B&W Prospective Innovation - Head of R&D Skin Care

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B&W Prospective Innovation - Head of R&D Skin Care Sector: Research and Development
Role: Senior Manager
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: Full Time

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

Job Title: B&W Prospective Innovation - Head of R&D Skin Care
Location: Port Sunlight R&D/Remote EU (considered for the right candidate)
Work-Level: 2C

JOB PURPOSE Are you passionate about innovation and eager to shape the future of beauty? Do you thrive in dynamic, fast-paced environments and embrace the challenges of the unknown? If so, Unilever has an exciting opportunity for you. We have recently established the B&W Prospective Innovation & Sustainable Department - a cutting-edge, multidisciplinary team dedicated to crafting sustainable and groundbreaking solutions from inception to execution. Through experimentation, iteration, and transformative thinking, this team will push the boundaries of what's possible for B&W brands, elevating purpose, science, and consumer desire to the next level.

As a strategic interface between Brands, R&D, and Supply Chain, this team will pioneer a new ecosystem, working ahead of the traditional innovation curve. They will develop solutions aligned with strategic B&W priorities and high-growth spaces that are not only new to Unilever but also new to the world, with the potential to define the future of cosmetics.

Are you the next-generation leader who can scale profitable, sustainable, and desirable beauty at an unprecedented level? If you are ready to contribute to a team with a startup mindset at the forefront of innovation, this role is for you.

RESPONSIBILITIES Reporting directly to the Director of Operations of the B&W Prospective Innovation Department, you will set the direction and pace for product innovation and disruptive business models. You will lead and own your category's innovation roadmap, collaborating with a cross-functional team to bring your plans to market. This role allows you to curate an innovation strategy that aligns with the purpose of the brands you work on, driving growth within the Skin Care category.

Key responsibilities include:

1. Delivering Innovation Projects: Opportunity spotting e.g. new ingredients, new formats, new packaging solutions, new sensories primarily within our external ecosystem but also within our internal ecosystem.
2. Responsible for product delivery for all PISD Skin Care projects including (but not exclusively) Safety, regulatory, Legal (claim), formulation, pack, R&D and Manufacturing partners selection - from idea to launch. This includes understanding of financial profiles (COGS, GM etc) for each product and scaling opportunities of such.
3. Scope and introduce desirable and sustainable packaging solutions, such as plastic reduction and refill options.
4. Together with your PISD Marketing, CMI and Design partners (as well as internal & external partners), craft/input into the PISD product roadmap and strategy.
5. Be the bridge between PISD and BG R&D / S&T to ensure all innovations developed, including external ones, will meet the highest safety, quality and legal (claim) standards while driving speed to increase competitiveness.

Team leadership and cross-functional teamwork:

1. Work in a small but highly efficient cross functional team, across a number of projects.
2. Form, develop and maintain key strategic internal and external relationships with partners, from formulation to manufacturing.
3. Align and engage cross-functional partners, both internal and external, to deliver projects on time and in full.
4. This global role requires close collaboration with global and local teams in our top business units and markets (e.g., US, UK, India) as you move from strategy to execution.

ALL ABOUT YOU

1. Founder's Mindset: Embracing a growth-oriented approach and seeing challenges as opportunities.
2. Consumer-Centric: Strong bias towards understanding and prioritizing consumer needs.
3. Entrepreneurial Leadership: Lead with an entrepreneurial mindset, embracing challenges as opportunities and driving a high-performance culture.
4. Creative Ideation: Exceptional ability to generate and refine innovative ideas.
5. Bias for Action & Mastery: As a self-starter, operate effectively in fast-paced environments, adapting quickly and maintaining a proactive attitude.
6. Strong Interpersonal Skills: Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships.
7. Flexibility: Adapt to changing priorities with ease.
8. Collaborative Team Player: Thrive in team settings, contributing to collective success without being territorial.
9. Learning Orientation: Eager to listen, learn, and incorporate expertise from others.
10. Resilience: Maintain effectiveness in managing uncertainty and volatility.
11. Analytical Thinking: Objectively observe, research, and solve problems, making data-driven decisions.
12. External Orientation: Maintain an outward focus, building strong external partnerships. Comfortable in delivering innovations via strong reliance on 3PM.
13. Judgment and Focus: Quickly identify and prioritize the biggest opportunities. Good judgement of premium beauty cues and trends (sensories, pack, fragrance, finish ).
14. Organizational Excellence: Push boundaries, stay focused, and know when to move forward without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.

KEY SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES:

1. Innovation: Proven innovation delivery and execution in one or multiple markets from idea to launch.
2. R&D expertise: You have relevant years' experience in R&D particularly in Skin Care with proven understanding of product trends in this category.
3. Project Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead, deliver, execute complex projects with multiple stakeholders.
4. Diverse Experience: Experience in both smaller, growth-stage companies and larger, established businesses.
5. Effective Communication: Communicate clearly and persuasively, tailoring your approach to different audiences.
6. Storytelling & Communication: Ability to articulate and communicate science, innovative ideas compellingly to various audience, to create social post content, to create demos to showcase efficacy / perception of visual efficacy (e.g. before/after).
7. Financial Savvy: Strong awareness of financial metrics particularly related to crafting and landing innovations.

MUST / Top 3 Behaviours:

1. Collaborative Team Player: Thrives in a team setting, avoiding territorial behaviour, and always working towards collective success.
2. Growth mindset and founder's mentality: Demonstrates a growth-oriented, bias for action and hands-on approach, embracing challenges as opportunities for innovation and improvement. Consistently delivers incremental results, even in complex or ambiguous environments, with a clear focus on achieving tangible outcomes.
3. Ability to self-motivate and drive change: Maintains composure and effectiveness when faced with uncertainty and volatility, demonstrating strong problem-solving abilities.

MUST / Top 3 Skills

1. Excellent communication: (and listening) and excellent (proven) stakeholder management.
2. Innovative Curator: Brings fresh, innovative thinking to the table, consistently pushing boundaries and exploring new possibilities, including in ways of working.
3. Consumer obsession: & absolute commitment (and clear evidence) to building strong external partnership.

Values

1. Commitment to B&W and PISD Stated values: Respect, Trust, Integrity, Commitment to team, Creativity.
2. Alignment: with your own professional values.

Domain Expertise (relevant and recent experience within the business group) for WL2C:

1. You have relevant years' experience in R&D. Strong preference for cross functional experience, expertise in Skin Care, with great understanding of product trends in these categories.
2. A strong mix of a Do-er (rapid execution at high quality) and Thinker (able to actively input into product strategy and design).
3. Ability to make the most of Unilever toolboxes and proprietary solutions and mix these with strong partnerships for both product creation and manufacturing.
4. Comfortable in delivering via strong reliance on 3PM.
5. Good judgement of premium beauty cues and trends (sensories, pack, fragrance, finish ).
6. Highly driven individual with ambition to deliver outstanding product mixes at great speed. A self-starter who takes the initiative, makes things happen and achieves results through continuous optimisation.
7. A scrappy entrepreneurial mindset, comfortable with a high level of uncertainty.
8. Most of all - a love for beauty products, seeing them come to life, and bringing them to market.

NOTES Please apply via this portal as e-mail applications may not be processed and include your Future Fit Plan if possible.

By applying for this vacancy, you are confirming that you have made your Line Manager aware of your application and that you are at a point in your career with Unilever where it is appropriate for you to be applying for other positions.

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