Corporate Planner - 8month Maternity Contract in London

UNIQLO is a leading brand of the Fast Retailing Group, one of the largest apparel retailers in the world. UNIQLO respects the individuality and lifestyle of all customers and takes pride in creating high quality, long-lasting, innovative clothing at an affordable price. We are currently recruiting a Corporate Planner to join our EU Corporate Finance team. This is a fixed term contract until 31 March 2027, based in our London office. You will report to the Corporate Planning EU Manager and work closely with COOs, department directors, the wider finance team, and stakeholders across the global business.

This is an opportunity for someone to have a significant impact on our business and customers, being responsible for financial planning and analysis across UNIQLO’s European business. You will learn all aspects of UNIQLO Europe operations and will be exposed to different business challenges and opportunities related to developing a successful operation across Europe.

What you will be responsible for:

• Business analysis support: Leading relationship with COOs in each country, to guide the business to achieve our goals and targets (sales, P&L and KPIs).
• Producing reports to support business analysis, performance vs plan and highlighting trends/unexpected variances.
• Reporting on key performance indicators for sales, man-hour usage and SGA cost tracking.
• Preparing Monthly Board Pack and results submission.
• Providing technical financial support to internal/external relations.
• Financial planning support: Participating in Corporate Planning team’s short-term and mid-term planning to create the image and strategy for the future development of the European business.
• Producing weekly forecast reports and submission.
• Preparing annual and revised budget uploads using Tagetik system.
• Updating targets on regular basis to reflect business situation.
• Visiting stores to check the situation and to discuss financial performance with store managers.
• Analysing expenses and vendors to ensure high quality services are provided at an appropriate cost.
• Ongoing process improvement support: Improving the accuracy of daily, weekly, and monthly forecasting, leading to better day-to-day communication with management to drive the business operations.
• Implementing improvements to financial reporting and analysis processes, depending on the business need.
• Contributing to automation of some tasks and implementation of new financial planning systems.
• Enhancing the understanding of our reports and information with store managers and department leaders.
• Training of store and SSC members to better understand P&L structure and to help.

Skills, Experience and Attributes:

• Highly motivated and having worked within a fast-paced environment.
• Experience in budgeting and forecasting is a must, annual and revised budget setting.
• Completed technical tasks and projects with many head office departments to fixed deadlines.
• Retail experience is desirable but not essential.
• Proficient in financial accounting and reporting, with experience of financial analysis techniques (sales per man hour, cost per unit, etc.).
• Experience working in a global or international business with multiple currencies, languages, and complex operations.
• Strong working knowledge of primary statements and their interrelations (P&L, Balance Sheet, SOCI etc.).
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills.
• Experience working with SAP and related Business Planning Tools would be helpful.
• Ability to communicate clearly with management and store staff on financial topics and business operations.
• Hungry to tackle new challenges as our business grows and develops.

What we offer:

• 26 days holiday + 8 bank holidays.
• 30% staff discount.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Private Pension Scheme.
• Performance-based bonus scheme.
• Hybrid working model: 2 days remote, 3 days office-based (during probation period more time in office may be required).
• Seasonal sample sales.
• Volunteer Day – twice a year.
• Social events throughout the year.
• Prime location near Piccadilly and Oxford Street stations with easy access to shops, restaurants.