R&D Assistant Packaging Manager- 5S & Sustainability, Home Care Africa at Unilever

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 are passionate in the development and delivery of packaging solutions for design/deployment of innovations into the category with savings & sustainability top of mind, then this role is just for you!

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• Lead the packaging development workstream for category design and deploy projects to deliver category growth goals. Projects include new innovations, cost saving/ complexity reduction, sustainability, quality, and supply chain support activities.
• Identify, develop, and maintain an ecosystem of packaging support service providers for the development of technical drawings, packaging prototypes, component testing and packaging trials.
• Lead packaging exploratory projects by identifying concepts, testing and iteration through prototype development, evaluation and testing of consumer appealing competitive & profitable packaging/ product mixes.
• Exploit emerging digital technologies for testing prototyping, modelling for sound decision making, and proving concepts for the effective collaboration with business partners and implementation of packaging change projects.
• Monitor Competitor activity and assess use of packaging technologies for competitive advantage in terms of consumer appeal, functionality, and cost.
• Be responsible for packaging testing and component approval & qualification to ensure components meet consumer expectations, functional requirements, customer needs, cost targets, manufacturing, and distribution demands.
• Collect and develop information and data to create technical packaging component specifications. Key deliverables are to ensure maintaining data integrity and comprehensive business reporting.
• Partner with suppliers and cross functionally to identify cost saving projects, evaluate feasibility, establish capability, and lead implementation to achieve savings targets.
• Lead risk identification, assessment and action planning for packaging change projects and contribute to risk assessments for innovation and cost savings projects.
• Provide leadership for packaging change projects through project management, including such activities as clarification of project goals & scope, collaborating to develop business cases, and preparing detailed project plans.
• Partner with supply chain, the R&D network, and suppliers to land onshoring projects.
• Collaborate with Market facing brand teams to deliver packaging concepts, designs, specifications, and technologies to maximise the impact of products in the category.
• Grow the R&D packaging talent pool through development of self and contributing to the development of others in terms of technical packaging knowledge, professional and general skills.
• Keep abreast of and evaluate emerging packaging technologies for opportunities to contribute to sustainable growth category goals.
• Lead packaging trials and lead cross functional teams to deliver trials on time and with rigour / integrity.

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences

• At least 3 to 5 years’ experience in the packaging field, as a Packaging Technologist.
• Experience with regards to Rigid technology and Flexible film technology would be advantageous.
• Must demonstrate understanding of package development process and engineering principles.
• Must demonstrate ability to design and develop primary and secondary packaging components that meet consumer, Brand, customer, and manufacturing objectives.
• Must be able to demonstrate a general understanding of project management to realize the order, importance, and impact of appropriate project activities and maintain packaging commitments to project scheduling.
• Must understand consumer, business, and category needs and the relationship to packaging decisions & execution. An entrepreneurial mindset is beneficial.

Qualifications

• Degree in engineering discipline - Mechanical, Chemical or Industrial engineering.
• Any other critical personal characteristics or experiences/qualifications

The ideal candidate should:

• Be a pro-active problem solver
• Able to lead a team and encourage the delivery of others.
• Have the capacity to work autonomously to meet deadlines
• Be an excellent communicator (written and oral)
• Have the ability to influence
• Have an attention to detail and the capacity to work on several projects at the same time
• Ideally have a science or engineering degree
• Work stream leadership in a cross functional project environment.
• Project leadership in functional area.
• Packaging methods and measurement, testing, data analysis and reporting.
• Trial briefing, planning, co-ordination and execution. Trial reporting and analysis of outcomes.