Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) Greater Asia Planning Manager

Role Title: Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) Greater Asia Planning Manager
Location: Philippines

Additional Locations: Thailand/Vietnam

Role Overview:

The UFS Greater Asia Planning Manager is responsible for driving long-term capacity readiness, service excellence, network optimization, and S&OP maturity for the Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) business across the Greater Asia region.

This role provides strategic leadership in Long-Term Capacity Planning (LTCP), ensures optimal sourcing unit performance, and leads initiatives to improve service levels, DROO, productivity, and simplification across markets.

Acting as a key integrator, the role partners closely with global teams, Greater Asia markets, sourcing units, and BG/BU stakeholders to deliver a resilient, agile, and cost-competitive supply chain.

The manager also represents UFS GA Supply Chain in the Regional Investor Board, influencing investment choices, capacity expansions, network shifts, and regional transformation agendas.

Duties & Responsibilities:

1. Long-Term Capacity Planning & Sourcing Unit Resiliency

• Lead the Long-Term Capacity Planning (LTCP) cycle for UFS Greater Asia, ensuring a robust 3–5 year capacity and capability roadmap.
• Drive sourcing and investment decisions by identifying capacity gaps, demand growth scenarios, and long-term operational risks.
• Ensure >85% utilization of UFS-dedicated lines in Greater Asia through proactive scenario planning and constraint management.
• Build resiliency in sourcing units through redundancy planning, capability upgrades, and risk mitigation initiatives.

2. S&OP Excellence

• Drive continuous improvement of SNOP (S&OP) processes for UFS Greater Asia, enhancing forecast quality, supply alignment, and decision-making discipline.
• Lead collaboration with markets, BG/BU planning teams, and sourcing units to ensure robust demand–supply balancing.

3. Service Delivery & DROO Improvement

• Ensure service level performance of >97% across Greater Asia markets.
• Lead structural improvement programs that address root causes of service gaps.
• Drive enhancement of DROO metrics to strengthen supply reliability and responsiveness.

4. Innovation Readiness & Deployment

• Serve as the UFS GA Supply Chain lead for regional innovation projects, ensuring supply readiness and sourcing unit capability for all new launches.
• Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, R&D, Procurement, BG/BU Planning, and SUs to land innovations on time and in full.

5. Productivity & Network Optimization

• Drive the Network Optimization agenda for UFS Greater Asia, identifying opportunities to optimize sourcing, logistics flows, and manufacturing footprint.
• Lead the Net Productivity Management (NPM) agenda, delivering cost, cash, and service productivity targets.
• Work closely with Finance and SU teams to track and sustain annual savings commitments.

6. Representation in Regional Investor Board

• Represent UFS Greater Asia Supply Chain in the Regional Investor Board, co‑leading discussions with IDMYSG Supply Chain.
• Provide data-driven recommendations on capacity investments, supply risks, network strategy, and innovation readiness.

7. Global–Regional–Local Integration & Communication

• Act as the central point of communication between global teams and GA/SEA stakeholders for planning, network, and capability-related topics.
• Ensure alignment with global frameworks, while consolidating regional inputs into clear, consistent communication flows.
• Lead simplification initiatives to streamline ways of working, reporting, and governance for the GA region.

8. Simplification & Process Excellence

• Identify and lead simplification opportunities in planning processes, templates, and decision workflows.
• Reduce complexity, eliminate non–value adding activities, and drive continuous improvement in operational efficiency.

Key Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; degrees in Supply Chain, Engineering, Business, or related fields preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of Supply Chain experience, ideally with exposure to planning, S&OP, capacity management, or network optimization.
• Regional or multi-market experience is an advantage.
• Experience in Foods or UFS categories preferred but not required.

Skills & Capabilities

• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability, including scenario-based planning.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; able to engage senior leaders and cross-functional partners.
• Demonstrated leadership in a matrix environment, with the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Strong planning system proficiency (SAP APO/IBP, OMP, or equivalent).
• Solid project management capability and ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

Other Requirements

• Willingness to travel occasionally across the region.
• Strong collaboration mindset and comfort working across diverse markets and cultures.

We highly encourage applicants to exclude information on age, gender, and school/s in view of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Unilever assesses candidates based on skills, performance, experience and leadership.

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.