Associate Director, Risk & Controls

Join us as Associate Director, Risk & Controls

Location: Hoboken, NJ OR Los Angeles, CA

Terms & Conditions: Full time, International assignment is not available for this role and relocation for local and international candidates is not provided

ABOUT UNILEVER:

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. We work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance.

At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world.

The Associate Director, Risk & Controls plays a key leadership role in strengthening the risk and controls environment across Unilever. This position partners closely with Finance, Technology, and Business leaders to identify and mitigate business risks, improve control effectiveness, and support strategic transformation initiatives.

The role balances strong governance with practical business solutions, helping ensure the organization operates with appropriate controls while enabling growth, efficiency, and innovation. It serves as a trusted advisor across functions, supporting the development of a proactive risk culture and sustainable control environment.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support the development and execution of Unilever's Risk & Controls Framework.
• Promote risk-based decision making across Finance and business teams.
• Identify, assess, and address financial, operational, compliance, and technology-related risks.
• Support the ongoing evolution of governance standards and risk management practices.

• Lead the design, implementation, and monitoring of key financial controls and risk assessments.
• Partner with Controllers, Finance teams, and business stakeholders to strengthen compliance and control effectiveness.
• Support internal and external audits, ensuring timely remediation of findings and sustainable process improvements.
• Drive continuous improvement in governance, monitoring, and control processes.

• Partner with Technology teams to strengthen controls across key financial systems and business applications.
• Support governance related to access management, segregation of duties, change management, and audit readiness.
• Help ensure controls are embedded into system implementations and process transformation initiatives through a control‑by‑design approach.

• Serve as a risk and controls advisor for major transformation and process improvement initiatives.
• Assess business risks associated with organizational, process, and technology changes.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop practical control solutions that support business objectives.
• Promote adoption of risk‑aware ways of working through training, guidance, and stakeholder engagement.

• Lead and develop team members responsible for financial and IT controls activities.
• Build strong partnerships across Finance, Technology, Audit, Supply Chain, Commercial, and Operations functions.
• Provide insights and recommendations to senior leaders to support informed decision making.
• Influence stakeholders across all levels of the organization to strengthen accountability and control ownership.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 10+ years of experience in Finance, Risk Management, Internal Audit, Controls, Compliance, or Controllership.
• Strong understanding of governance frameworks, internal controls, risk management, SOX, and COSO principles.
• Experience working within complex multinational organizations.
• Knowledge of enterprise systems and ERP controls, ideally including Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP, or similar platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives across functions and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, communication, and problem‑solving skills.
• Big 4 audit or advisory experience preferred.

Pay: The…