Sourcing Manager IT

ABOUT UNILEVER

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. Unilever has more than 400 brands found in homes around the world, including Dove, Tresemme, Lynx, Lifebuoy, Shea Moisture, Persil, Domestos, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Marmite, The Vegetarian Butcher, Graze and Pot Noodle.

Faced with the challenge of climate change and the need for human development, we want to move towards a world where everyone can live well and within the natural limits of the planet. That’s why our purpose is ‘to make sustainable living commonplace’.

ABOUT PROCUREMENT

Part of the Supply Chain family, Procurement is responsible for over 30B Euro of material and services spend globally with more than 60,000 suppliers, over half of them in MBS. Getting the right services and materials, sustainably sourced and ensuring responsible procurement is critical to ensuring our brands with purpose grow. Our teams work closely with the business to understand stakeholders needs, bring innovation to meet changing consumer, employees’, and customers’ needs, and drive financial value for Unilever through competitive buying. We’re at the forefront of digital procurement, bringing new tools and analytics to drive data-based decisions.  

Our Lighthouse strategy puts competitive buying at the heart of what we do to bring value to Unilever in a responsible, strategic, and sustainable way, growing together with partners around the world. Our ambition is based on three key drivers: being Purpose-Led, Value-Driven, and Future-Fit

PURPOSE:

• Responsible for leading regional and global strategic sourcing activities within the area of spend responsibility (including the definition of the internal customer, needs or insight of supply markets, developing sourcing strategies, activation of supplier selection and negotiation, facilitating supplier implementation, and ongoing strategic supplier relationship management).
• Responsible for the IT relationship between indirect procurement and the assigned Unilever internal stakeholder community.
• Being the supply management expert for specified clusters within the area of spend responsibility.
• Identifying opportunities and ensuring service delivery to Unilever business stakeholders
• Responsible for the coordination of regional sourcing projects with the global and regional indirect procurement teams, ensuring a seamless service to the stakeholders.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES  

• Develop and align your own work plan, objectives, priorities, and processes within the context of the overall IT supply management and stakeholder community’s priorities and strategies.
• Lead global and regional strategic sourcing activities to professionalise the sourcing of materials and clusters of external spend within the area of IT spend responsibility.
• Identify, initiate, and sustain direct interactions with appropriate internal stakeholders and functional or operating teams within the business to drive the “buying” behaviour change required to meet business project objectives and implement the approved sourcing strategies.
• Conduct data gathering and analysis of internal needs. Develop and follow supply market knowledge and insight (e.g., suppliers, price trends, cost drivers, acquisitions, and disposals).
• Develop appropriate sourcing strategies for the cluster of spending within the area of responsibility.
• Execute the sourcing strategy, including tendering, analysis, selection, and negotiation with suppliers, including crafting and placing legal agreements and confidentiality agreements, and ensuring that all is conducted according to Unilever’s code of business ethics and corporate social responsibility requirements.
• Ensure that supply agreements, commercial terms and conditions, specification information, and pricing information, including changes, are communicated accurately and timely to appropriate operational teams and individuals.
• Enable and facilitate the approved sourcing strategies with relevant functional and operational teams within the business.
• Responsible for ongoing supplier relationship management, monitoring, review, and continuous improvement, and leading the supplier side of innovation, sustainability, and cost savings projects.
• Identify needs for and support business processes’ design to facilitate the use of appropriate “buying channels” within the Unilever stakeholder community.
• Develop a deep understanding of and rigorously apply the Unilever strategic sourcing process and tools.
• Respond proactively to information demands and questions from supply management operational teams and other internal parties as needed.
• Provide input, influence, and linkage to business transaction tools.
• Have input to develop a Supply Management Team Workplan for the area of responsibility, deliver the required objectives, and develop your own strategic sourcing team priorities.
• Participate in regional or global teams for the area of responsibility.

CHALLENGES

• Gaining confidence and credibility within the stakeholder and user communities to help achieve goals, influence change in the purchasing behaviour of materials and clusters within the scope
• Providing business partner services and demonstrating the value of professional supply management approach areas of business
• Working across multiple business operating units, each with a different culture, processes, and demands.
• Acquiring depth of knowledge for the indirect procurement cluster portfolio of materials, services, and suppliers.

ALL ABOUT YOU 

• At least 5 – 7 years IT Software and Services procurement knowledge and experience
• Appropriate functional business experience/understanding in supply management, finance, or functional area of assigned stakeholder community with a proven track record of strategic sourcing, spend analysis, and IT contracts negotiation and commercial terms drafting experience.
• Excellent English knowledge (any other EMEA regional languages – nice to have)
• Negotiation skills
• Relationship management
• University degree or equivalent Procurement education (IT procurement diplomas/certifications).

WHAT WE OFFER

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all. 

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities, and growing together for better business performance. We want to push boundaries, and have the flexibility needed to keep adapting in an ever-changing, more dynamic world. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

As part of your hiring journey, we are happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments, to improve your recruitment experience.