Procurement Marketing & Business Services Program Manager

Scope: Full time / Global

Location: Spain

Terms & Conditions:

If you are in the Unilever Ice Cream business or consider choosing to work for the Unilever Ice Cream business, you will work for the Global, leading Ice Cream player with €7.9bn Turn Over in 2023. The Ice Cream business is operating in a highly attractive category, as we are part of the 1 trillion snacking and refreshment industry, growing consistently at high pace. We have strong brands equities: 5 of top 10 selling brands including Wall’s, Magnum, Ben &Jerry’s. 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.

Ice Cream has distinct characteristics from Unilever’s other operating businesses and the growth potential of Ice Cream will be better delivered under a different ownership structure. As Ice Cream company we are committed to developing and nurturing talent within our Ice Cream company. You will have ample options for career growth and exploration, allowing you for you to explore roles and opportunities across the new organization. Your career development will be a priority for us, and we are dedicated to supporting your growth journey within the new company. We hope that you will want to build the new chapter of our Ice Cream history together with us.

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.

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:   

•  Over 10 years’ experience in a procurement, MBS Sourcing or MBS Development role either in Unilever / FMCG industry or in a large complex organization 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.

Additional Information:

• Hybrid Work (you can work from home 2/3 days per week)

• 4 weeks of Flex Work per year: Opportunity to work remotely for the entire week without coming into the office.

• Flexible hours: Work hours with a wide range of starting and ending times to accommodate your needs.

• Restaurant Card and canteen service in our offices.

• Parking: Possibility of parking at the offices at a reduced cost and with free electric chargers.

• Online language courses.

• Wellbeing Programs: Resources and activities to promote physical, mental, emotional, and purposeful wellbeing.

• Online store with exclusive discounts on UL products and other recognized brands.

• And many more!

Disclaimer 

Equal Opportunity Employer: Unilever is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, or any other basis protected by applicable law, and will not be discriminated against based on disability. 

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.