Ice Cream Assistant Procurement Manager - Strategy & Insights - METSA

If you are in the Unilever Ice Cream business or consider choosing to work for the Unilever Ice Cream business, you will work for the Global, leading Ice Cream player with €7.9bn Turn Over in 2023. The Ice Cream business is operating in a highly attractive category, as we are part of the 1 trillion snacking and refreshment industry, growing consistently at high pace. We have strong brands equities: 5 of top 10 selling brands including Wall’s, Magnum, Ben &Jerry’s. We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of Ice Cream as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen by November 2025.

Ice Cream has distinct characteristics from Unilever’s other operating businesses and the growth potential of Ice Cream will be better delivered under a different ownership structure. As Ice Cream company we are committed to developing and nurturing talent within our Ice Cream company. You will have ample options for career growth and exploration, allowing you for you to explore roles and opportunities across the new organization. Your career development will be a priority for us, and we are dedicated to supporting your growth journey within the new company. We hope that you will want to build the new chapter of our Ice Cream history together with us.

JOB PURPOSE

The Procurement Strategy & Insights Team is serving as the nerve centre of the Ice Cream global procurement organization, enabling the procurement organization to design and deliver step-change across value chains, operating processes and tools, and business models. With vision of Translating Knowledge & Data into Future Fit Procurement Strategy & Insights, this team is responsible for:

• Sensing, incubating, and enabling innovative ideas, new business models, and transformation programs for disruptive value creation across procurement teams
• Creating and implementing standardized processes and data-driven decision making to ease operating effectiveness and drive better and faster outcomes
• Identifying, scaling, and spreading best practices across the global procurement organization, within and across teams
• Facilitating rapid learning, capability development, and future-fit upskilling of our people
• Working with procurement portfolio and Ice Cream Procurement leads to harmonize portfolio strategies into one

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• Build together with the team the new initiative of Procurement Market Insights (CMI for Procurement) leveraging external data, run structured data modelling and analytics processes, run market and competitor benchmarking projects to deliver external competitiveness measurement of Procurement as per Market Share for business, and generate insights and recommendation to drive competitiveness improvement and strategic interventions.
• Provide central management of Procurement market intelligence management, research and market survey (including dummy RFQs), as well as consolidation of cost model development.
• Market Forecast Transformation: help your manager lead key Procurement transformation management to link Market Trend, Performance Management (Saving), and net forecasting together, develop automation solutions, develop iteration of procurement metrics design to drive more competitive performance management and empower data driven Procurement.
• To be a healthy forward-looking challenger, as well as a partner to the sourcing team, provoking and bringing new thinking. With the following key activities:
• Facilitate creation and updating of portfolio strategies, and deliver analytics and guidance for negotiations and contracting applying expertise and the newly created playbooks, incorporating best-in-class solutions
• Lead the Insights creation from available data, based on a good understanding of the data architecture and guiding the mining process
• Help define and Rollout strategic transformation programs, such as Zero Based Budgeting
• Derive value creation opportunities based on deep Value Chain expertise, Supplier, Competitor and Industry Insights, as well as benchmarking and cost modelling
• Conduct supply and demand analysis, in collaboration with the portfolio sourcing teams

EXPERIENCES & QUALIFICATIONS:  

• At least 4-5 years’ experience in Procurement / FMCG industry experience is a plus
• Strong experience in global procurement roles managing large spend owning commercial negotiations and supplier relationships, familiar with 7 steps sourcing and procurement value creation journey
• Strong experience in driving strategic, complex and cross geography programs
• Experience in other change programs
• External oriented, able to understand latest technology trend and bring use case in business
• Solutions oriented, results driven and a self-starter with the ability to also work in a team setting and can build relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Has a good understanding of Agile principles, values, methodologies, and practices that enable agility and approaches delivery with an iterative and incremental (test - do – learn) approach
• Experience of working in cross-functional teams within a matrix environment – both F2F and virtually

Skills

• Procurement Expertise: Proven procurement experience, preferably in the procurement and logistics sector, with a deep understanding of strategic sourcing, contracting strategies, and supplier partnerships.
• Business Acumen: Extensive international business experience, with a proactive approach to identifying and developing opportunities in METSA and global markets.
• Negotiation & Relationship Building: Strong negotiation skills and a talent for building and maintaining supplier relationships, with cultural sensitivity and a global perspective.
• Results-Oriented: A drive for results, with a focus on achieving ambitious targets and making a tangible impact on Unilever’s sustainability agenda.

Critical SOL (Standards of Leadership) Behaviors

• PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Has emotional intelligence to take feedback, manage mood and motivations, and build empathy for others.
• PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Generates intensity and focus to motivate people to deliver results at speed. Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results.
• TALENT CATALYST: Invests in people – coaches individuals and teams to realize their full potential. Creates an inclusive climate, empowering everyone to be at their best.
• PURPOSE & SERVICE: Has humility, understanding that leadership is service to others, inside and outside Unilever.
• CONSUMER LOVE: Invests time inside and outside to understand the needs of consumers.
• BUSINESS ACUMEN: Creates sustainable growth with purpose, engaging different partners across the system for change.

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.