Controller, Zalando Payments (all genders) – One-Year Contract

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

Are you an experienced Controller who enjoys getting to the bottom of the numbers while also being comfortable engaging with senior stakeholders?

As a Controller in Zalando Payments, you will take on a central role in the financial steering of the Zalando Payments entity. Your responsibilities will span two key areas: financial consolidation, reporting and short-term forecasting for Zalando Payments, and end-to-end controlling of our overhead costs.

This role combines strong analytical depth with broad stakeholder exposure. You will work closely with Finance colleagues responsible for individual P&L areas, cost center owners across the organization, Zalando Payments senior management, and senior Finance stakeholders at Zalando Group level.

We are looking for someone who does not simply report numbers, but wants to understand, challenge and reconcile them — investigating variances, connecting data across different systems and sources, and establishing robust controls that ensure our financial view is complete, accurate and consistent.

Learn more about our Finance Business Unit: Zalando Finance Careers

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• Own the consolidation and reporting of Zalando Payments’ financial performance, bringing together inputs across the P&L and ensuring a complete, accurate and consistent financial view of the entity.
• Drive our short-term rolling forecast (Latest View) process end-to-end, coordinating with Finance team members responsible for individual P&L lines, consolidating their latest expectations and translating them into a comprehensive entity-level outlook.
• Analyze financial performance and variances in depth, identifying the underlying business drivers and providing clear, concise and insightful commentary to Zalando Payments management and Zalando Group Finance stakeholders.
• Take end-to-end ownership of overhead controlling, including month-end closing, accruals, variance analysis, forecasting and budgeting across the relevant cost centers.
• Partner closely with cost center owners, providing transparency on their financial performance, challenging assumptions where appropriate and supporting them in effectively managing their budgets and forecasts.
• Investigate and reconcile financial data across different systems and sources, proactively identifying inconsistencies, understanding their root causes and ensuring they are resolved.
• Develop and maintain robust financial controls and reconciliation mechanisms to ensure completeness and accuracy of reporting and to continuously strengthen the reliability of our financial processes.
• Continuously improve our controlling and reporting processes, identifying opportunities for greater transparency, standardization and automation.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• You bring solid professional experience in Controlling, FP&A or a comparable Finance role, ideally within a complex, fast-paced and data-driven organization.
• You have a strong analytical and investigative mindset: you enjoy digging into numbers, reconciling different data sources and understanding the root cause behind financial variances rather than simply reporting them.
• You have a strong understanding of financial controlling processes, including month-end closing, forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis and management reporting.
• You combine attention to detail with the ability to connect individual financial effects to the broader P&L picture and communicate the resulting story clearly.
• You have a strong sense of financial ownership and control, proactively putting checks and reconciliations in place to ensure numbers are complete, accurate and consistent.
• You are a confident communicator with strong stakeholder management skills, comfortable working with cost center owners as well as presenting and explaining financial developments to senior Finance and business stakeholders.
• You are comfortable working across multiple systems and large datasets. Experience with SAP and financial reporting or BI tools is highly valued.
• You are fluent in English and comfortable working in an international environment. Knowledge of German is a plus.
• You bring curiosity, ownership and a continuous-improvement mindset — and are equally comfortable challenging the numbers and challenging the process behind them.
  

If you think you have what it takes, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single requirement. You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles!

OUR OFFER

Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

• 27 days of holiday a year to start for full-time employees (+1 day for every calendar year up to 30 days)
• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners
• Family support, including counselling and dedicated services for parents and careers
• Company pension scheme
• Employee shares programme
• Health and wellbeing options, including Wellhub
• Mental health support and coaching
• Development through our training platform and biannual peer-to-peer review
• 2 paid volunteering days a year
• Relocation assistance (subject to prior agreement)

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

If you think you have what it takes, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single requirement. You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles!

At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle – one that thrives on diversity and is truly inclusive by design. We believe that diverse teams fuel innovation and creativity, and we actively seek out talent from all backgrounds.

We actively seek to reduce bias in our hiring and employment processes, focusing on your qualifications, skills, and contributions. To support this, we kindly ask that you refrain from including personal details such as your photo, age, or marital status in your CV, ensuring a fair and equitable evaluation based solely on your abilities and potential.

We are committed to providing an exceptional and accessible candidate experience for everyone. If you require any accommodations to support you throughout the hiring process, please let us know – we are here to assist you.

Discover more about our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/our-culture/diversity-and-inclusion

Please note that all applications from this job page must be completed using the online form - we do not accept applications via e-mail. Once reviewed, our recruiters will contact applicants via an official Zalando email address (@zalando.de).

In some cases we also work with a selection of headhunters and agencies to fill specific roles. Please note that neither Zalando nor our recruiting partners will ask for any kind of payment to apply for a job or attend an interview.

If you have any questions about our recruitment process, please take a look at our FAQ page.

About Zalando

Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle. Connecting 62 million active customers with more than 7,000 brands across 29 markets, our operations are built on a unique AI-powered data and infrastructure platform. For our customers, our multi-app approach - comprising Zalando, ABOUT YOU, and Lounge by Zalando - delivers an inspiring, highly personalized shopping experience, serving different customers with different needs. For our partners, we are building the operating system for e-commerce. Through ZEOS, Tradebyte, and SCAYLE, we open our logistics, software, and service capabilities to brands and retailers, enabling them to seamlessly scale their businesses across borders.