Foods Sustainability Manager

For the recruitment of this position, we would like to emphasize that local conditions apply to the position and for this vacancy in principle we will first consider candidates based in the Netherlands. If you are based outside of the Netherlands and you are interested to apply, please feel free to do so but we can only take your application on if a decision is made to also recruit outside of the Netherlands.

ABOUT UNILEVER

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world.

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our inclusive, collaborative, and flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

Foods, Unilever’s second largest business group by turnover, aims to bring the taste everyone loves to brighten every day, with superior tasting products that are healthier for people and the planet through global and local brands like Knorr, Hellmann’s, Maille and Horlick’s.

For our business to continue thriving, we’re delivering ambitious sustainability goals and actions in Climate, Nature, Plastics, and Livelihoods. These areas address key consumer and investor concerns, business risks, and opportunities for large-scale impact. The Global Sustainability function resides within the Corporate Centre and provides strategic leadership and expertise to support delivery of Unilever’s sustainable business strategy. It is comprised of the following:

• Global Sustainability team: Leads Unilever’s overarching global sustainability agenda.
• Business Group (BG’) Sustainability teams: Supports the BGs in developing and implementing BG-specific sustainability strategies and plans.
• Country Sustainability teams: Drives global sustainability strategies and plans in accordance with local priorities and marketplace dynamics.

The Foods Sustainability team provides the leadership and expertise in partnering the business and functions to deliver and accelerate implementation of the BG’s sustainability strategy in line with its guiding principles to be a focused Food company with a top-tier performance 4-5% USG (50/50 UPG/UVG) and sustainable UOP growth.

We are seeking to secure a Sustainability Manager for the Foods BG. Based in the Netherlands, the Sustainability Manager will serve as a key member of the Foods BG working in partnership with the Global Head Sustainability Foods and members of the Global Sustainability Team.

Main Purpose The incumbent will serve as a facilitator to value creation opportunities to drive business growth and environmental impact while protecting Foods’ license to operate.

KEY FOCUS AREAS:

• Contribute to the delivery of 4 Sustainability Areas:
•  Inspire stakeholders to integrate sustainability into strategies, partner key stakeholders to achieve the sustainability roadmap, facilitate governance and stakeholder engagement.
• Drive value propositions in Sustainability: Collaborate with various functions to support sustainability efforts, integrate sustainability into decision-making, and communicate climate and nature impacts.
• Support thought leadership and advocacy: Create sustainability narratives, operationalize advocacy strategies for regenerative agriculture, and stay informed on sustainability trends to advise the business and support industry collaborations.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE?

Contribute to the delivery of 4 Sustainability Areas (climate, nature, plastics, livelihoods):

• Facilitate and manage effective governance & stakeholder engagement, leading to action & ownership, including upskilling.
• Influence and inspire multiple internal stakeholders to integrate sustainability into strategies, actions, product development, marketing plans.
• Leverage and partner with key internal and external stakeholders to challenge or implement direction to enable achievement of sustainability roadmap. Contribute to driving value propositions in Sustainability to deliver on premiumization, Unmissable Brand Superiority, Retailer Value:
• Partner with functions such as Marketing, Sustainable Design, R&D, CMI, and Procurement to support Foods’ efforts in driving value with sustainability through action.
• Contribute to strategy and execution to gain insights on the commercial value of our actions with retailers and contribution to UBS.
• Facilitate integration of sustainability into decision making, innovation pipeline, and tracking.
• Support the process to enable BG focused communication about climate & nature impacts.
• Upskill and counsel teams to enable recognition and integration of sustainability actions into strategies and opportunities that can be leveraged. Support thought leadership & advocacy:
• Coordinate the creation of food sustainability narratives, briefs, presentations to be leveraged by leadership, employees, NGOs, industry groups, retailers, etc.
• Support and operationalize the advocacy strategy to enable, scale, and maintain regenerative agriculture practices through a financially viable model – at a global and key market level.
• Facilitate and develop assets for enhancement of reputation for food sustainability via key platforms and strategic partnerships, utilizing FLT to effectively drive business relevance both internally and externally.
• Stay abreast of and advise the business on sustainability trends (emerging issues, competitive intelligence, and policy development) pertinent to priority issues for Foods: Climate Action, Protect & Regenerate Nature, Plastic Packaging, Livelihoods, Healthier Diets.

• Support industry collaborations and strategic partnerships (eg industry groups, NGOs) to drive transformational change, deliver impact, build reputation. Direct Reports
• No direct reports, however, incumbent will be required to influence and manage multiple stakeholders (internal and external) with whom there is no direct reporting relationship.