Our client Unilever Ice Cream is looking for a Procurement Marketing & Business Services Program Manager
Unilever Ice Cream is the largest global Ice Cream Company in the world, with over 100 years of experience delivering a diverse range of indulgent, yet responsible, craft food experiences and treats delighting consumers. Committed to innovation, quality, and sustainability we have 35 brands, including 3 one billion Euro brands (Magnum, Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s), a strong presence in over 60 countries, generating annual revenue of over $8 billion. All brands are driven to transform moments into memories through indulgent yet responsibly made and marketed products. We have a well-developed strategy to deliver growth and value creation which is clear on where to play and how to win.
We turn the ordinary into the extraordinary by designing unique and innovative Ice Cream experiences that make life taste better, creating joyful experiences. In our Ice Cream business, we’re crafting the future through innovation and imaginative minds, creating unique products. We spark moments of happiness for people and within the communities where we operate. However, it is not as simple as it may seem. As Ice Cream makers we are serious about happiness. With warm hearts, we create the coolest products.
We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of Ice Cream as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen by November 2025
JOB PURPOSE
Getting the right services and materials, sustainably sourced and ensuring responsible procurement is critical to ensuring our brands with purpose grow. Our teams work closely with the business to understand brand needs, bring supplier innovation to meet changing consumer needs and drive financial value for Unilever through competitive buying. We’re at the forefront of digital procurement, bringing new tools and analytics to drive data-based decisions.
The Procurement Strategy & Excellence Team serves as the nerve centre of the Ice Cream global procurement organization, enables the procurement organization to design and deliver step-change across value chains, operating processes and tools, and business models.
This team is responsible for:
* Sensing, incubating, and enabling innovative ideas, new business models, and transformation programs for disruptive value creation across procurement teams
* Creating and implementing standardized processes and data-driven decision making to ease operating effectiveness and drive better and faster outcomes
* Developing and enabling procurement strategies with respective network PD`s, VPs, portfolio and market teams based on strategic insights
* Identifying, scaling, and spreading best practices across the global procurement organization, within and across teams
* Facilitating rapid learning, capability development, and future-fit upskilling of our people
* Responsible to bring the outside in and serving as a connector within Business Services
* This position is integral part of Strategy & Excellence Global team and owner of the Strategy creation process. Under supervision of Global Head of Procurement Strategy & Excellence and line managing an analyst, this role collaborates with the Marketing and IT Strategic Insight peers and portfolio leads on a regular basis.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Integral partner to the Business Services sourcing team, provoking and bringing new thinking you would be accountable for the following key activities:
* Facilitate creation and updating of portfolio strategies and deliver analytics and guidance for negotiations and contracting applying expertise and the newly created playbooks, incorporating best-in-class solutions.
* Co-leads with the sourcing team the key strategic activities within the portfolio, acting as a challenger, bringing fresh thinking and ideas and balancing historical knowledge
* Co-leads MBS digitalization agenda fully intergraded with overall Procurement data and digital strategy.
* Masters the newly created frameworks/playbooks on key procurement skills (Strategy, Negotiation, Contracting), acting as consultant to the portfolio, using the tools to upskill the sourcing team and as enablers for the execution.
* Lead the Insights creation from available data, based on a good understanding of the data architecture and guiding the mining process
* Develops the data mining approach, together with the Digital Strategy team, to uncover valuable business insights that can be transformed into actionable plans
* Analyses data to seek trends, patterns, anomalies, and findings that drive useful business insights
* Translates data into insights by discovering, creating, testing, and validating hypotheses with the portfolio sourcing teams, communicating the insights and working with the sourcing teams to develop and execute strategies that leverage these insights
* Help define and Rollout strategic transformation programs, such as Resilience 2.0, Price Transparency and ZBB
* Evaluates the readiness of the MBS portfolio to implement transformation programs and defines the focus areas.
* Proceeds with on the ground execution of global initiatives, translating the frameworks into clear guidance and action plans ready for execution, incorporating all the nuances from the MBS portfolio
* Expand potential local programs/best practices across the whole MBS Portfolio
* Derive value creation opportunities based on deep Value Chain expertise, Supplier, Competitor and Industry Insights, as well as benchmarking and cost modelling
* Executes detailed Value Chain analysis to define opportunities to intervene/intermediate at different levels, considering all the different MBS we source
* Is closely connected with the Markets and Industry boards, acquiring the relevant Intel to identify opportunities and creates technology/Innovation roadmaps based on Mega Trends
* Masters the Benchmarking tools and through internal and external evaluation draws conclusions to guide the sourcing team to the optimum supply base as well as assets
* Owns and drives the development of the Cost modelling for the portfolio
* Conduct supply and demand analysis, in collaboration with the portfolio sourcing teams
* Drive the supply and demand analysis for the different services across the portfolio
* Work closely with the sourcing teams, S&I colleagues, and external entities to identify, forecast, and interpret supply- and demand-driven opportunities across the portfolio
* Act as an ambassador and connector for Business Services being the spider in the web connect strategy & execution aligned to Ice Cream Global, Global MBS Procurement Team and Local Markets goals and priorities.
WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED:
SKILLS & LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS REQUIRED:
* Strategic, systemic thinking & entrepreneurial to push the teams 3 steps ahead towards excellence.
* A team player leader ready to bring the best out of people and high on influencing skills a healthy forward-looking challenger
* You need to fully understand the wider business context and you are emotionally intelligent to motivate the team to deliver leading for performance and care.
* You are the right hand of the procurement director and ready to track the portfolio strategies being implemented on the ground
* You are an integral part of the Strategy & Excellence team leading their OKR`s helping them to focus on what matters.
EXPERIENCES & QUALIFICATIONS:
* Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or a related field.
* English: C1 Level
* Experience: 10 years’ experience in a procurement, MBS Sourcing or MBS Development role in FMCG industry or in a large complex organisation with strong portfolio and market expertise
* Consulting experience in Tier 1 consulting firms is a plus
* Strong business and commercial acumen
* MBS Industry Knowledge is a plus
* Change management experience of large scale / global transformation programs is preferred
* Has a good understanding of Agile principles, values, methodologies and practices that enable agility and approaches delivery with an iterative and incremental (test - do – learn) approach
* Proven experience of working in cross-functional teams within a matrix environment – both F2F and virtually
* Excellent critical thinking, analytical and story-telling skills to respond to multiple market/portfolio specific characteristics and influence change remotely
* High Initiative, Quick Learner and Self-Starter
* Ability and drive to work independently and lead diverse teams, across different geographies
* Comfortable working in conditions of ambiguity and learning through change.
* Able to support the adoption and execution of a shared vision and strategy for change
* Outstanding problem-solving and analytical skills
* Ability to interact with stakeholders effectively and efficiently functionally to understand their needs and deliver effective balanced solutions.
* Passion for continuous improvement and practical creativity
* Robust verbal and written communication skills, including creation and delivery of effective presentations as an added advantage.
What do we offer? Permanent contract signed directly with Unilever Ice Cream