Portfolio Procurement Manager – Fine chemicals (Polymers and Cellulosics)

Please Note: The deadline for applying is 23.59 the day before the job posting end date.

Job Title: Portfolio Procurement Manager – Fine chemicals (Polymers and Cellulosics)

Location: Port Sunlight Office

JOB PURPOSE

As a manager for Fine Chemicals Procurement , you will be responsible for contracting of a portfolio to manage a spend of approximately € 150m for the business across a number of purchase commodities within Polymers and Cellulosic Ethers).

The role also is a strong contributor to the innovation pipeline and clean future agenda, given the importance of cleaning polymers and cellulosics to the performance superiority of homecare finished goods as well as chemical footprint reduction and weight efficiency enabling cost savings

This position reports into Director, Global Procurement, Home Care Business. In this position, you will have 1 direct report – Asst. Manager Procurement.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Material Strategy:

• Annually review and (re) define global sourcing strategy for your portfolio (7 steps of strategic sourcing) based on close collaboration with BU’s and Categories for input, in line with the market dynamics and for value creation considering : supply/demand, pricing competitiveness, material risk profile, R&D development projects and new finished goods launches, supplier innovation, BU / country specifics including channels/ warehousing options, working capital and stock holding, vertical integration opportunities, suppliers’ profile and financial risks.

• Drive alignment of such (re)defined strategies’ execution with all key stakeholders in Business Groups, Business Units, R&D, Supply Chain and Procurement teams and secure successful execution and communication within the organization

• Lead resilience management for the portfolio – follow up and secure implementation of existing defined strategies for risk mitigation in line with BG annual High risk materials targets, continuously scout new alternatives for existing sources to reduce risks and create value through savings (alternative supplier approval, stock holding, alternative material introduction, vertical integration)

• Foster and scout for new technologies for bio-polymers, microplastics free opacifiers, cost competitive acrylic acid co and homopolymers

• Identify newer opportunities and models of sourcing for the business: e.g. Joint buying, upstream buying, buy to sell, etc.

Portfolio Management:

• Develop a deep understanding of material value chains to unbundle and optimize delivered costs through lean principles, logistics, sourcing and channel optimization projects

• Follow dynamically changing market conditions, understand direct and indirect factors influencing supply, demand and prices and develop a view of future markets trends for the business

• Develop short/mid-term negotiation tactics

• Full contracting cycle for the materials: from creation and administration of RFQ’s/Tenders to the negotiation and closure of contract

• Use Smart Buying tools for extracting greater value eTender, cost-plus/ market-minus pricing mechanisms, nego-factory, mechanistic formula pricing linked to feedstocks, RFQs etc.

• Manage the quarterly Price Forecasting for the Raw materials in the portfolio, develop the medium long term view in conjunction with S&I, market developments for feedstocks, supply/demand, BU’s project new launches and secure timely input in the Forecasting tools (Anaplan);

• Provide the synthesis of savings / opportunities and risks and necessary details in liaise with Finance, record those in respective systems and follow up on progress for materialization

• Create/ collaborate and approve sourcing contracts in the Contract Lifecycle Management system on time in full

• Periodic run reports and follow up on contracts offtake vs obligations to secure pricing preferential conditions or liability incidence

• Compliance of materials with Unilever specifications, through approvals granted by R&D teams

• Continuously scans the market to benchmark Unilever’s performance vs. competition

Supplier Management:

• Nurture and manage supplier relationships to ensure Unilever gets top priority in service, quality, cash, and cost of materials and understand supplier and eventually Tier N risks and contingency plans at suppliers

• Create supplier profiles (Supplier passport) and scorecard their performance, including financial risks and resilience

• Measure and manage overall performance of suppliers while leading several strategic relationships

• Manage all contracting discussions with the suppliers, including RFQ, negotiations, compliances, etc.

• Execute legal contracts with suppliers in the form of Unilever Purchase Agreement and Commercial Terms Contract (and where required, also Special Terms Contracts)

• Manage the Compliance of suppliers and sources on Unilever Supplier Qualification System (Aravo): Responsible Sourcing Policy compliance and Quality Assessment compliance

• Supplier scouting, Business case evaluation

• Engage and lead the discussions with PTW, and JBDP suppliers to identify opportunities on value generation, sustainability, and resilience

Business engagement:

• Work closely with Business Groups & Business Units to identify key Innovation Projects (short term savings, medium – long term new chassis driven by performance superiority and regulations) and initiatives like Clean Future program, its objectives and deliverables and drive the agenda through supplier partnerships

• Understand the business strategy, short- and long-term volume forecasts for the materials to incorporate these inputs in the strategy to make it sharper and more effective

• Give clear forecasts to the business based on market trends and analysis of factors affecting the market: provide rationale, commentary, and analysis to support forecasts

• Provide support to Business Groups & Business Units for projects run by them on rolling out innovation, any product change/ formulation change, change in supply chain strategy/ sourcing unit relocation, processing configurations, demand forecast change, etc.

• Flag risks of materials to the business like single/sole sources, stranded locations, logistic burden, special packaging requests leading to oncosts or supplier restructuring/ asset closures etc

• Manage supplies at the time of any failure on the ground (crisis management) to keep SUs running always, lead and manage effective on time communication/ updates to stakeholders

• Bring forward to the business R&D the supplier presented innovation platforms for screening (supplier pitch)

• Contribute to the business / R&D – procurement annual reviews with supplier segmentation review, partnership updates (Green pages)

• Contribute to the Business 5S savings initiatives in strong collaboration with BU’s and formats R&D

Team & cross functional collaboration:

• Lead strategic projects in the portfolio, through cross functional teams including BG/BU, R&D, Finance, Legal, Supply Chain, Procurement, etc.

• Closely liaise with S&I, Finance, Legal, R&D teams to achieve common goals & KPIs

• Directly contribute and manage the development of reporting team and other assistant managers in the portfolio.

ALL ABOUT YOU

• Bachelor Degree in Commerce / Marketing or (Bio) Chemistry/ Engineering, with a strong supply chain/ procurement or commercial (sales/ distribution) experience

• MBA is advantageous for non-commerce backgrounds

• Strategic and operational experience as Procurement Manager

• Very Strong Analytical, Interpretation and Communication skills: data/information analysis and presentation.

• Ability to read markets and convey findings along with recommendations, to the business

• Agile and easily adaptive to changes, high capacity to work under stress, Pro-active and self starter, well organized with good planning sense, able to decide and delegate

• Strong team player with good capability to take ownership, initiative and work also independent

• Strong leadership skills and experience in Complex stakeholder management across ranks and functions, cross functional leading by influencing and coaching direct reports

• Knowledge and experience of forecasting, planning processes, market operations, supply chains

• Prior experience in Home Care category and background in chemicals preferred: understanding of value chain end to end, understanding of HC products, consumer understanding, category priorities, etc.

• Basic understanding of chemicals and home care formulation chemistry or easiness to understand role and importance of the materials in the formulation

• On the feet thinking, strong crisis management skills

• Comfort with systems and digital tools is an advantage (Buyers’ console, Power BI reports, Anaplan, SAP CLM, USQS, ARAVO etc.)

NOTES

About Unilever

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. Unilever has more than 400 brands found in homes around the world, including Dove, Tresemme, Lynx, Lifebuoy, Shea Moisture, Persil, Domestos, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Marmite, The Vegetarian Butcher, Graze and Pot Noodle.

Faced with the challenge of climate change and the need for human development, we want to move towards a world where everyone can live well and within the natural limits of the planet. That’s why our purpose is ‘to make sustainable living commonplace.

What We Offer

Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, subsidised gym membership, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all.

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities, and growing together for better business performance. We want to push boundaries, and have the flexibility needed to keep adapting in an ever-changing, more dynamic world. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

As part of your hiring journey, we are happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments, to improve your recruitment experience.

To find out more, including more information about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here (https://www.unilever.co.uk/planet-and-society/equity-diversity-inclusion-at-unilever-uki/) .

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Job Category: Supply Chain

Job Category: Supply Chain

Job Category: Chaîne d’approvisionnement

Job Type: Procurement Mgr-Portfolio

Industry: UnileverExperiencedProfessionals