Assistant Procurement Manager, Plastic Sustainability - Europe (Senior Buyer)

ABOUT UNILEVER

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. Our strategy begins with a purpose that places consumers at the heart of everything we do: Brighten everyday life for all. Our goal is to deliver best-in-class performance with market-making, unmissably superior brands. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world. At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our collaborative, and flexible working environment. Our organizational ambition centers around creating workplaces that foster equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging across all aspects of our business.We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

ABOUT PROCUREMENT

Part of the Supply Chain family, Procurement is responsible for over 30B Euro of material and services spend globally with more than 60,000 suppliers. 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, employees and customers 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. Our strategy is ‘Procurement with Purpose’ and focuses on buying responsibly, buying better, and growing together with partners around the world. Our ambition is based on three key drivers: being Purpose-Led, Value-Driven, and Future-Fit.

JOB PURPOSE:

Unilever is the place where you can bring your purpose to life with the work that you do – creating a better business and a better world. If you are passionate about sustainability , are looking to make a difference in Plastics and help Unilever achieve its commitments, then this role is just for you!

Unilever has made significant external commitments on Plastics within its strategy to transition to a circular economy. Two of these commitments are to reduce our virgin plastic footprint by 30% by 2026 and 40% by 2028, and collect and process more plastic than Unilever sells by 2025. For these two commitments, there is a need to increase the use of recycled content in our plastic packaging portfolio.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAINACCOUNTABILITIESBE:

The role has the following main aspects:

• Virgin resin/ PCR sourcing

• Benchmarking

• Support PCR Strategy implementation

• Contracting and Negotiation

• Forecasting

• Supplier relationship management

• Stakeholder management

The role works in cross-functional teams: R&D, Supply Chain, Planning, Finance, Legal and suppliers as well as the wider Procurement teams.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE:

Sourcing/portfolio strategy

• Execution of the regional Virgin/ PCR RESIN buying strategy.

• Drive sourcing projects which enable delivery on overall goals and objective

• Resilience- Alternative supplier and material approvals.

• Driving Sustainability

Cost optimization/savings/buying performance

• Competitively buy sustainable resins

• Setting up imported supply chain for resin procurement and driving competitiveness in local markets.

• Creating direct interactions with the appropriate stakeholders / functional / operating teams within the business to drive buying behaviour and change requirements

Forecasting

• Responsible for price forecasting ensuring accuracy and completeness of the forecast economic assumptions and communicating timely to key business stakeholders forecast updates timely

Contracting and negotiation

• Ensure compliance to defined procurement procedures-contracting, contract management process.

• Close liaison with strategy and insights teams in identifying metrics, tools, and processes to optimize sourcing, supplier activities and efficiencies.

• Launching Requests For Proposals/ Tenders within appropriate timelines.

• Ensuring Commercial Terms Contracts are signed off with Suppliers.

Supplier relationship management

• Measuring and managing overall supplier performance

• Ensure compliance to our responsible sourcing policy

• Support service, resilience, and quality strategies

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED

Experience & Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s degree with at least 5+ years’ experience in Procurement

- Experience in project management

- Experience in Commercial skills, Managing partnerships

- Supply market and FMCG knowledge

- Passionate about Sustainability.

- Strategic sourcing and thinking

- Demonstrated and proven capabilities to work within a virtual global team and convince / engage leadership team.

Skills:

· Knowledge in plastic sustainability, Circular Economy, and plastic waste management

· Understanding of Unilever’s Sustainability agenda and the plastics challenges

· Effective communication skills , internally and externally.

· Excellent presentation skills to convince and engage stakeholders

· Buying & Negotiation skills (core procurement skills)

· Digital and data analytics knowledge

· Financial acumen for business cases and reporting

LEADERSHIP:

· You are energized by delivering fantastic results. You are an example to others – both your results and your resilience. You are constantly on the lookout for better ways to do things, engaging and collaborating with others along the way.

· As an individual you are the one responsible for your own wellbeing and delivering high standards of work. You must also focus on the Consumer and what they need. You are humble and have your head up, looking around to interpret evidence and data smartly, spot issues and opportunities to make things better.

En tant qu'employeur responsable et inclusif, Unilever est attentif à la diversité et à la mixité de ses équipes. Nos recruteurs sont engagés et veillent à l'application de processus de recrutement non-discriminants.

Tous nos postes sont ouverts aux personnes en situation de handicap et Unilever accompagne ses collaborateurs dans la mise en place d'éventuels aménagements de poste et de dispositifs d'accessibilité.