HR Director Global Business Services

JOB TITLE:                HR Director Unilever Global Business Services

JOB LOCATION:       Kingston, UK

JOB PURPOSE

Global Business Services is a recently formed part of the organisation formerly known as Uniops. It houses most of the critical engine room services required to run Unilever and will eventually encompass them all. The current scope covers the services behind the following functions – HR (People Experience), Finance (Commercial Experience), Workplace Services and Customer Operations (iOps), Marketing Services, and is part of an ongoing transformation of all business processes in Unilever. GBS is a critical driver of productivity across the organisation, freeing up time for those working on the front line in each of the functions, and providing growth insights through data. The team comprises over 2,000 employees, mostly based in service hubs around the world, and manages many more people delivering service through our network of 3rd party service providers.

There is a huge change agenda in GBS – the ULE is committed to transferring, transforming and automating as much as possible the 21 core processes behind our business into GBS, with an intent to drive efficiency and effectiveness, alongside a location strategy that optimises spend into cost efficient locations. Alongside driving efficiency, there is equal focus on providing a better experience for our customers, suppliers, consumers and employees. In each of the functional service lines, there is a transformation programme already in progress that will deliver best in class service.

RESPONSIBILITIES

This role is newly configured for the future and designed to support the GBS transformation agenda in the coming years.

• As functional HR lead you will have accountability for the overall people and talent plan for the organisation, particularly at senior levels and strategically important talent programmes where we take an e2e view across all the service lines
• You will partner the Chief GBS Officer in building out the new organisation and developing the Leadership team, establishing the brand identity and the unique culture required to succeed in this area
• You will play a critical part in building the change plan for GBS to succeed – this is as much about building the GBS organisation as it is about building the right relationships with service partners and the right mix of “sell & tell” for the parts of the organisation being transitioned into GBS
• Developing the organisation design for GBS – looking at location strategy and partnership strategy, alongside the retained Unilever team – and delivering the in year FTE and overheads targets
• Be the trusted partner for the Chief GBS officer, and their leadership team on all people matters, responsible for 2000 employees across 79 countries.
• Drive the Talent agenda within GBS and develop its senior leaders, and develop strong succession plans and appointment criteria for critical roles
• Work closely with the GBS leaders as well as the Learning team to build critical future fit skills
• Support the development of the respective people agendas of GBS service lines partnered by your HRBP team
• Nurture and develop your direct reports to enable career growth and engagement, and be a catalyst for talent development in the wider HR function

ALL ABOUT YOU

• We expect you to have strong experience in developing talent, organisation, capability building, cultural change, change/transformation management. Your organisation awareness needs to be high as the change driven by GBS in the next few years will touch almost every part of the organisation.
• You will have experience in setting a People agenda, driving change and have a passion for transformation and integration.
• Experience in coaching executive leadership and enabling collaboration across leaders
• Experience in an international / global work environment would be preferable as our teams are located across the world.
• You will be non-hierarchical so you can deliver the agenda by influencing and holding immediate team, cross-functional team members and the larger HR network accountable.
• You will be comfortable using data and will demonstrate ability to use data to drive impactful decisions and to prioritise work that will drive the right outputs for the business
• The successful candidate would be someone with passion for high performance, resilience and a ‘can do’ attitude, backed by a strong performance record
• You will have experience in developing direct reports and demonstrating high support and high challenge leadership

NOTES

Location 

In September 2020, Unilever announced the intention to build a new sustainable campus site in Kingston, London. This site will house some employees who currently work in 100 Victoria Embankment in Blackfriars together with colleagues who are currently located in Lever House in Kingston. We are excited to be creating our own Unilever sustainable, agile work environment. The campus is due to be completed in 2026.

What We Offer

Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, subsidised gym membership, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all.

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. We are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to be present your best self. To find out more, including about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Unilever | Unilever.

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