Commodities Risk Management Procurement Director

Earlier this year, Unilever announced an agreement to combine its Foods business with McCormick & Company, creating a scaled global flavor powerhouse. The proposed combination would bring together iconic Foods brands, including Hellmann’s and Knorr, with McCormick’s portfolio to create a global leader across spices, seasonings, condiments and complementary food categories, supported by strong retail and foodservice platforms. McCormick brings more than 135 years of heritage, a presence in 150+ countries and territories, and a portfolio of trusted brands. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, with completion estimated for mid-2027. 

JOB PURPOSE

This role exists to define the enterprise commodities risk-management strategy, operating model, governance and risk appetite across direct and embedded commodity exposures, protecting margin and cash flow from price, basis and volatility risk. The role acts as a strategic adviser to the Chief Procurement Officer and senior Finance and business leaders, translating commodity-market dynamics, exposures and scenarios into clear executive decisions. It establishes global frameworks for cover strategy, forecasting, hedging, risk management and performance reporting. Working across Procurement and key functions, the role aligns commodity exposures with financial risk-management strategies and strengthens enterprise risk capability.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead, develop and empower the Commodities Risk Management team of two FTEs, comprising this Director role and one direct report at Manager level, with responsibility for approximately €450+ million of commodity exposure globally. 

• Own and continuously improve the enterprise commodities risk-management strategy, operating model, governance framework, delegated authorities, decision rights and risk appetite across material agricultural, energy and other commodity exposures, constructively challenging established approaches to improve risk outcomes. 

• Build a comprehensive market-intelligence and external-network capability, combining fundamental research with insights from banks, brokers, exchanges, suppliers, traders, data providers and other market participants to monitor supply-and-demand dynamics, basis, forward curves, volatility and macroeconomic developments, and produce timely price and risk forecasts. 

• Formulate and oversee cover and hedging strategies across physical contracts, listed derivatives, over-the-counter instruments and proxy hedges, including tailored solutions for less-liquid or imperfectly hedgeable exposures. Identify opportunities to expand the CRM portfolio, eligible exposures and risk-management tools to improve execution, liquidity and counterparty oversight. 

• Integrate physical procurement exposures with financial risk-management strategies, partnering with Procurement portfolios and category buyers to guide sourcing decisions, supplier negotiations and contracting, while working with Treasury, Finance and Accounting to align pricing, forecasting, liquidity and margin-protection decisions. 

• Advise the Chief Procurement Officer, senior Finance and business leaders, and relevant risk committees through clear exposure reporting, key risk indicators, scenarios, stress testing, hedge-performance and forecast-accuracy analysis, and commercially relevant recommendations on market risks, financial impacts and decision options. 

• Establish and enforce governance, limits, segregation of duties, trading mandates, counterparty limits, controls, hedge documentation and escalation protocols. Partner with Middle Office and Operations to ensure accurate reporting, prevent speculative positions and maintain accounting, regulatory and audit compliance, while advancing CRM data, analytics, technology, modelling and organizational capability. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• University degree in Economics, Finance, Engineering or a related quantitative discipline, combined with extensive senior experience in commodities risk management, procurement, trading, treasury, finance or a related field within a large, complex multinational organization. 

• Highly numerate, with deep expertise in fundamental and quantitative commodity-market analysis, derivatives, hedging structures, basis and counterparty risk, exposure measurement, position management and performance attribution. 

• Demonstrated success designing and governing enterprise commodity-risk frameworks across physical and financial exposures, markets and regions, with experience operating at comparable commodity exposure and organizational scale. 

• Strong executive stakeholder and communication capability across Procurement, Treasury, Finance, Supply Chain, Legal, Audit and business leadership, with proven ability to simplify complex commodity exposures, market scenarios and derivative strategies into clear, commercially relevant recommendations. 

• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with proven ability to connect commodity exposure, procurement, pricing, margin, hedge accounting, liquidity, cash flow and P&L outcomes. 

• Enterprise leadership mindset, intellectual curiosity and entrepreneurial problem-solving capability, with the ability to set clear priorities, lead independently through ambiguity and volatility, understand diverse business contexts, balance strategic thinking with execution, build trusted senior stakeholder relationships and develop high-performing risk-management talent. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience across agricultural commodities, energy, commodity resins and industrial metals markets is preferred. 

• Experience applying quantitative models, alternative data and scenario analytics to commodity-risk decisions under volatile market conditions. 

• Experience with specialist commodity and treasury risk platforms, market-data services, forecasting tools or analytics solutions supporting exposure assessment, hedge execution, controls, decision-making and reporting.  

Pay: The pay range for this position is $227,700 to $398,475 Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.  

Bonus: This position is bonus eligible.  

Long-Term Incentive (LTI): This position is LTI eligible.  

Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents  

We welcome applicants from all walks of life and are committed to creating an environment where everyone can thrive/succeed. All applicants will receive fair and respectful consideration, and we actively support the growth and development of every employee.  

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to provide a positive, barrier-free recruitment journey. Should you require additional information or reasonable adjustments to allow you to present your best self during this process, please contact your Talent Partner. 

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At Unilever, inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. We welcome applicants from all walks of life and are committed to creating an environment where everyone can thrive/succeed. All applicants will receive fair and respectful consideration, and we actively support the growth and development of every employee.

Unilever is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Persons with Disabilities.

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Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at NA.Accommodations@unilever.com. Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses. The Protected Veterans or Individuals with Disabilities AAP narratives are available for inspection by any employee or applicant for employment Monday through Friday during normal business hours at establishment.

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