Lion is Australasia’s largest food and beverage company. With some of the region’s most iconic breweries and vineyards, Lion Nathan has a rich local heritage.
Our success is built on the foundations of great people and great brands boasting a portfolio of some of New Zealand’s most adored brands in beer, wine, spirits and RTDs.
Our core purpose is bringing more sociability and wellbeing to our world; it’s a driver of how our business and people behave each and every day.
Choose Lion
Join Lion, one of New Zealand’s leading alcoholic beverage companies and you can guarantee that your future is in good hands. You will be working within a function that is aligned to your passion and experience, you will also benefit from being a part of our broader graduate development program; networking with graduates from across the business to focus on leadership development, to share experiences and to learn from each other.
What can you expect when you’re working with us?
At Lion, we will encourage you to own your development, while supporting you through our structured graduate leadership program. Your buddy and mentor will ensure you feel supported and your ongoing development will be our focus, ensuring that the sky’s the limit for your career.
Who are you?
You are committed to personal growth and achieving great results, passionate, open to new ideas and to feedback, and keen to work with great people and great brands.
Finance
Is a new product going to be viable to launch in the marketplace? What will the projected return on investment be for a new line? It’s the job of our Finance department to come up with these answers and many more. The pivotal role that Finance plays at LNZ means that you’ll be proactive in helping to guide the strategic development of the business.
Nick Bibby
Role: Commercial Analyst – National On Premise
Quote: The culture is great; everyone is up for a good laugh but professional at the same time.
Graduated: Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Marketing and Finance, University of Canterbury
Joined the graduate programme: 2009
1. What attracted you to the program?
I had completed a marketing internship at a technology company one summer, although the internship was great, the culture at the company was flat. Lion Nathan had a stall at the Canterbury University career fair. The company culture sounded great and I could tell the person I was speaking to felt really passionate about the company and their career.
2. What were your first impressions?
How friendly and welcoming everyone is, it was great to have nearly everyone who walked passed my desk come and introduce themselves. I also thought it was pretty cool having a bar with all our brands in our reception.
3. What type of development opportunities were you given?
The development process at Lion Nathan is great; I sit down with my leader once every 4 – 6 weeks and discuss how I am going against my development goals and where I want to go next. Both the formal and informal training has exceeded my expectations; my technical skill base is expanding constantly. I have already had the chance to lead a new product development team and build financial models that are used daily by our sales team.
4. How did these opportunities set you up for later success?
The training and cross functional interaction has opened my eyes to opportunities outside of finance and helped me better partner my internal stakeholders.
5. What’s the journey your career has taken?
I am currently in my second role and have been at Lion Nathan for just over two years. My first role was as a Margin Analyst, this dealt with daily reporting to the Executive team and coordinating the planning process down to gross margin. This was a great role to launch my career as it gave me a broad look at the business. I also conducted a lot of ad-hoc analytical work for senior leaders. From there I moved in to my current role as a Commercial Analyst for the National On Premise team, this involves financially partnering the Business Development Executives and Sales Managers in contract negations with our On Premise customers.
6. How would you describe the culture at Lion?
The culture at Lion Nathan is diverse and inclusive. Everyone is approachable and focused on achieving together for the success of the business. The culture is great; everyone is up for a good laugh but professional at the same time.
7. Of the Lion range, what are your favourite brands?
Speight’s GMA and Appleton’s Rum