Current Jobs at Unilever

JOB PURPOSE

• To lead the S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) forecasting process and commercial scenario planning for Southern Africa, while owning key forecasting systems, tools, and automation initiatives (e.g. Oracle Forecasting and Reporting, Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning). The role acts as the central integrator between finance, commercial, and systems teams, ensuring robust, timely, and insight-led decision making.

Key Responsibilities

S&OP & Scenario Planning Leadership

• Own and coordinate the quarterly S&OP forecasting cycle, ensuring alignment across business groups and stakeholders
• Develop and maintain commercial scenarios (volume, price, mix) to support leadership decision-making
• Ensure delivery against strict timelines, with clear governance and tracking of inputs and outputs
• Challenge assumptions to improve forecast accuracy and credibility

Systems & Forecasting Capability Ownership

• Act as the business owner and go-to expert for GCUT and forecasting tools
• Drive continuous improvement in forecasting systems, including automation, simplification, and data integrity
• Lead the adoption of advanced analytics and machine learning solutions to enhance forecasting capability
• Partner with global and technical teams to deliver system enhancements and resolve issues

Commercial Finance Business Partnering

• Translate forecasts into clear commercial insights, highlighting risks and opportunities
• Provide strong analytical support on performance drivers, including price, volume, and mix
• Engage with finance and commercial teams to interpret results and guide decision-making
• Proactively identify inconsistencies and ensure alignment between financials and operational realities

Stakeholder Management & Governance

• Coordinate across Finance, Supply Chain, Commercial, and Global teams to drive alignment
• Ensure strong communication and clarity throughout the S&OP process
• Act as a trusted partner to senior stakeholders, providing clear, fact-based recommendations

Profile & Capabilities

• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to interpret and challenge financial and operational data
• Proven experience in S&OP, forecasting, or financial planning processes
• Deep understanding of forecasting tools/systems (e.g. GCUT or similar)
• High capability in analytics and data interpretation; exposure to automation or advanced analytics is advantageous
• Excellent stakeholder management and coordination skills, with the ability to work across multiple teams
• Strong delivery mindset with the ability to operate under tight timelines and high-pressure cycles

Skills

• Financial Analysis
• Proficiency in SAP and Microsoft Excel
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Stakeholder Management

Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum 3-5 years experience in Finance, with strong exposure to business performance and planning
• At least 3 years in FP&A, S&OP, or forecasting roles, with demonstrated ownership of planning cycles
• BCom Accounting (or equivalent) is required
• CA(SA), CIMA, or similar professional qualification is advantageous
• Data Analytics certification (or equivalent practical experience) preferred
• Experience in FMCG or a similar fast-paced, high-volume industry is required
• Strong exposure to forecasting systems (e.g. GCUT, SAP, Hyperion Essbase, or similar planning tools)
• Experience working with or driving automation, digital transformation, or machine learning initiatives is highly beneficial

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JOB PURPOSE

• As Brand Manager for Comfort, you will lead the brand growth agenda across innovation, communication, and in-market execution to deliver strong business results and build enduring consumer love. This role requires a marketer who combines strong innovation cycle management and commercial acumen with the ability to create social-first, culturally resonant, and experiential brand demand. You will shape brand strategy, lead cross-functional execution, and bring Comfort’s fragrance, care and sensorial superiority to life across the consumer journey.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• Lead Comfort to deliver its Brand Strategic Plan, market share ambitions and financial growth model.
• Own the brand P&L and drive rigorous business performance management, including return on marketing investment.
• Lead end-to-end innovation and renovation projects, from insight generation and concept development through business case creation, launch execution and post-launch evaluation.
• Manage the innovation cycle with excellence, ensuring key projects are delivered on time, in full, and with strong cross-functional alignment across marketing, customer development, supply chain, finance and R&D.
• Translate consumer, shopper, customer and cultural insights into actionable growth opportunities across the 6Ps.
• Build compelling local brand and communication plans that strengthen Comfort’s positioning in fragrance, softness and fabric care.
• Lead social-first campaign development, ensuring content, creators, and channel plans are rooted in South African consumer culture and platform behaviour.
• Drive experiential marketing and activation plans that bring the brand to life through unmissable shopper, retail, sampling and brand experience moments.
• Partner with agencies and internal specialists to develop integrated campaigns across media, content, PR, influencer, retail and experiential touchpoints.
• Ensure strong creative briefing and judgment, with all ideas grounded in brand strategy, consumer insight and measurable business outcomes.
• Work closely with customer teams to unlock execution excellence in market.
• Manage the brand budget with discipline, ensuring investment choices are efficient, effective and aligned to agreed priorities.
• Constantly review initiative performance, campaign effectiveness and in-market execution to identify optimisation opportunities.
• Stay updated on digital trends, consumer behaviour, competitor activity and emerging experiential formats in the South African market.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

EXPERIENCES & QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum:

• Relevant Degree or equivalent
• 4+ years of relevant marketing experience in FMCG, brand building or demand creation
• Proven experience in managing projects from idea through execution and evaluation
• Experience in business performance management, including budget ownership and P&L understanding
• Strong ownership, leadership and stakeholder management

Preferred:

• Experience leading local mix development and executing brand growth strategies
• Experience in innovation and renovation management within a branded business
• Experience in experiential marketing, activations, retail experiences or sampling programmes
• Experience developing social-first campaigns and working with digital, PR, influencer or content ecosystems
• Strong analytical capability in identifying issues, opportunities and growth levers for the brand

SKILLS

Media, Digital and Social Fluency & Technology:

• Understanding of digital marketing channels and tactics to amplify brand experiences, drive online engagement, and track results.
• Social-first thinking and digital fluency across content, creators and platforms
• Design for channel and integrated execution across touchpoints

Brand and Commercial Management Fundamentals:

• Strong business and financial acumen
• Brand performance analysis and campaign measurement
• Consumer and customer focus – curiosity, insight mining and the ability to translate insights into actionable plans
• Innovation cycle management and project leadership
• Creative briefing and judgment
• Brand activity planning and brand guardianship
• Strong understanding and management of S&OP
• Ability to assess business challenges, articulate these clearly, and influence stakeholders across cross-functional teams
• Growth mindset – a winning, competitive mindset

Experiential Marketing Expertise:

• Creative Concept Development: Generating innovative and engaging brand experience concepts that align with brand objectives, target audience/social cohort and budget.
• Event Planning & Execution: Strong organisational and logistical skills to plan, manage, and execute brand activations, events, and retail experiences flawlessly, whether online or offline (e.g. pop-up events, integration with influencer partnerships, interactive digital campaigns, sampling experience).
• Online and Offline Experience: While the role requires a digital-first approach, proven success in designing and executing impactful brand activations in both online and offline environments and touchpoints.

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JOB PURPOSE

• The Technical Skills Trainer leads all technical training interventions for the sourcing units and is necessarily an experienced mechanical and/or electrical technician with an excellent ability to teach, coach and mentor. 
• The Skills Trainer will coordinate and deliver course training for all technical levels, develop Technical Operators, and Technician Apprentices in accordance with Unilever curriculum requirements.  They will liaise with other training providers where it is advantageous to use their capabilities. 
• Within the factories, the Skills Trainer will continue to support the development and progression of trained Technicians, Artisans and Technical Operators through the skills audit and the HR for Factories Integrated Training system. Operational training interventions will be varied, but often involve legislative safety and hazard awareness training, and loss-based training. 
• Additionally, the Skills Trainer will offer guidance and measurement frameworks for recruiting technical skills across the sourcing units. The Skills Trainer is also responsible for the proper maintenance and safe running of on-site training facilities and materials.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

Technical Training & Capability Building

• Deliver engineering technical training across mechanical and electrical disciplines, using a coaching and mentoring approach
• Develop engaging training materials and maintain accurate training records
• Build and enhance on-site technical capability for Technical Operators, Machine Specialists, ICE Technicians, and Artisans

Training Strategy & Execution

• Execute the site training strategy and drive associated action plans to address technical capability and development needs
• Maintain and update the Technical Skills Matrix and assessment records
• Capture and track all training activities on the LMS platform
• Support the population of Workplace Skills Plan (WSP), Annual Training Report (ATR), and BBBEE training spend tracking

Compliance & Standards

• Ensure site compliance with training standards, including the development of training and assessment tools
• Maintain accurate training documentation and reporting processes

Safety, Quality & Environment

• Promote a strong understanding of workplace hazards and ensure adherence to all safety and environmental procedures
• Embed sustainability into training by supporting reduction of environmental impact (utilities, waste, chemicals)
• Ensure technical capability across the site supports and protects quality standards

Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a technical leader, promoting high-performing teams and linking technical skills with leadership behaviours (communication, integrity, accountability)
• Lead engineering capability improvement through strong technical expertise and problem-solving
• Continuous Improvement
• Conduct regular technical skills assessments and audits
• Identify capability gaps and implement targeted development and coaching interventions
• Drive capability improvements aligned to site priorities and support loss elimination initiatives

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

EXPERIENCES & QUALIFICATIONS

• 5 years’ experience as an Artisan, with at least 3 years in Factory Training within a technical, FMCG, or manufacturing environment
• N6 in Mechanical and or Electrical Engineering
• Trade Tested Artisan
• Accredited or Working towards Assessor, Facilitator and Material design and development is preferred
• Strong coaching and communication skills supporting some instructional experience in a previous role.  Must display an ability to engage and enthuse.
• WCM/TPM/ Lean Manufacturing/ Continuous Improvement mind set.
• Solid experience identifying training gaps and implementing training programs
• Proficient with leading training agendas and leading Learnerships/ SETA programs
• Proven track record on the impact of focused Programme and Development – use of training methodologies i.e. how this has improved productivity
• Must have in depth knowledge of Training Analysis
• Strong understanding of Unions (Unionised environment) 
• Proven expertise in mechanical systems (mechanisms, motion, condition-based monitoring, materials, and tribology)
• Strong knowledge of process engineering equipment (pumps, valves, pipework, vessels, agitators)
• Electrical expertise in control circuits, calibration, and hazardous area equipment
• Hands-on experience with installation and replacement of major electrical components (motors, switch/control gear)

SKILLS

• Strategic Thinking & Planning: Ability to plan proactively and develop forward-looking strategies
• Business Performance Optimization: Drive efficiency and continuous improvement to enhance overall business performance
• Analytical Problem Solving: Analyze complex issues and implement effective, data-driven solutions
• Customer Focus: Deliver high-quality service that meets internal and external customer needs
• Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships across key stakeholders
• Integrity & Ethics: Uphold high standards of professionalism, compliance, and business ethics

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What We’re Looking For

• Lead in Market Plan execution (Aligned to BU Strategy)
• Executes strategically aligned Commercial Plan in Market
• Decides Channel/Customer Prioritisation in Market and deploys Budget according.
• Leads Core Capabilities and objective customer engagement (Catman /Shopper)  
• Leads execution of aligned pricing strategy in the country/ cells

RESPONSIBILITIES

Category Growth Strategies

• Localise (Develop and deploy) CGS at channel and customer level,
• Work closely with Brand, CSP, DMs and Distributor teams to build Customer sell-in

Innovation

•  Define national innovation & launch plan to channels/customers.
•  D4C/D4R: executes locally AND integrates upstream into BU

Targets and Budgets

• Tracking USG targets and investment to deliver BG strat by channel and customer

Pricing and promotions, Mix

• Own Pricing & Promo strategy.         

Execution

• Deploy aligned commercial plan in Market via Distributor Managers & to ensure strength of execution.   Define channel / Customer Execution: (SoS). 
• Define national innovation & launch plan to channels/customers.

Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum 2 years' experience in Marketing or Sales in FMCG industry
• BComm degree (preferably in Marketing, Business Administration, Financial majors)
• Strong excel skills.
• Demonstrated cross-functional team.
• Strong demonstrated insight & analytical skills
• Previous experience using market data systems