Assistant Global Procurement Manager – Dairy

ABOUT UNILEVER

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world. 

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our inclusive, collaborative, and flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

JOB PURPOSE

Unilever is the place where you can bring your purpose to life with the work that you do – creating a better business and a better world.  If you are ambitious, eager to learn and want to make a significant impact then this role is just for you!

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

This role requires a drive for continuous improvement through market knowledge, supplier development, value creation and external/internal stakeholder’s management.

Establishing the global connection is key, especially with Global/Regional Category, R&D, MET, Finance and Sustainable Sourcing teams. You will be focusing on the below areas:

Strategic Sourcing:

• Support in development and execution of portfolio strategy in line with both short and long-term Business Group objectives and global strategy.
• Lead the global RFQ process, including RFQ preparation, tenders, e-auction, data analysis of prices and commercials conditions, lead the negotiations with suppliers and stakeholders globally.
• Bring the outside in: develop market insights to decide from who, when and how to buy
• Drive and implement the global saving agenda and deliver NMCI, NMI, Buying Competitiveness, Buying Advantage and Cash Targets.
• Drive and implement innovation projects through strong collaboration with R&D team, providing market intelligence, supplier capabilities and capacity.
• Define and lead the implementation of SRM roadmap for the portfolio.
• Global Spend: Approx. 280m € for S&D, Direct Spend responsibility: 70m€

Supplier & Contract Management:

Manage and maintain suppliers’ relationships and develop new partnership model plans on Dairy

Excellent contract life cycle management ensuring 100% coverage of contracts on time in full, including management of purchase price variances.

Ensure supplier base is 100% compliant with Unilever standards (Specifications, Quality & Responsible Sourcing etc).

Identify and mitigate sourcing risks with cross functional team, ensuring high service levels to sourcing units.

Ensure supply security and resilience and manage / coordinate fast reaction during supply crisis through the development of contingency plans and alternative materials suppliers.

Value Delivery:

Create and implement a multi-year, end-to-end cost savings programs funnel for market deployment.

Mapping supplier capabilities & capacity to identify opportunity of specification optimization in collaboration with R&D team, key technologies, and value chain integration.

Drive the global projects agenda in collaboration with the regions related to ASA, AMA, Complexity reduction, Resilience for Dairy portfolio globally.

Full knowledge and control of the key cost drivers and market movements from the portfolio

Agree and execute best strategies on risk management for the portfolio, together with Commodity Risk Management team.

Work cross-functionally with both local and global counterparts to identify and implement value-added projects and initiatives.

Support the business with accurate price forecasting, which includes market conditions, price trends and future markets trends to enable proper budgeting and case forecasting.

Identify and execute incremental cash opportunities.

Sustainability:

Business partner for the Sustainable Sourcing team, supporting on the development of Sustainability Roadmap (Regenerative Agriculture, Net Zero, Climate, etc) for the portfolio, identifying the main suppliers and executing the partnerships required to meet Unilever’s sustainability targets such as net zero by 2039.

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences & Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor’s Master’s Degree
• >5 years’ experience in Procurement, Supply Chain or R&D
• Very Strong Communication and Analytical skills:  data/information analysis and presentation. Ability to read markets, gain insights and convey findings along with recommendations, to the business.
• Comfort with systems:  SAP CLM, USQS, SRS, Velocity, BPC Hana, etc.
• Experience in market forecasting, operations, and supply chain dynamics.
• Experience with Dairy is a plus.

Skills

• Strong Negotiation, contract management skills and Procurement Sourcing Strategy development
• Must be a self-starter with strong accountability & responsibility standards
• Experience in understanding of value chains and unlocking value through value engineering.
• Must be able to present key findings in a crispy way, supported by strong knowledge of Excel and Power point
• Strong at selling ideas to internally and externally business partners and translating these into effective proposals conveying value and communicating it accordingly
• Strong understanding of Sourcing resilience and Complexity reduction.
• Strong analytical capabilities and Competitive analysis
• Experience with multiple Stakeholder management and Cross Functional working
• Expertise with Cost Model and Should cost.
• Experience with hedging, financial and physical coverage
• Ability to interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds.
• Strong communications skills and ability to engage and influence others.
• Fluent communication and verbal skills in English.
• Strong ability in managing multiple projects and deadlines, with strong analytical & negotiation skills and “can do” mentality.
• Appetite for change and eagerness to collaborating with stakeholders to drive through improvements.
• Experience in conceptualizing and developing long term Partnerships, joint buying and basket buying are a Plus.

Leadership

• You are energized by delivering fantastic results. You are an example to others – both your results and your resilience. You are constantly on the lookout for better ways to do things, engaging and collaborating with others along the way.
• As an individual you are the one responsible for your own wellbeing and delivering high standards of work. You must also focus on the Consumer and what they need. You are humble and have your head up, looking around to interpret evidence and data smartly, spot issues and opportunities to make things better.

• Critical SOL (Standards of Leadership) Behaviors
  • PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results. Has an owner’s mindset, using data and insight to make decisions.
  • PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Actively builds own wellbeing and resilience.
  • CONSUMER LOVE: Whatever their role, always looks for better ways to serve consumers. Invests time inside and outside to understand the needs of consumers.
  • PURPOSE & SERVICE: Has humility, understanding that leadership is service to others, inside and outside Unilever.
  • AGILITY: Explores the world around them, continually learning and developing their skills.

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life! 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. 

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.