We are a fast-growing international fashion retail group, historically rooted in Eastern Europe and now expanding globally from our Dubai headquarters.
As part of a major transformation and international scaling phase, we are rebuilding our organization and strengthening our Finance capabilities to support business decisions better.
We are looking for a Business Controller who will act as a true business partner to the commercial and product teams, with a strong focus on category performance and profitability.
This is not a reporting role : this is a build, challenge, and drive role.
Role Objective
Act as a strategic partner to the business by driving performance, improving profitability, and building robust controlling frameworks around product categories.
Bring structure where needed, challenge decisions, and support a fast-moving organization with clear, actionable insights.
Key Responsibilities
Business Partnering & Commercial Impact
- Partner closely with Buying, Merchandising, and Product teams
- Act as a financial co-pilot on category performance (sales, margin, stock, markdowns)
- Challenge commercial decisions using data and financial insights
- Support pricing, assortment, and promotional strategies
Category Performance Monitoring
- Monitor and analyze P&L by product category
- Track key KPIs: sell-through, gross margin, stock rotation, intake margins
- Identify risks and opportunities across categories
- Provide clear recommendations to improve performance
Planning & Forecasting
- Build and drive budget and forecast cycles at category level
- Translate business strategy into financial projections
- Continuously adjust forecasts based on performance and trends
Build & Structure (Critical)
- Design and implement controlling tools, reports, and processes from scratch
- Improve data reliability and reporting clarity
- Bring structure to a fast-scaling, sometimes ambiguous environment
- Standardize KPIs and performance tracking
Hands-on Analysis
- Deep-dive into data to understand performance drivers
- Work directly with raw data when needed (not just dashboards)
- Produce actionable insights, not just reports
Profile
Experience
- 4–8+ years in Business Controlling / Commercial Finance
- Experience in fashion retail / fast fashion / FMCG retail strongly preferred
- Exposure to category management or merchandising environments
- Experience in fast-paced, evolving environments (scale-up, transformation, turnaround) is a strong plus
Skills
- Strong financial and analytical skills
- Deep understanding of retail KPIs and business drivers
- Ability to connect financial data with operational reality
- Comfortable working with data (Excel, BI tools, etc.)
- Ability to build from scratch and operate with limited structure
Mindset (key differentiator)
- Hands-on and pragmatic — not afraid to go into the details
- Business-oriented — understands that finance is there to drive decisions
- Resilient and comfortable under pressure
- Proactive, structured, and solution-driven
- Able to challenge stakeholders while remaining collaborative
Why join
- Unique opportunity to build and shape finance processes in an international expansion phase
- High exposure to decision-making and top management
- Fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment
- Real impact on business performance
