Unilever Food Solutions - Customer Strategy Planning Manager - Operator

Job Title : Unilever Food Solutions - Customer Strategy Planning Manager - Operator

Work Location : Grha Unilever

Business context:

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) is the €3bn foodservice division of Unilever. It leads the dynamic Food Service market across its categories and has ambitious growth objectives, marketing a range of professional food and beverage products and services to operators across 22 Multi Country Organizations (MCOs) in 67 countries.  We carry a portfolio of local and international brands-- Bango, Royco, Knorr Professional, Hellmann’s and rest tea and beverage brands.

Main purpose of the job:

UFS ID CSP Manager is the role designed to deliver the commercial plan through developing and deploying customer growth strategies and operations and drive immediate commercial result.

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There are 2 mandates of the role:

• Responsible for UFS ID Customer & Category strategy, called ‘Strategy & Insights’ leading to category growth and competitiveness growth.

• Driving the UFS ID ‘Operations and Planning’ activities such as NRM and S&OP leading to USG & Gross Margin improvement

This role in particular will be responsible of leading the Customer & Category Strategy and Planning for Pull Team (direct serving operators). This works in parallel with CSP for S&OP and KA, and CSP for Distributor under UFS ID CD Strategy and Planning Lead, to form a complete CD strategy and planning team.

Main Accountabilities

Category Strategy & Insights

• Provide operator & channel insights to inform long-term marketing strategy and Integrated Business Planning (IBP). Lead CD team on IOP to make sure brand and category strategy can be fully integrated with operation plan and customer plan.

• Define sub-region level OG-specific core and future core demand creation guidance, including SKU prioritization, adapting selling story to OG and top dish.

Planning & Operations

• Deploy category OG/channel plan & go to market execution plan (customer/channel) via CD, aligned to the IBP.

• Holistic customer investment on operators – sets clear TTS budgets by OG, by sub-region/city, by operator tier, by brand, then track monthly

• Create & execute plan & Grab/Grip/Grow plans for Pull - monitor & adjust plan where needed

Business Analytics

• Use data to generate actionable insights that inform commercial and customer development strategies.

• Translate business questions into analytical frameworks, enabling data-driven decision-making across functions.

• Support IBP and strategic planning with robust forecasting, demand modeling, and scenario analysis.

• Partner with cross-functional teams to embed analytics into innovation, assortment, pricing, and promotional strategies.

Highlights for the role:

• Customer & channel insights

• Grip, Grab, Grasp/ GGG

• OG-specific demand creation

• Go-to-market plans

• Holistic customer investment

• Data-driven business insights

Key Metrics:

Business performance: USG, UVG, GM%, UOP growth Reach and penetration TTS effectiveness and efficiency (ROI) Forecast Accuracy and Business Wastage CD execution excellence KPI: killer demo #, ideation #, strike rate NPS

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

We’re looking for passionate, strategic-minded talents who are excited about growing our brand and business through supporting customer’s success. A strong foundation and proven track record in relevant CD strategy and planning is a must.

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to translate operator and channel insights into long-term category and brand strategies aligned with IBP/IOP.

• Commercial Acumen: Deep understanding of trade dynamics, pricing, promotion, and assortment strategies across geo among operators.

• Data & Analytics Fluency: Skilled in using data to generate actionable insights, forecast demand, and optimize trade investments.

• Planning & Execution Excellence: Experience in S&OP, go-to-market planning, and deploying category/channel plans with precision.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Strong cross-functional leadership to align CD, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain on joint business plans and growth strategies.

• Leadership & Influence: Capable of leading teams, influencing senior stakeholders, and driving change across complex matrix environments.

• Agility & Growth Mindset: Comfortable navigating ambiguity, adapting plans, and continuously learning to improve performance and impact.

• 5+ years of experience in sales function, with a minimum of 2 years in trade marketing/ customer marketing/ CSP. Experience with Food Service is a plus.

• Strong inner game, business acumen, and passion for high performance and Talent Catalyst

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.