Associate Director, Category Marketing UFS North America

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. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. 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.

Unilever Food Solutions is a business built by Chefs, so we know what you face every day in the kitchen. Everything we do is focused on making your life a little easier. Our purpose is to Free Chefs to love what they do. 

Unilever Food Solutions is the foodservice (B2B) part of Unilever F&R, and as such we are at the heart of carving out some of the new WOW between Retail, OOH and FS teams – Aurora. We are present in 26 multi-country organizations (MCOs) and have an ambitious plan to grow double digit in the coming years.

The NAM Foods Team sits at the heart of the portfolio and innovation transformation to go hand in hand with the business target and the market needs. So, if you thrive on challenge and want to be part of a progressive, ambitious and fast-paced team which embraces the digital first world to get closer to your customer, leverages lean and agile ways of working to move and learn fast, then this is a role for you!

JOB PURPOSE

We are searching for an experienced Associate Director, Category Manager to take Global strategy and leverage local insight to strengthen the existing portfolio and build the future portfolio for Out-of-Home across Scratch  Categories.

This role’s focus is on the Scratch category and it’s main Unilever brands, as well as UFS brands. This category is a key strategic choice for the business as well as the widest and most complex portfolio that extends from Bases to Sauces, Soups, Entrees etc – covering categories that are big, profitable and face high competition in the markets. Category performance and adherence to UFS strategy is key to deliver total UFS’s growth ambition. 

This role offers the opportunity to be part of a growth plan for the category and for UFS’s main growth platforms and to shape the future funnel and propositions. This is the 2nd biggest brand and category for UFS.  As such, it demands strategic, entrepreneurial, can-do attitude paired with strong project management skills. A good degree of familiarity with brand communication, digital tools and innovation process is also required.

• Responsible for driving core along with establishing a clear roadmap for sub-brands within the portfolio, craft their growth acceleration and market winning plan
• Devise a clear roadmap for all sub-categories within Scratch whether to Accelerate, evolve or defend play basis market understanding, growth potential and our right to win
• Innovation and Renovation Project Management, delivery, strategy, Portfolio Transformation and Brand Communication. Expectation is to challenge the business in terms of speed of innovation and ways to launch in the market within the digital transformation journey
• Owns portfolio positioning, sustainable growth strategy and strategy into action to win market share, including net revenue management
• Drives the full Operator Lifecycle: Work closely with Operator Experience Marketing to understand the Customer Experience (CX).
• Own local Category Strategy and Innovation / Rejuvenation roadmaps, as well as ‘Brand-Led Growth’ initiatives. 
• Lead business transformation via owning progressive innovation platforms, being able to drive network/virtual teams globally to think and act differently. Strong can-do mentality and mindset a must!
• Understand deeply Scratch category insights and foresights-- from trends to tensions, opportunities and competition.
• Ensure Global Category Strategies reflect key insights from NA
• Define growth strategy for Scratch to capitalize trends and tailwinds, or fix the tensions

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• Country & stakeholder management
• Digital
• P&L reviews and analysis
• Budget ownership

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences & Qualifications

• 10+ years International Marketing experience required including innovation management and delivery
• Brand / Category management experience required
• Innovation & Renovation project management.
• Ensure impactful innovation on the core/ pack/ price architecture to growth and increase profitability.
• Price position and tracking
• Creates Purpose-led brand content for Innovations & top 10’s for key touch points.
• Ensures product campaign, messages integration into content Calendar & journey stages.
• Responsible for Sales enablement Unilever Food Solutions in the foodservice (B2B) part of Unilever.
• Strategy into Action: Develops strategy to drive growth & customer experience
• Business acumen: Deep Understanding of sales/marketing funnels, operator lifecycle & marketing automation journeys.
• Customer Centricity
• Creative & Persuasive Content Performance Measurement & Analysis

Leadership

• You are an inclusive motivator of people. Your team deliver with real passion, growing and learning from each other whilst delivering quick wins.
• You are still responsible for your own results and as a manager, you also need to motivate others to deliver with passion, creating an inclusive and engaging climate around you. You can balance challenge with support and coaching. You understand the wider business context and you are emotionally intelligent enough to motivate people to deliver what is needed.

• 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.

Pay: The pay range for this position is $141,680 to $212,520. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.

Bonus: This position is bonus eligible.

Long-Term Incentive (LTI): This position is LTI eligible.

Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.

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Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion 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. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. 

For more information about your Federal rights, please see Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination isIllegal and Pay Transparency Non discrimination Provision.

Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at NA.Accommodations@unilever.com. Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses. The Protected Veterans or Individuals with Disabilities AAP narratives are available for inspection by any employee or applicant for employment Monday through Friday during normal business hours at establishment.