Strategic Planning Ice Cream North America, Associate Director

Background & Purpose of the Job

This role supports the North America Supply Chain Ice Cream business. The NA Ice Cream Category is $3 Billion in annual sales and growing! This person is an important player for the category since they will develop the long-term Supply Chain strategies to create value for the category within the existing and future portfolio, then lead execution on those sourcing changes. 

The strategic planning manager is responsible for category medium- and long-term capabilities, including capacity planning for the sourcing Units, also working to resolve long term demand and supply constraints. They are responsible for aligning on a long-term stock strategy; inventory performance to target; overall supply - demand balance for the medium to long term horizon; crisis-resolution of short-term supply issues escalated by GTM planning team; performing sourcing network analysis and developing sourcing proposals for approval by the category SC team and finally executing sourcing strategy as determined by category SC team. They are also responsible for driving total SC savings with respective SC functions.

This person will closely interact with Brand, Supply/Demand Planning, Factories, Finance, Procurement and R&D to deliver F4G targets, drive resiliency creation and enhance margin through sourcing adjustments.   

Who You Are & What You’ll Do

• Lead the long-term capacity views to support investment plan around organic growth; and innovations while recommending operational improvements to reduce conversion costs
• Support PG leadership in driving a long-term supply chain strategic (Source, Plan, Make, Deliver) plan capable of supporting delivering maximum return on asset investments; and enable a cost-efficient end-to-end Supply Chain from Procurement to Manufacturing to Route to Market.
• Provide Long Term Capacity Plan (LTCP) for the sourcing units and manage demand/supply exception resolution in medium & long term.
• First point of contact for GTM planning team to resolve supply constraints requiring resolution
• Sourcing case preparation & implementation: Support sourcing network design optimization
• Accountable and responsible for driving delivery of 5S savings (through manufacturing excellence, restructuring, procurement and logistics efficiencies) to fuel growth and investments within the region.
• Influence senior leadership on sourcing strategies, support analysis around capital investment decisions and trade-off recommendations for key brand-led innovation while implementing above restructuring and savings initiatives.
• Category SC lead for all strategic projects (M&A, restructuring, etc.)
• Manage trade-offs on investments between infrastructure, innovation, 5S savings and capacity within allotted capital investment budgets.
• Identify cross regional sourcing synergies and coordinate interactions between regional supply/innovation teams and global planning.
• Work closely with Procurement teams on Make vs. Buy, long term RM/PM requirements and supply constraints.
• Liaison with global teams to support import and export process.
• Key deliverable metrics: GM bps improvement, 5S savings, Stock DOH reduction; support end-to-end SC Costs and Production Cost improvements through effective planning strategies.

What You’ll Need To Succeed

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Supply Chain or Business (with SC focus)
• Direct manufacturing/engineering experience an advantage.
• Strong business acumen.
• People management, Strategic and creative thinking, independent decision making, Influencing and Project management skills.
• Experience managing cross functional/cultural and distributed teams.
• 5+ years SC planning / operational / strategy roles at a managerial level.

Who You Are & What You’ll Do

• You’re a born leader: You have a strong sense of personal accountability, curiosity, and an analytical mind. You are cool under pressure. You identify potential risks and pitfalls while making gains and delivering results. You lead, motivate and influence particularly in complex and challenging environment.
• You’re a strategy guru: You not only understand what the sourcing network needs to be today, but more importantly what needs to be done tomorrow.  You can balance multiple tradeoffs and priorities within projects to arrive at the best solution.
• You’re a storyteller: You can clearly explain to, present to, and strategically influence key stakeholders for new supply chain designs.
• You love to win and have fun doing it: We make big choices on investments and capital that have impact for years down the road. You must be bold in the recommendations, always working with a win-win mind-set in the face of setbacks. 
• You’re a changemaker: You are comfortable challenging norms while working collaboratively with stakeholders. You are often the first tackle change and will need to bring others along the journey.

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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 is Illegal 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.