Junior Commercial Finance Analyst

We are a premium chocolate manufacturer established in 1845 operating in over 86 countries around the world. Guided by our Global purpose to Enchant the World with Chocolate and UK vision of Creating Moments to Make Everyone Feel Special, we have around 400 team members in the UK across our Head Office, Retail, and Field Sales divisions. Lindt UK is looking for a standout individual to join our Commercial Finance team — where finance meets strategy and insights shape real business decisions. The Junior Commercial Finance Analyst will support monitoring and understanding business performance and provide key reporting with insight. The role reports to the Senior CF Business Partner and supports all three divisions: Wholesale, Retail and Ireland. This position is based in Richmond Upon Thames, London (Hybrid Working: 60% in office and 40% WFH).

Key Responsibilities

• Support the pricing process, leading file creation and set up of any key price changes.
• Prepare and review Net Net Pricing files.
• Review gross profit of pricing for loading and escalate to CF Business Partners where appropriate.
• Review and communicate pricing claims to the business and work collaboratively with Finance/Sales to reduce them.
• Create reporting processes to provide insight on current pricing set‑up to ensure accuracy in forecasting and actuals, highlighting issues with CF Business Partners.
• Post monthly trade spend accruals, ensuring promotional and residual accruals are timely and correctly set up in SAP and update balance sheet reconciliations.
• Ensure year‑end rebate terms set up in SAP reflect the latest trade agreements with customers, process invoices and update balance sheet reconciliations.
• In month review of % accruals in forecast versus actuals, ensuring no under‑accrual or material differences versus forecast.
• Manage the interface of rebates from Visual Fabriq to SAP, proactively managing issues that need resolution and escalating to business partners where necessary.
• Support month‑end balance sheet process and system reconciliation between Visual Fabriq and SAP.
• Lead management of daily rebate interface errors, resolving issues and involving CF Business Partners where appropriate.
• Retrospectively challenge sales where rebates allocated to invoices do not match.
• Lead rebate risk meetings with CF Business Partners, highlighting under‑accruals, proposing alternative rebates and flagging concerns on assumptions for Year To Go accruals.
• Prepare seasonal Sell Through trackers working closely with CF Business Partners and Sales Account Managers.
• Send out key monthly reporting around business performance for actuals and forecast, providing insight where appropriate.
• Own month‑end calendar update and task allocation, send key month‑end reports, support the Senior CF Business Partner on the Working Day 2 submission and run the month‑end comment and BI tables.
• Lead the account review process for a key account, business partnering with the Sales National Account Manager to ensure actuals and forecast are accurate and robust, and support margin improvements.
• Collaborate within your team, ensuring key tasks are completed when one of you is out of the office.

Qualifications, Knowledge and Experience Preferred

• Looking to start or studying toward an accounting qualification, CIMA preferred. Expect study to begin after 6 months in role.
• Graduate with a finance‑related degree and a placement year, or finance professional with up to 2 years’ experience in FMCG/Retail, finance or consultancy.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, able to communicate effectively with both financial and non‑financial audiences.
• Be performance driven, tenacious and goal‑oriented.
• Excellent planning and organisation skills, with good attention to detail.
• Able to build solid relationships.
• Good knowledge of Excel; experience with accounting systems such as SAP S/4HANA, TPM and BI is useful.

How you will be rewarded financially

For the Junior Commercial Finance Analyst, the salary range is £32,000 – £40,000. Additional benefits include a bonus, pension, life cover, chocolate allowance (including giveaways and discount), a £100 personal development allowance, a birthday day off and other perks.