Planning Leader

**ABOUT UNILEVER**
Unilever is the place where you can bring your purpose to life with the work that you do - creating a better business and a better world. You will work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. You will lead innovations, big and small, that will make our business win and grow. You will learn from brilliant business leaders and colleagues who provide mentorship and inspiration so that you can become a better you.

**JOB PURPOSE**
Unilever is the place where you can bring your purpose to life with the work that you do - creating a better business and a better world. If you want to be part of Unilever´s history, as being part of the creation of a completely new site that has the expectation to be a state of the art and future fit factory, a model for other sites to reference both internally and externally, then this role is just for you

**WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE**
The role ensures that conceptual Innovation is developed in accordance with the business’ strategic objectives. They will represent the Supply Chain as a process leader in the early and developmental stages of the innovation process. This planning portion of the role helps analyze our manufacturing network to determine improvement opportunities within the Supply Chain. These critical insights will assist the Supply Chain in supporting long term business growth, while optimizing the network and achieving gross margin improvements.

**WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED**
- Supports relevant innovation, renovation, and brand led growth projects across all FS Categories.
- Manages communication of project activity within the Innovation Project Team, the Supply Chain and the Business Team in accordance with the IPM Process.
- Develops functional NA project timelines with input from the Innovation Project Team to support the delivery of the innovation process from project creation to launch. Manages timelines to ensure that projects stay on time and on budget. Holds team accountable for delivering milestones throughout project to ensure team stays on track for successful launch in Canada and the United States.
- In conjunction with UASCC strategic planning team, works with Contract Manufacturing, Unilever plants and co-packers to assess capability, capacity, capital requirements and assist in assignment of source selection, especially as it relates to projects.
- Leads plant trial, sales sample generation, and first production process with sales, planning, deployment, and manufacturing locations. Included in this activity will be managing all activation activities associated with the scheduling of first production, the BOM approval process and contract placement activities with support teams from Supply Management and the Supply Chain Planning team.
- Represents SC in risk assessment workshops and technical workshops for selected innovation projects.
- Works with R&D and TIMQ to lead the technical innovation reviews and blue funnel activities (supply security projects, VIPs, cross sourcing).
- Leads the development of robust contingency plans to mitigate risks outlined throughout the project. Escalates risks to Innovation Manager.
- Issue Monthly Innovation Tracker with project status, next steps, and challenges.

**EXPERIENCES & QUALIFICATIONS**
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Supply Chain or relevant field with minimum of 3+ years of broad-based Supply Chain responsibilities with relevant planning, manufacturing, innovation, or engineering experience.
- Experience with project management along with working knowledge of the Operation Planning processes a must.
- Stakeholder management, Data analytics, Risk Management
- Proficient in Microsoft Office with intermediate to advanced skills in excel.
- Strong communication skills
- Scheduling and managing outside process suppliers.
- Strong organizational skills, ability to multitask and meet deadlines.
- Power BI Knowledge

**SKILLS**
- SAP
- Computerized Maintenance Management System
- Supply chain forecasting / trade spend software systems and processes.
- Budgeting
- Augmented analytics
- Lean manufacturing for maintenance