Procurement Director – Paper & Board Packaging (Woodbased)

Join usas Procurement Director – Paper & Board Packaging.

Scope: Global
Location: Warsaw, Poland

Unilever Procurement is responsible for close to 40B Euro of material and services spend globally with more than 50,000 suppliers. Getting the right 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 brand needs, bring supplier innovation to meet changing consumer needs, and drive financial value for Unilever through competitive buying. We are at the forefront of digital procurement, bringing new tools and analytics to drive data-based decisions. 

With over 1400 employees globally, we support a network of thousands of suppliers, more than 1.5 million smallholder farmers who, in turn support communities of over 7 million people. Our procurement lighthouse strategy has Competitive Buying in the center and focuses on Sustainable sourcing, Partnerships, end-to-end Value Chain optimization, and superior availability of materials and services. Our lighthouse strategy is supported by a Talent powerhouse and an inclusive team and powered by Technology.

The Impact of the Procurement Materials Team

The Materials team is composed of portfolios such as Fragrances & Flavors, Palm & Oleochemicals, Packaging Rigids, Packaging Flexibles, Plastics and Woodbased (Paper and Board) and the management of Unilever Oleo Chemicals Indonesia factory. The purpose of the Materials team is to drive the implementation of the Procurement Lighthouse Strategy in the sourcing and supply strategy of our materials being managed in and servicing all Unilever Business Groups and Units. Together with the 300 procurement professionals and 700 manufacturing colleagues, we manage all the portfolios globally, with a close connection to our business spread around the globe.

JOB PURPOSE

Best balance of cost, availability, sustainability, and partnerships in the Packaging portfolio, helping achieving Unilever Growth Action Plan and the procurement Lighthouse strategy. The packaging portfolios of Woodbased. Woodbased is all packaging that has wood as a base in its format, e.g., corrugated boxes and carton board boxes. Spend approx. 0.7bn Euro. The role is also responsible for the development and delivery of the Woodbased Packaging strategy end-to-end. Leading team of approx. 50 procurement professionals based in our global/market locations with > 10 direct reported managers.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and maintain the material Portfolio strategy for Wood Based Packaging.

• Ensure that the Portfolio strategy is leveraging Global scale, but tailored and addresses specific Business Groups needs, such as premiumization.

• Ensure that the Portfolio strategy is leveraging our lighthouse strategy (Value chain optimization & sustainability (CO2 reduction, Non-Deforrest sourced).

• Develop the supplier partnership framework and engagement model to be deployed globally for today and tomorrow’s portfolio.

• Conduct joint business development plans with key partners and manage ongoing relationships.

• Create a multi-year, cost savings program funnel for market deployment, optimizing E2E chains.

• Develop best in class contracting strategies for commercial agreements.

• Leverage global benchmarking to identify areas of commercial opportunity across markets.

• Liaise with other senior executives across the organization to ensure procurement. strategies and activities are integrated with other parts of the business and aligned with the overall objectives.

• Support the business delivery and professional development of the direct reports (managers) and indirect reports (assistant managers).

• Agree on best strategies on Risk management for the portfolio, together with Commodities Risk Management team/ identify and execute physical hedging opportunities, including support on definition of economic assumptions for forecast purposes.

• Provide a reliable and accurate forecast of market and UL portfolio prices.

• This role is part of the Materials Procurement Leadership Team.

REQUIREDQUALIFICATIONS

• University degree

• At least 15 years’ experience in Procurement, Supply Chain or R&D.

• Expert buying, negotiation, and contracting skills.

• Strategic sourcing, portfolio strategy expertise.

• Supply market and FMCG knowledge.

• Experience in large-scale project management roles.

• Expertise in sustainability, plastics, circular economy, and processing technologies.

• Demonstrated and proven leadership capabilities to lead a virtual global team.

• Have the ‘gravitas’ (experience, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills), allowing one to effectively and efficiently interact with senior stakeholders across the company.

• Demonstrating the different standards of leadership, such as talent catalyst, business acumen, agility, and passion for high performance.

• Excellent in connecting with people across different levels and geographies, and the ability to bring teams & people together to drive a shared vision.

Travel:

• The role has a global responsibility; some amount of flexibility is required for catering for time-zone differences.

• The role will require regional and global travel (20% of the time).
  

Stakeholders:

Internal:

• Procurement teams (Portfolios teams, Business Units and Business Groups, Strategy & Insight team, Supplier Operations, and Sustainability).

• UPLT (procurement leadership team) and PCLF (extended procurement leadership team).

• Supply Chain (global and regional leaders).

• R&D.

External:

• Suppliers.

• Audit companies.

OUR OFFER

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.