Assistant Sourcing Manager – MBS 1UL Europe

ABOUT PROCUREMENT

Part of the Supply Chain family, Procurement is responsible for over 35 billion euros of material and services spend globally with more than 60,000 suppliers, over half of them in MBS. Getting the right services and materials, sustainably sourced and ensuring responsible procurement is critical to ensuring our brands with purpose grow. Our teams work closely with the business to understand stakeholders' needs, bring innovation to meet changing consumer, employee, and customer needs, and drive financial value for Unilever through competitive buying. We’re at the forefront of digital procurement, bringing new tools and analytics to drive data-based decisions.

ABOUTMBS

MBS, Unilever’s Marketing and Business Services Procurement team, is responsible for Unilever’s sourcing and supplier strategy and execution for all third party spend across Marketing, Business Services, and IT, supporting the business requirements of Brands, Business Groups, Markets, and functions to drive 4G growth through strategic supplier management, cost and value management, sustainability, and innovation, aligned with Unilever’s Compass. The team manages an annual spend of ~9 Billion Euros with a supplier base of about 40,000.

ABOUT MARKETING AND BUSINESS SERVICES EUROPE

Within MBS, the buyer is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing the sourcing strategy in select Marketing and Business Services Portfolios, including collaborating with stakeholders on the ground. This role (WL1E) will be a key interface to the 1UL European business and report into Procurement Lead for 1UL Europe.

The buyer will increase the effectiveness of our procurement by creating an expertise-driven model, streamlining accountabilities, building capabilities, and leveraging knowledge, relationships, and business strategies.

They will increase the efficiency of our procurement by driving scale where it makes sense, decreasing fragmentation, prioritizing higher-impact spend areas, leveraging technology and data, and driving performance that unlocks growth for Unilever.

Key Accountabilities:

Position Objectives:

• Responsible for ensuring our Procurement as a Service Partners and procurement meet goals and objectives across 1UL EU
• Establish successful Ways of Working (WoW) between stakeholders and the Procurement as a Service provider
• Proactively engage with the Procurement as a Service Partner buyers to understand the strategic plan and drive best practices across the business
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders across 1UL Europe
• Establish successful Ways of Working (WoW) between stakeholders and Procurement as a Service Partner
• Engage with key suppliers and develop an understanding of their capabilities and solutions. Be aware and knowledgeable of industry key drivers and new technologies
• Lead communications with the business for select local sourcing strategies, together with the Procurement as a Service Partner

Professional Skills:

Skills/Competencies

• Ability to analyse sourcing data and conceptualise sourcing strategies to identify/propose sourcing opportunities together with our selected PaaS Partner
• Influencing skills to promote ideas and concepts back to stakeholders and budget holders in a Business Partner capacity
• Attention to detail and ability to assimilate, appraise and extract information quickly when faced with increasing data inputs
• Problem-solving skills to analyse information to evaluate internal demand and external supplier information and extract critical cost opportunities
• Thorough and astute preparation and approach for external contract negotiation
• Financial understanding of the supplier cost models and the lifetime cost of acquisition
• Strong negotiation skills to develop win-win situations with key suppliers
• Passion for challenging business stakeholders and driving change
• Ability to communicate effectively in the English language.

Experience Required:

ESSENTIAL

• Strong in project and time management for complex projects
• Comfortable working in conditions of ambiguity and leading through change
• Passion for delivering challenging value delivery targets
• A commercial operator and excellent negotiator
• Strong communicator with experience in working successfully in virtual team environments 

Internal contacts:

Supply Chain & Procurement:

• Supply Chain and Sourcing teams
• Supplier Operations

Stakeholders:

• Finance community
• Marketing and business services community
• Local WPS teams
• Factory teams

External:

• Suppliers

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.