Compliance Governance Assistant Manager/Specialist (Regulatory Strategic Partnerships)

Function: Safety, Environmental & Regulatory Science (SERS) –R&D

Reports to: Compliance Governance Manager

Location: Hive / Netherlands

1. Role Purpose

The Regulatory Strategic partnerships plays a critical role in strengthening Unilever’s compliance ecosystem by shaping and governing strategic regulatory partnerships. It requires leveraging deep understanding of regulations, Unilever’s compliance frameworks, and operational governance to maximize value creation from external consultancy partnerships.

The role focuses on three core pillars:

1. Designing and governing the operating model and project implementation for regulatory and compliance partnerships, including the use of AI to accelerate operational excellence and risk mitigation.

2. Business partnering internally (Legal, Procurement, InfoSec, R&D, Business Groups, and others) to ensure alignment, robust governance, and seamless execution

3. Building and strengthening relationships with external regulatory experts to bring cutting-edge regulatory science into Unilever.

This role enables Unilever to access deep regulatory expertise, enhance compliance-by-design, and ensure our products and innovation pipelines meet global and future regulatory expectations.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Operational Excellence & Project Implementation

• Curate, guide, and oversee project implementation with regulatory partners, ensuring alignment with internal processes and compliance requirements.
• Ensure all externalized projects reflect operational excellence, transparency, and robust compliance documentation.
• Support business owners in R&D team  to articulate their regulatory needs and translate them into structured partnership briefs.
• Partner  with internal cross-functional stakeholders including Legal, Procurement & InfoSec as business enabling interfaces.
• Support creation of best-practice methodologies for collaborative execution.

B. Build & Govern Operating Model for Regulatory Partnerships (Consultancies)

• Design and maintain a governed operating model for strategic regulatory partnerships, ensuring clarity in processes, roles, and responsibilities.
• Embed AI-enabled governance practices to enhance efficiency, reduce risks, automate reporting, and streamline partner engagement.
• Ensure regulatory partnerships are executed consistently with Unilever policies, standards, and compliance frameworks.
• Act as primary relationship manager for external regulatory consultancy partners.
• Build strong networks with regulatory science experts to strengthen Unilever’s access to advanced regulatory intelligence.
• Drive continuous improvement in partnership models based on value delivery, performance, and risk insights

C. Compliance Training, Awareness & Governance Guidance

• Design and deliver internal training to drive compliance-by-design and regulatory awareness.
• Develop guidance documents, governance tools, and templates to standardize collaboration with external expertise consultancies.

3. Key Skills & Capabilities

• Strong regulatory understanding (FMCG or relevant scientific domains).
• Governance mindset and process design capability.
• Operational excellence mindset.
• Stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong communication and influencing skills.
• Data analysis and ability to integrate AI-driven insights.
• Project management experience.
• Solution-oriented, resilient, and proactive.

4. Required Experience & Qualifications

• MSc (or equivalent) in Chemical Engineering, Science, , or related fields.
• 2–3 years of experience in regulatory roles, compliance, or FMCG environment.
• Strong understanding of regulatory standards, frameworks, and compliance requirements.
• Proven experience managing documentation, audits, evaluation, and record-keeping.
• Fluent written and spoken English.

5. Leadership Behaviours

• Passion for High Performance
• Bias for Action
• Strategic Agility
• Business Acumen
• Personal Mastery

6. Key Interfaces

• SERS Teams
• R&D Functions
• Business Groups Regulatory Teams
• Legal
• Global Procurement
• InfoSec
• External Regulatory Partners