Grains Controller

Company: COFCO International South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Vacancy:  Grains Controller

Location: Stellenbosch, South Africa

Department: Finance

 The Grains Controller will play a key role in driving financial discipline and transparency across the grains trading business. This role is accountable for accurate, timely, and insightful trade P&L reporting, effective risk and position management controls, and alignment of financial results with operational performance. As part of the Business Control division, the Grains Controller will partner closely with traders, operations, and management to support sound decision-making, safeguard financial integrity, and embed best practices in commercial finance and accounting processes.

Key Performance Areas:

1. P&L Control, Trade Reporting, and Working Capital Management:

• Ensure daily P&L reporting is accurate and submitted within agreed timelines.
• Maintain integrity of trade data and alignment with market exposures.
• Monitor and reconcile working capital efficiency.
• Identify and resolve P&L discrepancies and stock valuation variances proactively.
• Circulate estimate and actual emails daily.

2. Month-End Close, Management Reporting & Commercial Business Partnering:

• Month-end close completed within Group deadlines with minimal WD4 adjustments.
• Accuracy and completeness of management reporting (variance analysis, commentary, dashboards)
• Timely delivery of insights to support trading, operational, and strategic decisions.
• Quality of business partnering responsiveness, stakeholder feedback, and solution-orientation
• Initiative-taking identification and communication of risks, opportunities, and financial trends
• Alignment of reporting outputs with commercial priorities and business plans

3. Internal Controls, Audit Readiness & Compliance Governance:

• Timely resolution of internal and external audit findings
• Zero repeat audit findings across audit cycles
• Control self-assessments and risk registers updated and monitored regularly.
• Compliance with group policies, accounting standards, and regulatory frameworks
• Documentation completeness and availability (SOPs, reconciliations, signoffs)
• Control breaches identified, escalated, and remediated within agreed timelines.

4. Digital Systems Optimization, Process Improvement & Automation

• Number of manual processes automated or streamlined.
• Time saved and error reduction through automation initiatives.
• Successful implementation and adoption of system upgrades/enhancements
• Cross-functional collaboration in redesigning inefficient workflows
• Reduction in spreadsheet dependency and reconciliation gaps
• Training and change management effectiveness for new tools or processes

5. Team Leadership, Development & Performance Management:

• Delivery of individual and team objectives in line with business priorities
• Regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and feedback sessions conducted.
• Individual development plans implemented and monitored.
• Team engagement and retention metrics (e.g., satisfaction surveys, turnover rates)
• Proactive management of underperformance and succession planning
• Clear role clarity, task ownership, and workload distribution across the team
• Training to take over the function of the daily pnl of the maize book.

6. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Effectiveness and frequency of communication with key departments (e.g., trading, ops, coordination, finance)
• Timely resolution of interdepartmental queries and bottlenecks
• Joint initiatives delivered on time and to expectation (e.g., process changes, reporting improvements)
• Stakeholder feedback on collaboration quality and responsiveness
• Participation in cross-functional projects and taskforces
• Alignment of deliverables with broader commercial and operational goals

7. Risk & Exposure Management:

• Daily/weekly monitoring and reporting of market and operational exposures
• Timely escalation and resolution of risk incidents or breaches
• Risk registers maintained and reviewed periodically.
• Compliance with group policies

Minimum Criteria:

• 2-4 relevant experience in accounting and a deep understanding in a same level role, a trade position management and trade PnL experience
• And 2-4 years’ experience in a leadership/people management role.
• Relevant related tertiary qualification
• Computer Literacy (MS Excel – advanced)
• Fluent in English

Competencies

• Planning and organising
• Leading and Supervising
• Relating and networking
• Delivering results and meeting customer expectation
• Analysing and interpreting information
• Adapting and responding to change
• Coping with pressure

Skills, Knowledge, and Experience required:

• Excellent presentation and communication skills
• Numerical reasoning and critical thinking skills
• Excellent people management and leadership skills
• Planning, organising and excellent time management skills.
• Critical thinker with emotional resilience
• Grain and Agri industry and commodities trading background.

Desirable skills

• Previous experience working for a multinational company.
• SAP S4 Hana, SAP BPC

General

Reports to Business Controller.

Salary is market related basic salary with provident fund and medical aid benefits.

Office based in Techno Park, Stellenbosch.

Work model - Monday to Friday with ad hoc flexibility working from home.

Seasonal activities / harvest run from April to August.

December is financial year end.

How to apply

The company is offering a competitive salary with provident and medical benefits. Exciting incentive opportunities, a rewarding work environment, product and supply chain knowledge and exciting career growth opportunities for the right candidate.

Interested parties should submit a comprehensive CV and covering letter, outlining why you feel that you are suited to the position on the COFCO Careers website https://www.cofcointernational.com/careers/ by searching for vacancies in South Africa, licking on the listed positions available, and following the prompts when clicking “Apply”     on the job advert, and answering all related questions in full to complete your application.

Only applications submitted directly on the COFCO Careers website will be considered.

If you do not hear from us within 14 days of the date of application, please regard your application as unsuccessful. Only short-listed candidates will be moved through the Talent Pipeline and contacted. The company appoint in line with our employment equity plan.

Privacy Policy

By contacting COFCO International South Africa (Pty) Ltd., you acknowledge and agree that COFCO International South Africa (Pty) Ltd. has a legitimate business purpose to collect and process your personal information (as defined in Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 and any amendments thereto (“POPIA”)) to review your personal information and to comply with its legal obligations. COFCO International South Africa (Pty) Ltd will process your personal information in accordance with POPIA and in accordance with and the purposes described in COFCO International South Africa (Pty) Ltd.’s privacy policy available at https://www.cofcointernational.com/data-privacy-policy/ 

You hereby confirm that you have read, understood, and agree with the terms of COFCO International South Africa (Pty) Ltd.’s privacy policy, and consent to the processing of your personal information.