Sourcing Lead, Innovation Planning – Ice Cream Jobs at Unilever in Canada

Job Overview

Sourcing Lead, Innovation Planning – Ice Cream

Background and Purpose of the Job

Are you a Supply Chain Sourcing specialist? Are you passionate about growth and exhibit high degree of leadership, agility to make decisions & thrive working with multiple stakeholders? We are looking for you!

We are expanding our team and are looking for a Sourcing Lead/Innovation Planner at our Ice Cream Manufacturing factory in Simcoe, Ontario. Our factory produces brand names such as Breyers, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Klondike, and Popsicle!!

At Unilever, we act fast to anticipate consumer needs, fast to translate ideas into new products, and fast to make, distribute and market them. We build products that people enjoy, trust and use in their daily lives. Which is why, as part of Unilever, you could make an impact on a global and local scale.

A job at Unilever is a career made by you, with development opportunities, benefits and a working culture that supports diversity. You can craft your own career path as you work with the brands and people that drive our sustainable business growth.

As a Sourcing Lead, you will be accountable to the Planning Manager Ice Cream, in the management and support of new product launches and strategic sourcing of Canadian specific projects. The role requires collaboration with many functions and locations across Unilever North America & UASCC and a deep understanding of the innovation process.

What You’ll Do

• Be the lead for local innovation
• Be the local contact to follow up on global/regional innovation
• Be responsible to find alternative sourcing to drive efficiencies (i.e. margin/cash improvement, increase supply chain responsiveness, optimize inventory).
• Drive growth for Canada, ensure the Canadian Supply Chain voice is represented during the innovation process.
• Lead Innovation agenda in cross functional and ICLT meetings to review project progress and share supply chain risks that have been raised through the NA Innovation Planning Team

To succeed in this role, you will be required to work closely with Procurement, Strategic Planning, Brand, R&D, Planning and Logistics functions to balance trade-off among Service, Cost, and Inventory.

Job Summary:

• Oversee all our Innovation activities & Project Requests for the Ice Cream category.
• Support North American innovation teams and ensure appropriate early management rigor in delivering On Time In Full through the wider supply chain.
• Work with Planning Team and Marketing/Trade/Brand teams to tackle issues that might arise during Innovation Projects.
• Lead our Innovation agenda in Cross-Category and Country Category Business Team meetings to review project progress and share supply chain risks that have been raised through the Planning Team
• Coordinate with our Demand Planner to validate new product launch forecasts and ensure that demands are in SAP aligned to timeline requests.
• Lead transitions forums with Brand, Trade, Demand Planning, Supply Planning and Customer Service to review soft and hard transitions.
• Align with Customer service shipping dates for innovation items and assure stock will be available at the Canadian Distribution Centre for the shipping dates.
• Lead strategic local and international sourcing projects as required.

Deliverables:

• Organize and Institute alternative sourcing to ensure optimization
• Primary & direct liaison between Canada Go-To-Market supply chain and the NA Innovation Planning Team.
• Delivery of key innovation projects on time and in full
• Service level delivery of innovation and transition Projects
• Establish and cultivate positive relationships across multiple functional lines
• Constantly look out for new sources for current portfolio to increase profitability and drive supply chain efficiencies

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• 3-5 years of relevant experience
• Post secondary completed
• Project management
• Creative thinking
• Interpersonal skills
• Partnership & Negotiation
• Critical thinking
• Agile decision-making
• Risk Management

This position can be based in Toronto, ON or Simcoe, ON. If based in Toronto, ability to travel to the Simcoe Factory once per week would be required.

Apply Now!