Innovation Quality Leader - Europe

Job content

Schedule: Full-time

Primary Location : Port Sunlight UK or Rotterdam Netherlands

Function: Supply Chain

Travel: Yes, 15 % of the Time

Description

Innovation Quality Leader

Department: European Personal Care Category Supply Chain
Reporting to: EU Innovation Quality Manager

Background

The Innovation Quality Leader plays an important role to embed quality into innovation, renovation and 5S projects as well as new business channels and models in Unilever. The main responsibility is to provide quality requirements and technical support; as well as guaranteeing that Unilever quality and innovation frameworks and tools are being followed (such as risk assessment and risk mitigation, building in consumer feedback and learnings form previous projects, launch monitoring plans, post-launch evaluations)

The Innovation Quality Leader will business partner and interface with all relevant functions and areas (incl. Marketing, R&D, Legal, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Sourcing Units Factories, Planning, Procurement, local, regional and global Quality teams) in order to guarantee alignment and engagement in all quality related activities.

Main Job Purpose

• Quality management of Innovation and Renovation projects and products for Europe - the focus here is primarily on high and medium risk projects with Unilever sourcing units or External Manufacturing Partners, potentially also with other Partners (such as Licensees, Customers, Repackers, Agencies and others).
• Represent Quality in key Stakeholder reviews when needed (across European Regional and Country levels)
• Quality management of global sourcing / cross regional sourcing of new products including compliance to ISO22716)
• Quality Reporting and Analysis related to projects and innovations: Production of reports to summarize and monitor quality KPIs (Consumer Complaints, Shop Inspection, Local Company and Trade Complaints and Internal Incidents). Ad hoc monitoring, analysis and reporting of other data to identify potential problems/trends.
• Serious Issue Management: Supporting Unilever Europe in managing Consumer Safety, Legal or other incidents.
• Continuously strengthen the understanding and meaning of quality in the Unilever Europe organization. Positively support consumer centric quality culture and its deployment throughout other functions within the business.
• Secure smooth quality implementation of priority Innovation projects in the supply chain, in Unilever or Manufacturing Partners including Suppliers.
• Continuously support Experimentation and new Business Models, providing Projects with support on achieving Quality requirements and Consumer Safety.
  

Main activities

• Partner the Business to deliver Innovations, by providing end to end quality requirements and guidance on the innovation, renovation or VIP process
• Guarantee that innovation, renovation and VIP projects are following Unilever framework and tools
• Provide quality inputs for project gate moves (for innovation and renovation projects)
• Co-lead with Technical project leaders the Technical Risk assessment for Innovation, Renovation and VIP projects, risk identification, mitigation/contingency plan, follow ups with the areas and communication to stakeholders
• Co-lead with Project Leader, Project Risk assessment when needed
• Provide quality requirements on Plant trial and Prototyping requests (example: cleaning requirements, quality success criteria, product segregation and identification requirements, release criteria – for saleable trials; etc)
• Deliver and agree on launch monitoring plans and project quality KPIs with Sourcing units and Technical Quality teams
• Leverage Quality KPI’s through innovation projects (Consumer Complaints, A, B, C & D Incidents, CRQS, T5Z/iCare)
• Provide support on post-launch evaluations/reviews
• Provide support on continuous improvement for innovation framework and tools
• Participate on cross functional team meetings or quality workshops for continuous improvement (example: Consumer Complaints reduction, CRQS targeted projects, incident reduction)
• Participation in European quality projects and roll-out [to run training where needed].
• Identification and transfer of “Best Practices“ across divisions as well as across EU Quality community
• Partner with the other Quality Capabilities (Operations, Supplier & Manufacturing Partner and Expertise) to deliver Quality Masterplan
  

Education

SKILLS/ EXPERIENCE

Desirable: Degree level, in a Business, Science (Chemistry, Microbiology, Foods Science), or Engineering discipline

Profile

Essential: working experience in the following areas

• min. 2-3 years of Quality, Supply Chain and/or R&D experience in Personal Care, Home Care, Food and/or Refreshment products
• Problem solving and continuous improvement processes
• Managing own workload and project planning. Must be able to take leadership on certain activities
• Interpersonal relationships, strong team player, ability to influence where direct control or responsibility lies with other groups or functions
• Flexibility and ability to adapt in different situations, including Disruptive Innovation models
• Project Management
• HACCP, GMP, ISO, Hygiene, allergen management
  

Desirable: experience in the following areas

• auditing skills (e.g. ISO 9001, FSSC22000)
• Statistical data analysis skills
• Regulatory/legislation
• Customer / consumer complaint management
  

Competencies

• Purpose & Service
• Agility
• Consumer Love
• Passion for High Performance
  

Additional Information

Some European business travel is required. Occasional travel outside of the EU.

Diversity & Inclusion

While we have an idea of the experience required to succeed in this role, we have no pre-requisites.

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities, and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity