Work Level: WL2B

Scope: Africa & Arabia

Reports to: METSA ESTABLISHMENT LEAD

Location: South Africa

Terms & Conditions: Full Time Contract role until December 2026

If you are in the Unilever Ice Cream business or are considering working for the Unilever ice Cream business, you will work for the global, leading Ice Cream player with €8bn Turn Over in 2023. The Ice Cream business is operating in a highly attractive category, as we are part of the 1 trillion snacking and refreshment industry, growing consistently at high pace. We have strong brands equities: 5 of the top 10 selling brands including Wall’s, Magnum, Ben &Jerry’s. We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of Ice Cream as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen by November 2025. Ice Cream has distinct characteristics from Unilever’s other operating businesses and the growth potential of Ice Cream will be better delivered under a different ownership structure.

Following the period of establishment of around 12-15 months, you will have options for career exploration and growth, allowing you to explore roles and through opportunities across the new organisation.

We hope that you will want to build the new chapter of our Ice Cream history together with us.

ABOUT ICE CREAM: Life Tastes Better With Ice Cream

Unilever Ice Cream is the largest global Ice Cream Company in the world, with over 100 years of experience delivering a diverse range of indulgent, yet responsible, craft food experiences and treats delighting consumers. Committed to innovation, quality, and sustainability we have 35 brands, including 3 one billion Euro brands (Magnum, Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s), a strong presence in over 60 countries, generating annual revenue of €8 billion. All brands are driven to transform moments into memories through indulgent yet responsibly made and marketed products. We have a well-developed strategy to deliver growth and value creation which is clear on where to play and how to win.

We turn the ordinary into the extraordinary by designing unique and innovative Ice Cream experiences that make life taste better, creating joyful experiences. In our Ice Cream business, we’re crafting the future through innovation and imaginative minds, creating unique products. We spark moments of happiness for people and within the communities where we operate. However, it is not as simple as it may seem. As Ice Cream makers we are serious about happiness. With warm hearts, we create the coolest products.

Leading for a winning, trusted and investible global ice cream market leader

This is your chance for a ‘once in a lifetime’ career experience, playing a part in the creation of a fully independent, new Ice Cream organisation.in what will be the Ultimate Pleasure Food company.

Just imagine the benefits of working within a single category, where everyone and everything is laser-focused on the same goal, where there's opportunity to develop deep and wide understanding of the business economics and international ecosystem of a single category, and to translate that into value creation.

JOB PURPOSE:

The Establishment team will drive the set-up, standalone design and implementation of all required structure and capabilities to enable Unilever’s Ice Cream Business to become a fully functioning standalone company, separate from Unilever. The roles in the Establishment team will sit with the Ice Cream Business and will work closely with the Unilever Separation team. 

This role will lead the establishment of end-to-end organization design and operating model for the Market within the standalone company supporting the organization through the transition across functions. This role will partner the Market GM and work closely with other Functional Leads, especially the CD and Finance Leads of the Establishment Office led by the Chief Establishment Officer. This will require collaboration with Business leaders, coordination across different functional workstreams and overall set up of a future-fit Market design for the standalone Ice Cream organisation.

The successful candidate will be one that has deep CD, Finance, and/or General Management expertise with a proven record of leading large-scale transformation and has a passion for change management, simplification, communication, and a desire to make a meaningful impact. This role will exist in its current form for ~12-15 months. We expect the separation process to have been concluded in this period with post-separation governance established.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This role will be the Market Lead for the successful enablement of a standalone Ice Cream company that is geared for future success as a Market leader in its industry. The role will be part of a dedicated, multi-disciplinary team led by the Ice Cream Chief Establishment Officer (Chief CO).

Strategic Design of standalone IC Market (with a focus on GTM transformation) and Market Operating Model:

Ensure end-to-end Market design for a standalone Ice Cream company, with a particular focus on GTM functions – landing the design of CD and Marketing, and technology deployment within the Market– and overseeing other functional designs within the Market for any Market-specific nuances.

Create and implement Customer Development processes and technologies that are Market-specific, coordinating closely with the Establishment CD Lead. 

Aligned to the Ice Cream Design Principles, co-create specific CD and Marketing design principles with the Establishment CD and Marketing Leads that support the Business strategy for the new Ice Cream company.

Proactively track and mitigate Business, operational & project risks for Market.

Set-Up/Execution of new IC Market Organization:

Assess current processes and systems to identify inefficiencies and areas for optimization. Design and implement streamlined processes and automation solutions to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Actively engage with external consultants and other companies to source best practices and insights to establish an effective operating model.

Set up the new operating model for execution excellence by facilitating design choices related to building, retaining, eliminating or outsourcing of activities.

Execution of Market-specific contracts set-up required to go live on day 1.

Strategic Planning, Execution and Governance for Establishment Program:

Lead planning for the separation process with a focus on the Market including defining objectives, timelines, and key milestones (critical path).

Partner with the BU Establishment team and the PMO to represent Ice Cream Business in overall Project Verdi governance (i.e. Unilever project on Ice Cream separation) with a focus on the Market

Manage execution of the plans with strong governance to measure, accelerate and unlock outcomes in a measurable and timely manner.

Ensure Business case is completed and delivery tracked for own area of focus.

Manage project risks and develop scenarios to mitigate.

Ensure transitional operating model is put in place for Day 1 Go-live, enabling internal and external separation contained within the plan.

SPECIFIC TASKS YOU WILL LEAD:

General Tasks:

Act as a single point of contact for the project in a market for all cross functional queries that are not managed directly in a workstream and cascading any information provided by global to the relevant country teams

Attend regular workstream meetings with the global and BU leads – normally finance supply chain & GtM functional meetings

Ensure that all data requests and activities are performed and implemented locally from the various works streams – mainly Finance & GtM will have local requests

Work with the local UL teams to ensure that all local reporting needs are met either through centrally provided reporting or local reporting i.e. daily sales report

Understand how the S&OP process will work locally E2E and align with global IC team and locally with the UL team to ensure the process works robustly and is well understood and embedded in IC

Determine requirements for local TSA services required from UL for the specific market i.e. for shared CD resources UL OOH team continuing to take orders from OOH customers until IC establish a full org

Act as a point of escalations for issues with TSA delivery i.e. manage issues locally before it gets escalated globally

Agreement of pass through costs across all functions that are shared 3rd party cost incurred in UL but a share of costs need to be charged to IC i.e. share of Neilsen/Kantar costs if IC do not have their own contract from day 0

GTM Activities:

Co-ordination of comms to customers – letter/email to customers informing them of the change of ownership – GtM lead activity

Work with GtM on separation activities like separating any shared contracts and recruiting into new org

GtM separation of contracts with customers  to move to IC dedicated contracts

Work with the local O2C team to ensure ice cream billing and flows continue smoothly at Day 0 i.e. reviewing the Product Pricing Hierarchy to ensure IC is separate so that rebates are held separately and rebate and balance sheet reviews can be handled separately

Help design and embed new O2C governance process for IC rebate and invoice approvals and rebate/balance sheet reviews

Establish any new distributor markets - will need to oversee the transition to the distributor and work with both central GTM teams & the people assigned to manage the distributor.

Work with local OOH team to ensure transfer of assets is done in time (e.g. cabinets)

Finance Activities

Review and sign off of D0 / D1 operating model and accounting flows implementation with key local stakeholders – Finance and General Manager activity – critical to ensure all flows are captured i.e. especially cross board flows

Support audit activities – extremely onerous and fully finance activity

Help set up IC rebate reviews in a new separate process

Help the IC finance team embed new processes and responsibilities relating to IC legal entity P&L monthly sign off and balance sheet review processes

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED:

Experiences & Qualifications

The preferred candidate would have 12+ years of experience in CD and/or Marketing and/or General Management.

Must have competencies

Systemic and strategic thinking: Being able to consider longer term implications for the Business, elevating the conversation to Business, society, and ecosystems. A deep understanding of the Business and levers to pull, engaging others to prioritise and pursue opportunities that deliver significant growth for Unilever and have a positive impact on the world. 

Owner’s mindset: Using financial acumen, data, and insights to inform their thinking that both makes the complex simple for others, creating a sense of urgency with a business edge and can show how those insights have created impact and delivered Business value.

Functional, Business and Commercial Acumen: Understanding of various Business and functional models, industry dynamics, and Market trends is crucial, combined with a deep understanding of how Unilever serves consumers to create a sustainable competitive and effective operation within the Market.

Change Leadership and Communication prowess. Leading and landing transformative change, comfortable experimenting with new approaches, pushing themselves and others to achieve outstanding outcomes. Crafting communication narrative that is inspiring and compelling to drive change.

Organizational Design Expertise: Experience and proficiency in designing organizational structures, roles, and processes that facilitate efficiency, collaboration, and adaptability. This includes considerations like hierarchy, communication channels, and workflow optimization.

REPORTING STRUCTURE

The role will report to the METSA Establishment Lead.

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life. 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. 

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity 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. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.