Customer Business Development Lead at Unilever

JOB PURPOSE

• Find your purpose at Unilever.
• You will lead innovations, big and small, that will make our business win and grow.
• You will learn from brilliant business leaders and colleagues in a truly global and diverse culture to ultimately become a better you. 
• The Customer Business Development Director is responsible for development and execution of the customers and channels strategy and customer business plan, to achieve short and long-term business results. 
• He/she owns contacts with the customer and is the custodian of Customer and Channel understanding within the Go-to-Market unit.
• He/she is responsible for development of CD excellence and market competitiveness within his team of account management.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• To develop and manage the long and short-term plan for the relevant account(s)/channels in line with the agreed targets set in the strategic plan.
• To develop and deliver the Annual Plan, both in terms of topline growth and gross margin. 
• To manage the strategic interface between Unilever and the relevant Customer and set the strategic priorities for the Customer Business Plan.
• This involves developing excellent relationships with contacts in Supply Chain, Marketing and Finance.

Achieve substantial business results on the Customer P&L

• To work closely with the Category Strategy and Planning Teams to deliver category growth opportunities and champion the Category strategies within the account.
• To provide strong leadership of the account team. In particular, to provide ongoing coaching and development to ensure that the team members have the opportunity to realise their full potential.
• To establish and continuously develop the customer team framework for delivery of the long- and short-term plan. 
• To work closely with relevant stakeholders to develop and execute the overall Customer Development strategy and to contribute to the overall company strategy.

Responsible for delivering the total annual sales plan.

• Responsible for the development of Customer Development capabilities for the future.
• As a member of the Leadership Team, jointly responsible for operations, communication and the leadership of organisational and behavioural change
• To lead the development of the account managers in his team
• To build CD excellence and market competitiveness within his team
• To lead for the equity, diversity and inclusion ambition of the Customer Development function
• Provide strong people leadership and coaching to his account management team.
• To work closely with the Unilever Field Sales execution team, and CBD team to drive. key metrics in-store to drive growth

Experiences & Qualifications

• 12+ years of Sales experience, preferably cross-functional
• Strong customer facing experience and proven track record is a must  
• Strong Category management experience
• Proven people management capabilities

Desirable:

• Cross functional experience in Customer Marketing
• Trade Category Management
• Shopper Marketing and Field Sales operations.

Skills

• Developing the Customer / Channel Business Plan
• Customer Management and Selling Essentials
• Optimising Promotion Sell-out
• Implementing the Customer / Channel Business Plan
• Leveraging Strategic Customers
• Developing Customer Relationships
• Business Planning (S&OP)
• Developing the Customer Service Strategy & Segmentation
• PoP Execution and Monitoring
• Business Strategy and Formulation
• Business Planning and Implementation

Leadership

• You are now a Leader of Change.
• People look to you to provide safety in a storm, and you also appropriately challenge to get even better results. 0
• You role model resilience and care.
• You navigate these uncertain times by flexing plans and your leadership style, always with authenticity.
• You are still responsible for delivering to the highest standards.
• You must be resilient so you can lead others to deliver with passion through uncertainty and create opportunities through the core and beyond.
• You must be able to flex your style and your plans to guide others through difficult times.

Critical Unilever Behaviours

CARE DEEPLY:  

• About how consumers & shoppers experience our brands everyday and about our people’s development and our impact on the planet.
• We care about our performance, to a point where it hurts when we don’t win. 

FOCUS ON WHAT COUNTS:    

• Ruthless prioritisation on what really, really matters, allowing us to do better on fewer things.
• We set clear and stretching goals and recognise maximum performance impact.

STAY THREE STEPS AHEAD:  

• We think boldly and creatively to make breakthroughs in performance.
• We are always curious and confident ─ anticipating and staying ahead of consumer needs and external trends to beat the competition.

DELIVER WITH EXCELLENCE:

• We deliver everything we do with excellence and pace.  
• We take personal ownership and hold each other to account – always finding a way to do what we’ve said we will do.