Unilever
Unilever Future Leadership Programme - Finance UK
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Our Future Leaders Programme
Our Future Leaders Programme will ignite the leader in you. This unique programme is designed to develop Unilever’s Future Leaders (UFLs) by providing challenging and purposeful opportunities that accelerate their readiness to take on business leadership roles.
About the Unilever Future Leaders Programme
The Unilever Future Leaders Program (UFLP) is a global initiative enabling Unilever to build a strong talent pipeline that will support and lead our business growth. In the UK, our UFLP is a 36-month rotational leadership 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 develop your leadership 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 tomorrow’s leaders, today.
From Day 1, you will take on real business challenges within your own function and across the organization. Along the way you will develop deep core professional skills and leadership 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 a desire to understand how it works. It’s about commitment, 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.
About Unilever
Unilever is one of the world's leading FMCG companies, home to iconic brands including Dove, Vaseline, TRESemmé, Lynx, Persil, Domestos, Surf, Radox, Sure and Liquid I.V. Through products used by millions of people every day, we help improve health, wellbeing, confidence and care around the world.
Established over 100 years ago, Unilever has a proud heritage of innovation and a long-standing belief that great brands, great people and responsible business go hand in hand.
Today, we are transforming into a faster, more focused growth company centred on Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care and Home Care. Through world-class brands, cutting-edge science and technology, digital innovation and AI-enabled capabilities, we are building unmissably superior products and experiences for consumers around the world.
A career at Unilever offers the opportunity to work at global scale while helping shape the future of some of the world's most recognised brands. Our people are at the heart of everything we do, bringing curiosity, creativity and passion to solve real business challenges and make a meaningful impact every day.
As we receive a high volume of applications, please make sure to read the job descriptions on our website carefully and apply for the ONE function you are most interested in. Only your first application will be considered
What We Look For
You don’t need a finance or economics degree to join Finance at Unilever. We’re looking for people with the curiosity and capability to become future finance leaders—people who want to understand how a business grows, how decisions get made, and how to influence outcomes.
We look for:
- Analytical thinking and comfort working with data to solve problems
- Commercial curiosity: you want to understand what drives consumers, customers and growth
- Influence and communication: you can translate numbers into clear recommendations
- Learning agility: you learn fast, ask good questions, and improve how things work
- Integrity and ownership: you take accountability and do the right thing
- Digital and AI mindset: you’re excited by using technology to work smarter and deliver better insight
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The Role: Finance Unilever Future Leaders
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 finance function and further develop leadership 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 today and tomorrow.
From day one, you’ll be embedded in a finance team and trusted with meaningful work. You’ll learn to:
- Partner the business to make better decisions
- Build high-quality plans and forecasts
- Evaluate investments and performance
- Improve processes and controls
- Use digital tools (including AI) to unlock insight and efficiency
You’ll build deep professional skill, broad business exposure, and a strong network—while working with iconic brands and talented colleagues.
What Will the Programme Involve?
The three-year programme is packed with a variety of experiences. You’ll develop your interpersonal and management skills by working on live projects that offer you all the experience you need.
You’ll gain experience across financial and management accounting and be business-facing, communicating with key contacts across functions. First-hand experience is the fastest way to learn—whether that’s building forecasts and performance views, evaluating investments, or improving the quality and speed of reporting.
The Unilever culture is varied and friendly and encourages innovative thinking. We will push and encourage you to achieve your potential, while giving you the chance to shape your career path according to your interests, strengths and ambitions.
Professional Qualification and Learning
Your role will be underpinned by studying for the CIMA qualification (fully supported), alongside a structured learning curriculum covering:
- Unilever’s end-to-end value creation model
- Commercial finance and performance management
- Storytelling with data and executive-ready communication
- Governance, controls and risk
- Digital finance, automation and AI-enabled ways of working
Think of it as accelerated leadership development—grounded in real business application from day one.
Coaching and Support
You’ll have a strong support network, typically including a career sponsor, line manager, programme manager, and a peer cohort, helping you build capability, confidence and impact.
Day-to-Day Role
You will work across local, regional and global teams in a range of finance roles, including accounting and controlling, business partnering and specialist expertise. Finance plays an integral part in setting strategic direction, bringing impactful insights to inform business strategy, and ensuring our resources and investments drive profitable growth.
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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 with global sustainability implications. Depending on your role, you may:
- Partner teams to shape growth plans, challenge assumptions and quantify trade-offs
- Build forecasts, track performance, and turn complex information into clear decision narratives for leaders
- Evaluate investments (innovation, pricing, media, productivity, capacity) with rigorous ROI thinking
- Improve processes and controls, increasing efficiency and reliability while reducing manual work
- Apply digital tools to accelerate analysis, automate repeatable tasks and free up time for higher-value thinking—always operating within robust governance, confidentiality and stewardship expectations
- Collaborate across teams to improve data quality, consistency and insight so decisions are made with confidence
Some positions you could be allocated to include:
- Partnering roles such as Commercial Finance partners in a Business Group
- Process and performance optimisation through Finance Excellence teams
- Stewardship experience in the Group Chief Accountant’s Department
- Expertise opportunities in the Investor Relations team
- Factory Finance knowledge
Skills Required
- Analytical thinking and a desire to solve problems using data
- Stakeholder management and the ability to influence outcomes
- Effective communication and the ability to simplify complexity
- Prioritisation and ownership
- A mindset of continuous improvement: looking for smarter, faster ways to work
- Confidence with core tools (Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint) and openness to learning new digital/AI tools as you rotate—using technology responsibly and with good judgement
Please note, that at Unilever, we have development programmes, the skills above are skills that would be good to have at the beginning however you will develop them over the course of the programme.
Our Application Process
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Online Application Complete the online application form. It is a simple and easy application process with the option of filling out your details using your LinkedIn profile. You may apply to one function in your application.
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Profile Assessment Complete two stages of profile assessment; a portrait personality test and an online assessment. These are designed to look at different elements of your cognitive, emotional, and social traits. You will receive personalised feedback after completing each stage.
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Digital Interview The digital interview will consist of 3 short questions followed by a business case. You will be asked to solve real-world problems using Unilever scenarios. You’ll be able to record and complete your interview anytime and anywhere. Please note, we do not use AI as a screening tool in our recruitment process therefore, your digital interview submission will be reviewed by a real person
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Discovery Centre You will be invited to a ‘day in the life’ of a Future Leader at Unilever. You will get to experience a face-to-face day filled with several exciting activities including project meetings, business challenges, a team meeting with Unilever colleagues, and an
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