or working capital considerations materially impact commercial outcomes.
- Provide timely financial insights to support decision-making in volatile market conditions across global and Africa-linked trade corridors.
- Occasionally travel to Africa markets to support customer engagements, trade assessments, and understanding of on-the-ground commercial dynamics.
2. Financial Risk, FX & Working Capital Management
- Analyse and monitor financial risks associated with international trade, including FX exposure, working capital utilisation, counterparty credit risk, and payment terms, with particular attention to Africa-related trade flows.
- Support assessments of Africa market exposure, focusing on customer behaviour, settlement reliability, payment practices, documentation standards, and trade structuring considerations commonly encountered in Africa-linked markets.
- Evaluate and manage financial risks arising from Africa and other emerging market environments, where uneven data quality, extended settlement cycles, limited counterparty transparency, or non-standard banking and documentation practices may be present.
- Partner with treasury teams on cash flow forecasting, liquidity planning, and utilisation of trade finance instruments supporting Africa-bound and other emerging-market trade corridors.
3. Manufacturing & Operations Finance Support
- Work closely with operations and supply-chain teams to improve cost transparency, working capital efficiency, and operational performance across manufacturing activities.
4. Governance, Reporting & Controls
- Ensure appropriate financial governance and internal controls across marketing/trading and manufacturing activities, in line with Group policies and risk appetite.
- Prepare and review management reports, performance dashboards, and variance analyses to support timely business decision-making by commercial and operational stakeholders.
5. Systems, ERP & Process Improvement
- Drive or support ERP and digitalisation initiatives, enhancing data accuracy, reporting efficiency, and analytical capability across finance and commercial functions.
- Identify opportunities to streamline financial processes and strengthen control frameworks supporting international trade activities.
Experience Requirements
- 8-10+ years of progressive finance experience, with meaningful exposure to commodity trading and/or agri-related businesses.
- Proven experience in business finance roles supporting trading, commercial, or operations teams in an international environment.
- Hands-on experience in financial risk assessment, including FX exposure, counterparty risk, cash flow, and working capital management, particularly in Africa-facing tradecontexts which is a must.
- Exposure to Africa-related trade flows or markets from a commercial, credit, or risk perspective, including experience dealing with Africa-specific settlement practices, documentation standards, counterparty transparency, and payment behaviours, is an advantage.
- Periodic travel to Africa markets to support marketing/trading activities and strengthen commercial and risk understanding.
- Experience supporting manufacturing or processing operations within an integrated agri commodity trading or supply-chain environment is preferred.
- Practical involvement in ERP implementation, system enhancements, or finance process transformation is highly valued.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or Management Studies.
- Professional qualification such as CA, CPA, or ACCA is required.
Key Competencies
- Strong commercial and analytical mindset
- Business partnering and stakeholder management skills
- Sound understanding of commodity marketing and trading economics
- Financial risk, FX, and working capital management in Africa markets
- Manufacturing cost and inventory awareness
- Systems-driven, process-improvement orientation
