UI R&D - Insights Claims & Product Experience - Assistant Manager

Business Context:

Unilever International is Unilever’s White Space Arm of Unilever and a decacorn in-making. UI has scaled 10x since its launch in 2012 and with a turnover of 1.4 billion € in 2024 it is one of the fastest growing and most profitable sizable business of Unilever

UI caters to the last billion consumers in underserved markets, consumer segments, and channels across 200+ countries and all Unilever categories. As intrapreneurs we deploy an agile innovation model that enables more than 1 launch per day. We introduce Unilever’s brands into white space geographies like Korea, Pacific Islands, Mongolia, and spearhead launches of iconic brands like Dove, Vaseline, Knorr, Surf, TRESemme into big markets like U.S, China, Europe, & Asia.

Crafting product innovations for niches like Corporate Partnership serving Hospitality & Travel retail, marketing to institutional partners like the United Nations, and seeding Unilever brands to overseas diaspora who crave for a taste of their familiar home brands.  As well as premium product segments, on-trend formats and D2C innovations globally. We navigate complex and dynamic global regulatory landscape to ensure product compliance and EHS assurance across Personal Care, Beauty & Wellbeing, Homecare, Nutrition & Ice Creams.

Singapore is our global hub leading strategy, marketing thinking, seeding plans, and alignment with the global categories and supply chain. We have a global presence with UI hubs all over the world. R&D is primarily spread across India (Mumbai & Bangalore) & Korea with some resources present globally.

PC is UI’s largest BG representing 42% of UI turnover.  Skin cleansing is the largest business for PC (€275 M), with double-digit growth rates. Deo is the second largest PC business (roughly 240M€), while Oral care, Grooming and others contribute to about €50M to PC turnover.  B&W is the most profitable BG for UI business growing double digit with an ambition to grow from 400M€ to 600M€. UI Lip care is already number #1 Lip business for Unilever, while Vaseline is number #2 for Unilever.  Apart from rapidly rolling BW portfolio globally, UI also has wide mandates for multiple PC & B&W brands including Pears, Camay, Suave, St Ives, Simple among others, wherein UI leads product design globally as per UI mandates.  

Job Title: Insight, Claims, & Experience Lead, Unilever International

Location: Mumbai, Unilever House

Function: Unilever International - R&D

Geographic Scope: Global

Travel Requirement: <10%

Purpose of the Job:

This role will be accountable for leading ICE capability i.e. Insights, Claims, & Experience for products across B&W, and PC categories (Combined turnover of over 1B €) to combine consumer/category/country/channel insights and with science behind our products to create compelling product experience toolkits (PETs) that help drive Desire at Scale for our brands globally.

Key Responsibilities:

• ICE Strategy & Roadmap:

Lead the ICE roadmap for PC and B&W brands in close collaboration with BG Marketing and R&D leads, ensuring alignment with global and regional business priorities. Support NPD and renovation projects by embedding ICE thinking early in the innovation funnel, ensuring claims and experiences are consumer-relevant and technically robust 

• Insight Mining & Translation:

Leverage range of Digital/AI based social listening tools, qualitative/ quantitative Unilever/ external data & collaboration with partners to paint a full picture for category, country, channel & consumer insights that inspire innovations. Translate these insights and technical product knowledge into emotionally resonant and scientifically credible communication platforms, product narratives, claims, and experiences. Own competitor monitoring data generation and analysis for PC&B&W categories and ensure up to data information and assessment to guide brand plans

• Product Experience Toolkits (PETs) for Innovations (Key Deliverable):

Support UI BG Marketing particularly on developing Social First Content & Claims – merging product science with insights from culture and consumer life to shape product stories relevant to cohorts. Create marketing aids for social first content for relevant products to be adapted by BG marketing.

• Highly differentiated, desirable yet scientifically accurate product claims
• Science-based engaging demos, product stories/ visuals etc. that drive product credibility
• Social first content and activation ideas enabling marketing campaigns & PR events

• New Product Development & Collaboration:

Collaborate with Experts in R&D, Regulatory, Legal, Sales and Marketing teams to ensure seamless integration of ICE elements into innovation and communication plans. Engage local claims forums (LCF) to ensure PETs are compliant with local regulatory requirements and support claim substantiation strategy with technical, clinicals, consumer, sensory science data to drive rigor in NPD projects. Develop & maintain relations with Unilever BG, BU CTI/CMI teams.

Preferred Skills

• Highly Curious & Observant: Keen interest in consumer/ behaviour psychology. Ability to spot consumer behavioural nuances, reads social cues well and interpret actionable product and communication insights.
• Social media native: Highly engaged and knowledgeable about strengths and audiences of various social media platforms and communities, with a keen awareness of trends and innate understanding of what resonates with target audiences and how to tailor content for each platform. Knowledge of social media algorithms to optimize for reach and conversion.
• Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, enjoys storytelling, with ability to convey complex (even scientific) information in a simple and engaging manner. Adapts communication style to different people and settings. Comfortable in multi-cultural / geographical / cross functional environment. Prefer videos, infographics, and interactive content over text-heavy formats for communication.
• Digital first & Analytical Mindset: Naturally comfortable using digital technology and generative AI. Ability to decode technical requirements to claim substantiation, analyse, visualize and present data in a clear and compelling way that is most relevant for users. Experience in digital and data systems is an advantage. High energy, multi-tasking ability.

Desired Qualification & Experience:

• Relevant and significant experience in Product Development/Brand Crafting/ Marketing /Content Creation/ Consumer Market Insight/Consumer Technical Insight
• Experiences in product claims development or scientific communications is highly desirable
• Bachelors/Masters in STEM is highly desirable. Open to education streams outside STEM including educational background in Marketing, Communication, Psychology, Behavioural Science etc.

Standards of Leadership: (Unilever International)

• CARE DEEPLY to nurture our tribe and work and win together
• FOCUS ON WHAT COUNTS – Consumer and customer obsession
• STAY THREE STEPS AHEAD to drive hunger for growth
• DRIVE WITH EXCELLENCE & Passion for execution
• DIGITAL YODA (Digital first mindset)