CMI Assistant Manager - Core Innovations

Job description

SALARY: Up To £39,000

7 roles available

MAIN JOB PURPOSE:

The world around us has changed and if anything, the pace of change is accelerating. We are facing a lot of disruptors, from local players who are agile in responding to local consumer & market trends to start-ups who are utilising latest breakthrough technology.

In the outside world, it's the products & services and innovation culture that puts the human first which are winning the innovation game: human needs, desires and creators' ingenuity; shared & circular economies in hyper connected worlds, homes and cities; creative repositioning of entire industries making them obsolete; the leverage of digital design and advanced technology as differentiators & enablers of superior consumer experiences; innovations that genuinely improve and add meaning to Brands and people's lives; and acute levels of externalised accelerators, innovation partnerships and collaborations. These famous innovations we all talk about and admire are quite simple ideas. Yet make seismic shifts, powered by the people that make them & the people they serve.

Vision:

The vision for Innovation COE is to grow Unilever into one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial companies in the world by rapidly translating new insights & ideas into action and driving bigger, better and more disruptive innovations that deliver valued consumer experiences.

CMI's Innovation COE will become the industry's hot house for Innovation. A hub of creativity, know-how, agility, rigour and business acumen. A bridge internally and externally of leading edge Innovation applications and partnerships into our business. Initially a metaphoric ‘hub,' which may one day turn into a ‘physical' in-house centre of innovation design & making, up to scalable production.

JOB SUMMARY

Innovation will be focusing on two pillars:

1. New Product Development (NPD) and Core Innovations: The focus here will be on funnel innovations and renovations of the core and NPD. We will help the business generate & implement high growth & market/trend responsive innovations in short time. We will do that by delivering bigger, faster & leaner innovations & implementing a new suite of approaches & toolkits in developing and testing innovations.

2. The Disruptive Innovations: It is all about Game Changers in this pillar. We will identify and introduce new to the world products & services, and new business models. This will include adjancies, channels and brand experiences as well as M&As and Partnerships. We will identify and utilise macro trends, Inno metrics, monitoring & feedback to come up with disruptive innovation ideas and move them from ideation only to implementation (including prototyping, launch models, etc.).

Innovation Team Deliverables:

The Innovation COE will have 5 key deliverables:

1. Build & Implement Unilever Disruptive Innovation Model: Help the business to come up with innovative ideas & implementation in short time & insights on how to best land them.

2. Ideas to Implementation: Innovation ideas will be turned into Prototypes in a short time. We will also identify M&A opportunities to bring their value down and helping the business react to “flash trends” with agility and speed.

3. Develop a system of partners & Innovation Lab (Orbit): This is Unilever answer to Silicon Valley; it is where innovations ideas are born and made. The Orbit finds and qualifies ideas and concepts into full mix prototypes, ready for making with full specs, qualifying market(s) and business forecast. It will be powered 80% externally by Open Innovation, Communities, Start Ups, Local Networks & Advanced Science, Design & Technology.

4. Innovations beyond Products. The focus here will go beyond new product, format or ingredient ideas. Innovations will also include services, machines & tools, brand licensing, packaging and retail experiences. This is will be critical given that these types of innovations are what is going to drive a higher impact on the industry in the next 3-5 years.

5. Digital Innovations. The team will identify big & growing digital apps and how to utilise them in a strategic way across brands and categories to drive competitive advance. That will also include piloting & implementing different diagnostic tools, VR & AR capabilities that can be used for different categories, shoppers & retailers.

- Identify & integrate consumer insights into various innovation projects. This will include funnel innovations & renovations on Core and NPD.

- Identify Market & Micro Trends and Innovation Metrics as well as monitoring & feedback Unilever & Competitive Innovations in market, including key competitor launches reviews.

- Lead different innovation research projects from ideation/co-creation workshops to final testing of the full mix, using a differentiated pathway of methodologies depending on innovation type (Type A/B/C).

- Ruthless simplification of all MR & IPM processes and standardising & automating research methods.

- Lead meta learnings, cross-pollination, innovation monitoring and real time management of innovation projects.

- Be responsible for building and developing relationships with the global-wide Innovation team and across key business partners including CMI, CTI, Marketing, R&D and Finance.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

- Personal passion for Innovations & Trends

- Innovation research experience

- Strong project management skills

- Good analytical thinking and communication skills to present clearly, simplify complex topics and influence decision-making

- Strong communication skills both written and verbal

- At ease in a facilitation role – helping to stimulate idea generation, or/and co-create ideas together with marketing and CMI members

- Ability to prioritise and deliver pipeline of innovations across brands and workstreams

- Comfortable working with data (analysis, synthesis and interpretation)

- Comfortable working independently and as part of a virtual and global team, including reporting to a line manager not based in the same location.

- A team player; accountable, open minded who likes to work in rapid and agile way

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Unilever is a global Fast-Moving Consumer Goods company in the UK and Ireland. We are already on target to achieve our huge ambition to double the size of our business globally whilst reducing our environmental impact. We are growing our business and also doing what is right for our consumers, community and environment. We are developing brands for people's lives today and for the changing environment tomorrow - making sustainable living commonplace.

Working at Unilever means that you get to take part in this exciting journey and work with amazing people who are really passionate about our large portfolio of famous brands. We want to improve billions of lives and you too can join us in making a sustainable difference.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Online Application >> Digital Interview >> Face to Face Interview >> Job Offer

Please note: As part of the job application, you will be asked to complete a brief online application form. Completion of the form is required in order to be considered. Please allow yourself enough time to complete the application form as when filled out partially or not at all it may adversely affect the progress of your application. Please be aware that you will have to complete the form at once as you will be unable to return to it later.

For further information about this position please call: 0800 0284390. Please do not contact this number if you are an agency/third party. This number is strictly for candidates only.