Business Unit Controller Water Technology & Resilience NL

You are full of passion and energy about our vision to enhance society together. As an ambitious and experienced Business Unit Controller you will create a position in the organisation where stakeholders find you and you are able to make real impact. And that while working in a dynamic and inspiring work environment.

What you do as a Business Unit Controller Water Technology & Resilience NL

As a Business Unit Controller, you create added value for Royal HaskoningDHV in the Business Unit Water Technology & Resilience NL. You will act as a business partner to the Business Unit Director, DAG’s and project managers.

You serve as an advisor for the Business Unit management by using research, analyses and experience to develop business and financial recommendations. Of course, you also provide budget feedback, financial, outside-in and forward-looking analyses and advise on BU results, both invited and uninvited. This way you assist the leadership in key financial decisions, and you have contributory impact on strategic and tactical decision making. You play an important role in the BU’s economic growth and in establishing and executing the BU’s strategy plan.

In your role as a business partner for Project Managers in all stages of a project, with a major focus in the PQ & Proposal phase. You improve the project financial performance by working alongside project managers to contribute to, influence and mitigate risks of the project. You will perform independent analysis on project performance and assist, report and discuss projects by using the monthly Project Health Check application with the Line management. You will participate in monthly Health Check signoff meetings.  

As a member of the global Finance team, you take responsibility for the finance strategy goals. This means creating awareness within the Business Line (BL) and BU about the financial standards and regulations and make sure that the standards are achieved. You drive the budgeting and forecasting of the Advice Groups (AG’s) and the Business Unit and you challenge all interested parties to produce robust budgets and forecasts.

Furthermore, you will

• use standard reports and data analytics methods to deliver robust regular and ad-hoc innovative analyses for the BU, based on large internal and external databases.
• support the Business Line Controller in limited ad-hoc reporting and analysis for senior management of both the Business Line and the Group.
• assist the line management in Financial analyses for the BU on project results, working capital, portfolio analysis on markets, services & clients, review the P&L on actual vs budgeted costs, future workload vs capacity etc.
• build and maintain relationships with both internal (project leaders, DAG’s and DBU’s and other stakeholders) and external (clients, joint-venture partners, auditors etc.) stakeholders.
• pro-actively share and support the business with finance & management control knowledge with project, finance, and business managers of Royal HaskoningDHV
• be an independent guardian of the company’s assets (like WIP, debtors, intellectual property, participations), ensure RHDHV is compliant to statutory accounting, tax regulation, internal procedures and control requirements. In case of conflicting interests between the business partner and independent guardian role, the latter will prevail.
• coach, motivate and assess the project controllers of the BU.
• participate in execution of initiatives coming from the Finance Vision25 strategy.

Where you will work

Royal HaskoningDHV is a worldwide independent engineering, project management and consultancy firm which integrates 140 years of engineering expertise with digital technologies and software solutions. Our 6,000 colleagues are working from offices in more than 25 countries across the world. Through our mission Enhancing Society Together, we take responsibility for having a positive impact on the world. As our new Business Unit Controller you will become part of the Finance team, but also a part of the Water Technology & Resilience NL Business Unit.

The Business Unit (BU) is based in NL with ~ 300 staff over various locations. The staff and projects are split between 6 Profit Centres (Advice Groups – AGs) relating to domain knowledge Water Management, Waste Water, Water for Industry, Biodiversity & Natural Systems, Water Technology International and Drinking Water. Focus on NL market, with a follow the client approach internationally. This BU is responsible for all R&D activities related to innovation in Water Technology. Budgeted revenue for 2023 is ~ € 45M.

What you bring

With your strong analytical and forward-looking skills, you are capable of assessing the impact of all relevant project issue on the financial result (cash and profit). You have a holistic view and as such you understand the key drivers behind a profitable project. As a strong and pro-active business partner with commercial awareness, you advise proactively on tactical issues and strategy implementations. With your excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, you can explain and convince the Business Unit and Project Managers beyond content driven arguments.

In order to influence, develop and motivate others and change their behaviour or approach, you are able to appeal to interest, culture and level of others. This requires you to speak the language of the business and to have negotiation skills. You are naturally curios about developments in the business, impact of digitisation and innovation on both delivery and business propositions.

Furthermore, you have:

• Relevant Master Economics/Management Accounting degree (preferred on academic level).
• Thorough understanding of the financial accounting & management control discipline and underlying principles and the capability to apply these in daily practice and oversee impact of decisions.
• Good knowledge of related disciplines (like data analytics, IT and risk management).
• Up to 8 years of extensive experience.
• Interpretation and tactical application of policies, choosing the right ones given differing situations, to come to optimal solutions for Business needs, based on excellent understanding of the business of Royal HaskoningDHV. Own judgement needed in how to achieve required end results.
• The capability to stimulate all BU managers and stakeholders to continuously improve and innovate BU processes, organization, people and culture.
• Accurate and efficient.
• Self-starter/ pro-active approach to problem solving. Achieve independently results, in line with agreed upon strategy and business plans.
• Independent and critical thinker combined with excellent team player skills, confident and forceful personality.
• Fluency in Dutch language is a must. Good verbal & written communication skills in English.
• International focus, capable to work in multi-country/multicultural environment, willingness to travel.

It is a plus if you have experience in a similar role in the Engineering/Construction Industry. Previous exposure to international project operations (foreign currency transactions, international tax requirements etc.) is also considered as a plus.

Research shows that female candidates only apply when they meet 100% of the requirements, while male candidates do so as early as 60%. So do you recognise yourself in this challenge, but hesitate whether you meet all the requirements? Then we look forward to receiving your CV.

What we offer you

At Royal HaskoningDHV we offer a great working atmosphere, in which organisational and personal development take central stage. We offer you the opportunity to develop as a Business Unit Controller/ Business partner in a large international company. We offer an inspiring working environment in a professional and internationally successful company. Characteristic of our company are the freedom and responsibility to develop own initiatives. Our company culture is characterized by empowerment and accountability.

Besides that, we also offer you:

• Excellent primary and secondary terms of employment;
• Good work-life balance, including flexible working hours and the opportunity to work from home;
• 28 days of holiday in case of full-time employment;
• Personal budget for e.g., more holidays, a bicycle or extra salary;
• A pleasant workplace in our office in the middle of nature in Amersfoort and travel allowance or a NS-Business Card;
• Bonuses based on company profit
• Possibilities to work abroad; the Business line is active in the Netherlands, UK, Poland, India and APAC. Working abroad could be possible (give trainings in offices abroad/ short missions for project related work).

Extensive training and development opportunities.

Are you our new colleague?

We would like to meet you! Click on the apply button and upload your resume and motivation letter. After receiving your application, we will contact you as soon as possible. For more information, you can always contact Max Kapteijn at [email protected].

Acquisition for this vacancy by agencies is not appreciated and offered candidates will not be taken into consideration.