2016-04-26

Title: Technical Project Leader – Processing and Material Expert Team

Location: United Kingdom-United Kingdom (County level)-Sharnbrook-Colworth Science Park

Job Number: 160008N3

Job Title: Technical Project Leader – Processing and Material Expert Team

Salary: Competitive

Benefits: Bonus, Pension, Healthcare, Agile Working

Location:

Travel: Regional/Global Travel will be required

Background:

The Refreshment Category covers Ice Cream and Beverages and Unilever is a global leader in both these categories.

The Global Design Centre (GDC) at Colworth is responsible for global product and process design for Unilever tea brands – Lipton, Brooke Bond, T.O., across leaf tea, herbal infusions, and instant tea formats.

Within tea the current product portfolio of black, green, flavoured teas and infusions consists of various t-bag formats, as well as loose packet and powdered.

In the pipeline are several exciting format innovations for the future.

This role reports to the GDC Director and is based at Colworth, UK.

Job Purpose:

This is a Global Leadership role, with significant ability to influence the shape of the tea business in terms of technology and its application, and Digital.

The JH will work with Discover Science teams, Supply Chain, Product Design, Consumer Insights and Procurement to develop and shape the strategy for Beverages processing and Materials expertise.

The JH is responsible for drive the Intellectual property and asset protection areas.

The JH will liaise with GDC Centres at Bangalore and Kenya, and major Regional centres in Turkey and North America

to develop an integrated plan.

Value improvement, complexity reduction, and design of in-silico prediction tools with Digital R&D will be important deliverables.

Other outputs are high quality design toolboxes that can be adapted by regions/supply chain and scale up of promising technologies.

Team will comprise of around 7-10 FTE, and other dotted-line reports

Key Accountabilities:

Drive Process Design thinking and create a differentiated technology roadmap :

Scope early generation ideas from Discover science and Open innovation partner for technical feasibility and consumer relevance

Develop toolboxes for promising ideas, along with requisite intellectual property and market scoping for regulatory compliance (with Regulatory teams)

Ensure all consumer / occupational safety aspects are addressed in Design

Develop application maps for key technologies and roadmaps for scale-up, keeping in mind cost, viability, and sustainability

Refresh Open Innovation strategy and identify key partners for collaborative design

Develop Pilot plant strategy for Beverages Category and lead implementation

Lead Tea Materials Expertise Team and modernise blend design:

Develop strategy for tea material expertise with Procurement and R&D teams

Propose and deliver against complexity reduction roadmap

Drive medium term global Blue Funnel Value improvement projects, jointly with Supply chain and procurement, to deliver global savings targets

Use modern analytical and digital tools in collaboration with Discover and Digital R&D to create new product design regimes for tea, saving on time and cost

Propose route to Modernise process design and control at key Unilever manufacturing operations by defining key product attributes and operating windows

Stakeholder Engagement and People leadership:

Translate technical WANTs from Regions and product teams into clear projects and progress through Category/functional stakeholder forums

Develop a medium term technology scale-up roadmap integrated to procurement and supply chain strategy

Represent the GDC and R&D in key stakeholder meetings

Manage project networks and risk to deliver On time in Full (OTIF) through the team

Develop individual development plans for team members, and provide coaching and guidance to help meet desired targets

Skills/ Experience/ Qualifications:

Required:

Candidates should have a degree or equivalent in a technical discipline, including formal training / qualifications in Product/Process design

Experience of project management in a large region/global capacity

Experience of product or process design, scale-up and Specifications

Appreciation of applying technology to meet consumer needs

Decision making and ability to drive ideas with speed

Desirable:

Experience in Intellectual property development and regulatory Is desirable

Working in multi-cultural environments, working with remote teams

Standards of Leadership:

Bias for Action

Building Talent and Teams

Growth Mindset

Consumer and Customer Focus

Accountability & Responsibility

Key Interfaces:

Internal:

Global Technical Project Leaders

Global Supply Chain

Discover R&D

Procurement Operations

Regulatory and SEAC

Category stakeholders

Consumer insights and Marketing

External:

Open Innovation Partners

Tea/Beverages Industry experts/forums

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Unilever is a global Fast-Moving Consumer Goods company in the UK and Ireland.

We are already on target to achieve our huge ambition to double the size of our business globally whilst reducing our environmental impact. We are growing our business and also doing what is right for our consumers, community and environment.

We are developing brands for people’s lives today and for the changing environment tomorrow - making sustainable living commonplace.

Working at Unilever means that you get to take part in this exciting journey and work with amazing people who are really passionate about our large portfolio of famous brands. We want to improve billions of lives and you too can join us in making a sustainable difference.

HOW TO APPLY

Hear stories from our Unilever Makers and understand how you can start your own Unilever career at:

http://www.unilever.co.uk/careers-jobs/professionals/.

Or to apply now, click on “Apply to this job”. All candidate applications are reviewed in accordance with the criteria outlined for the job role. Please note that the closing date for the receipt of applications is 09 th

May 2016

Candidates who have applied online can track their application through the candidate tracking link or, if you have any additional queries, you may contact the Recruitment hotline number on 0800 0284390 .

Job: Research/Development

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