Financial Controller

takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Financial Controller to join our Group Finance team in Cape Town.

We are a young, dynamic, hyper growth company looking for smart, creative and hard-working people with integrity to join us. We offer a market related Total Remuneration Package, which allows full flexibility according to your needs, a great work environment and a promise that you won’t be bored, as long as you are prepared for a challenge and want to build something great.

The position reports to Head of Finance: Supply Chain & Logistics

Your responsibilities will include:

• Design and build financial reports that facilitate business decision-making and enables the business to meet financial and strategic objectives
• Seek out opportunities for automation through review and redesign of existing processes and reports
• Analyse and manage cost control initiatives in line with budget and plan
• Monitor and manage capital expenditure spend, including the planning of cash flow
• Understand business processes to identify areas for improvement/streamlining through gaining an understanding of dependencies, systems, automation risks and challenges within the finance team
• Monthly performance reporting in place for the division and departments, with variances highlighted and recommendations made to improve divisions profitability.
• Consider multiple scenarios and points of view and potential outcomes for recommending actions based on analysis
• Communicate and share recommendations and relevant information; and iterating analysis based on different business scenarios and assumptions
• Perform analysis to provide insights into areas of risk and opportunity to influence strategies and decisions
• Participate in special projects as needed to provide analytical and decision support on new initiatives
• Develop and maintain cross-functional relationships with key business partners to ensure alignment on strategies to maximise financial results
• Assist and be actively involved in the annual budgeting process
• Perform ad hoc tasks as requested by the senior finance and management team

Attributes required:

• An understanding of the accounting, decision support models, operations and financial levers that drive profit, loss and customer experience
• Ability to translate business needs and goals into analytic approach and response
• Ability to work independently, productively, proactively and follow through on all responsibilities to bring projects to a successful conclusion
• A willingness to get your hands dirty and take accountability, e.g. if you see something isn’t working, get it fixed
• Strong aptitude to learn new systems
• Strong analytical and critical thinking, using data to inform decisions
• Ability to present ideas succinctly, in writing and verbally
• Versatile and with an appetite to learn by doing
• Highly structured thinker with exceptional attention to detail
• Ability to handle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Work under pressure
• Deadline driven
• Comfortable with constant change

Qualifications and Experience:

• Relevant financial degree/qualification
• 3+ Years relevant experience in an analytical/finance role
• CIMA / CA (SA) Advantageous
• Knowledge of accounting, financial reporting and financial analysis acquired through related work experience
• Warehouse cost management experience will be an advantage
• E-Commerce or Retail experience will be an advantage
• High proficiency in advanced Excel
• Basic SQL and advantage
• Exposure to existing systems (Oracle, TM1, Looker, Qlik, Sage, PowerBI) and advantage

The Environment:

• takealot.com employees are entrepreneurial and dynamic, smart, customer-centric, fun and have the shared ambition of takealot.com being the leading e-commerce company in Africa.
• We have fun, work hard, take ownership, work in teams to create solutions, and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve
• We are short on ego and high on output
• We are doers and not only thinkers, it’s all in the execution after all
• We love what we do and what we are creating

We seek to Employ an Extra Ordinary Mind who:

• is respectful but forthright
• is an expert at doing, who can not only design but also execute
• is analytical, able to use data to make decisions
• is competitive, self-directed and strive to be the BEST (GREAT requires a lot of work and does not only happen during business hours
• is passionate about the potential of e-commerce and delivering a world-class customer experience
• is entrepreneurial, thrives under change and accepts it is a constant and always looks for solutions to do something better and faster
• is business SMART. Able to think about problems from a business perspective using technical and product input;
• is curious and challenge the status quo
• is innovative and enjoys iteration
• is collaborative
• will be at the cutting edge of developing new concepts for takealot.com
• thinks like an owner of the business
• is SMART, has INTEGRITY and is HARD WORKING

• If you meet the above criteria and are an Extraordinary Mind, come and join us!

• Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from the previously disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.*