Head of Finance

Head of Finance

About Ornua

Ornua is an Irish dairy co-operative that markets and sells dairy products on behalf of its Member Co-operatives, Ireland’s dairy processors and, in turn, Irish dairy farmers. Ornua is Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products and has annualised sales of €3.4 billion. Headquartered in Dublin, Ornua has a strong global team of 2,800 employees, operating from 10 business units worldwide, including 13 production facilities. Ornua’s core purpose is to build profitable routes to market for Irish dairy products.

The Group is structured across two divisions: Ornua Foods and Ornua Ingredients. Ornua Foods is responsible for the marketing and sales of Ornua’s consumer brands, including Ireland’s most successful food export, Kerrygold, as well as Kerrygold Dubliner, Pilgrims Choice, Forto and BEO milk powders. Markets are served by production facilities in Ireland, Germany and the UK and by in-market Sales and Marketing teams in Asia, Germany, Ireland, MEA, Poland, Spain, rest of Europe, and North and Latin America.

Ornua Ingredients is responsible for the procurement of Irish and non-Irish dairy products, for the sale of dairy ingredients to food manufacturing and foodservice customers across the world, and for managing volatility through de-risking and trading strategies. The business is supported by production facilities in the UK, Spain, the US, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria and by in-market teams in Africa and the Middle East.

Key Areas of Responsibility

1. Financial Control

   • Preparation of Month End Trial Balance

   • Supervision of Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable Functions

   • Balance sheet management along with monthly accrual review

   • Ensure compliance with all legal and taxation regulations, both locally and internationally as required

• Risk Management: Take responsibility for all aspects of finance risk management within the OIE Espana division

2. Maintenance of an efficient and effective financial control environment

   • Monitoring internal controls

   • Management of planning and execution of annual external audit

   • Drive continues internal control improvement across the organisation, insuring best practice processes inline with all internal audit procedures and recommendations

   • Supervision and review of external payment processes

3. Financial Performance Management

   • Define and ensure timely delivery of periodic (weekly, monthly, etc) financial reports to measure performance vs budgets, targets, etc.

   • Preparation of monthly P&L and Balance Sheet commentary vs. Budget and forecast, with relevant detail and analysis

   • Cost management: Work with Budget owners to monitor costs vs Budgets and to proactively manage the cost base of the business

   • Define and put in place KPIs to manage the business effectively and ensure the timely delivery of those KPIs

   • Ownership of annual budget process for OIE Espana division

4. Operational Finance

   • Oversight of operational finance function

   • Manage the investigation and explanation of all labour and material variances  

5. Team Leadership

• Supervise and support team members in their daily tasks and responsibilities.

• Set clear team goals and monitor performance through KPIs and regular feedback.

• Plan and delegate work assignments effectively to ensure timely project delivery.

• Provide coaching, mentorship, and training to team members to support their professional growth.

• Foster a collaborative and positive team environment, encouraging open communication and problem-solving.

• Act as a liaison between the team and management, ensuring smooth information flow and quick resolution of issues.

• Identify areas for improvement and implement process enhancements to optimize team performance.

• Track and report on team progress, challenges, and achievements to upper management.

• Participate in hiring, onboarding, and performance evaluation processes.

6. Become a strong member of the OIE Espana management team, contributing to the effective and efficient functioning of the organisation

   • Business Partnering: Ensure the Finance function equipped to provide best-in-class support to the Commercial and Operations functions, providing high quality financial information and insights to inform and underpin the management and control of the business

• • Talent Management and succession planning: Drive the creation of development plans for all individuals within the European Finance team to enable them to grow within the roles, and to create a talent stream for the broader organisation

Key requirements

• University Degree in Economics, business Administrations, or similar

• Master in Finance would be a plus.

• Qualified Accountant

• Professional Working English, or above

• Experience operating in Finance management role at least 5 years, with proven financial control experience.

• Excels at juggling multiple priorities, is eager to make an impact on the business, and able to collaborate across cross functional teams to tackle complex problems

• Thorough P&L and COGS understanding

• Track record of Team development – assessment and development of talent

• Good team player with highly effective and engaging communication and interpersonal skills