Procurement Assistant Manager

JOB PURPOSE

The Beauty and Personal Care Category covers a variety of well-known brands such as Dove, Radox, Dushdas, Tresemme, Vaseline, Simple, Zwitsal Andrelon, among others.

The Category Procurement team is the interface between Portfolio Procurement teams (buyers) & suppliers and our internal business partners such as Marketing, Supply Chain and R&D, in order to make sure the category can land innovation/rejuvenation projects and 5S projects on time in full and is the first point of contact for Procurement related queries to support the business agenda.

The Category Procurement Assistant supports the Category Procurement Manager for one of the main small C’s and independently supporting various projects, questions and business partnering the cross functional teams.Key elements of the role are the support and co-ordination of the Innovation & Regulatory and Value Improvement Programs (savings), through close co-operation with the Procurement teams (Portfolio & Operations), R&D, Marketing, Supply Chain and the Category leadership teams within the 5S and C4G frameworks.

The role requires development of good relationship management skills with internal customers, including the wider Supply Chain, Quality Assurance teams, R&D, Marketing teams and Material Procurement Managers and the Procurement Operations team. It also offers the opportunity to build a network with the Global Category Procurement team as well as contact with multiple suppliers.

Due to the nature of this role and the importance in the business agenda, the person will get significant exposure to higher management and the role can be seen as a good step into a career within Procurement and Supply Chain.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE?

Innovation / rejuvenation projects:

• Participate in cross functional project teams for Innovation and Rejuvenation as the Procurement partner
• Lead Procurement input for decision making at leadership team level (innovation gatekeeping meetings for example) e.g. pricing of materials, risk statements, lead times and financial impact
• Brief Portfolio Procurement on upcoming innovations
• Identify (new) raw and pack materials introduced by Innovation projects together with business partners and ensure timely introduction, at a competitive price, ensuring supplier selection is in line with our Procurement Strategies and with sufficient capacity for growth
• As part of OTIF project delivery follow-up with Portfolio Procurement and suppliers to secure supplier capacity and capability for strategic growth and ensure contract creation and 1st delivery in a timely manner to meet first production dates

5S / Value Improvement

• Act as the procurement interface for the Category team’s 5S related activities. 
• Support on delivering the material cost savings target via Smart Buying and Smart Product and filling the pipeline for the value improvement workstream, in line with USLP strategy.
• Support on 5S projects (e.g. alternative supplier approvals, material changes) and ensure they are recorded by the Procurement Portfolio teams in our savings reporting systems. 
• Support organization of annual 5S workshops and regular 5S updates in the Category.
• Constantly monitor Gross Material Cost Impact and ensure business partners are clear on how much our savings program contribute to the GM ambition of the category and how material inflation is developing.

Other

• Support ASA/ AMA (alternative supplier/alternative material) projects delivery for either resilience or 5S reasons 
• Support on regulatory related topics (e.g. origin of materials, regulatory changes that may impact business and category)
• Support Procurement Operations with insights from business 

THIS ROLE WILL INTERFACE WITH THE FOLLOWING STAKEHOLDERS: 

Internal:

• Procurement:
• Procurement portfolios (buyers)
• Procurement operations 
• Sustainability team 
• Supply Chain (P&I, Manufacturing, Planning) 
• R&D (RDC, MET, TPLs)
• Marketing
• Finance (Category, Procurement)
• CCBT teams
• Quality 

External: 

• Suppliers 

MINDSET 

• Be outstanding in idea generation, ideas (savings or disruptive innovations on raw and packaging materials) that are forward thinking and that contribute to creating sustained competitive advantage.
• Strong at selling ideas to his/her business partners, internally and externally, translating these into effective proposals conveying value and communicating it accordingly.
• Act as an entrepreneur, treats business as his/her own, sets trends and is willing to lead, follow or get out of the way.
• Behave as a Partner to Win ambassador and demonstrate the value Procurement adds to the business.
• Appreciative of the value and impact of outstanding execution – an eagle eye for detail.
• Genuinely committed to Unilever’s sustainably lead business model, connected with Unilever and the business agenda.

SKILLS YOU SHOULD HAVE

• Self Management (priority setting, risk analysis, resources)
• Take ownership and responsibility; have energy and drive
• Be result and solution oriented
• Networking and relationship management
• Excellent communication skills
• Analytical skills
• Project management skills
• Drive for team alignment; be able to work in networks; be able to work independently
• Ability to work in virtual teams
• Good understanding of business economics
• Supply Market Intelligence and Analysis - Collecting Relevant Information; Analysing Supply and Demand Market Behaviour and Understanding Key Cost Drivers & Price Trends
• Managing Partnerships and Relationships (e.g. managing the ongoing relationship to deliver value to the business)

EXPERIENCE YOU SHOULD HAVE

• University/Bachelor degree or relevant experience 
• Minimum 3 years working experience in Procurement or Supply Chain  (if person has Unilever experience, then less years of work experience is also sufficient)
• Experience in Procurement and/or Innovation Management preferably in FMCG
• Experience of working in cross functional project teams
• Basic understanding of Finance