CMI Ice Cream Category Development and Innovation Lead

CMI Ice Cream Category Development and Innovation Lead

ICE CREAM IS LOOKING FOR CMI Ice Cream Category Development and Innovation Lead

The Ice Cream division at Unilever is preparing to stand on its own, aiming to become an independent, EUR 8.3 billion publicly listed company by the end of 2025. We’re on a mission to create the ultimate snacking company. A place where growth, innovation, founder and ownership mentality, and performance are cultivated and rewarded. And where we craft extraordinary ice cream experiences - transforming ordinary moments into lasting memories. Because we know, life tastes better with ice cream.

ABOUT THE MAGNUM ICE CREAM COMPANY:

The Magnum Ice Cream Company is all about growth. Growing our business. Growing our customers’ businesses. Growing our people’s careers. Growth begins with empowerment. So we free our people to be innovative, responsible entrepreneurs, driven and equipped to give our consumers more amazing products and unforgettable moments – and having fun doing it.

With 19,000 expert ice cream colleagues and iconic brands like Wall’s, Cornetto, and Ben & Jerry’s, loved in 76 countries, we are the world’s largest Ice Cream company leading the industry. We have been taking pleasure seriously for more than 100 years, serving happiness with every lick or scoop of ice cream for generations.

We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of The Magnum Ice Cream Company as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen before the end of 2025.

If you want to grow with us, make an impact, and shape the future of Ice Cream, this is the place for you!

JOB PURPOSE

Ice Cream Company is the Human Happiness company, as our vision is to create 1B more smiles every year through purposeful growth. Our mission is to make that magic happen through IC that is created in a fair, fun, and planet-positive way. We create infinite sparks of happiness, not just for our consumers but for everyone who touches our business.

The world around us has changed and the pace of change is accelerating. We are facing a lot of disruptors, from local players who are agile in responding to local consumer & market trends to start-ups who are utilizing the latest breakthrough technology. Having a future-fit insights team to partner marketing is now even more critical than before, to accelerate competitive, profitable, consistent, and responsible growth.

Consumer & Markets Insight (CMI) mission is to provide inspiration and provocation to drive transformational business growth. This means delivering insights, ideas, and impact– and in a world that is changing at an accelerating pace of change. In this role, you will contribute to the CMI mission by being the lead CMI business partner to the Ice Cream portfolio Transformation and Innovation team.

Under this role, you will lead the understanding of market trends, growth opportunities, category dynamics, and future innovation platforms, and craft a winning portfolio that will make our business win and grow. You will learn from brilliant business leaders and colleagues in a truly global and diverse culture to ultimately become a better you. If you are passionate about category strategy, innovations, and strategy, curious about market-making opportunities for ice cream but also for the snacking industry including kids, teenagers, adults, and seniors then this role is just for you.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE?

• Craft a winning innovation ecosystem: Understand the IC business, brands, customers, key objectives, and challenges, and set relevant CMI programs to deliver against them. Lead and motivate a team of like-minded innovation insight experts within the division– either direct reports, internal & external partners, creating an internal innovation community & leading training programs to ensure that the ice cream insight team has future-fit skills & digital competencies and leading-edge innovation skills such as growth hacking.

• Understand Category Dynamics: Deeply understand the ice cream business, brands, customers, key objectives, and challenges. Set relevant CMI programs to deliver against them.

• Trend Analysis and Growth Opportunities: Utilize macro trends and sources to identify growth opportunities. Provide insights that inform innovation platforms and portfolio strategy.

• Business Partnering: Build and develop relationships with business partners at director and VP levels across functions such as Marketing, CMI, R&D, Finance, InnoFlex, and external partners.

• Building Innovation Strategy: Advise and challenge the business on innovation strategy creation, landing, and choices, including M&A and investment decisions.

• Business Acumen: Deliver insights that improve business performance, both on top line and profit/margin.

• Cost-Effective Research: Design and execute cost-effective research programs, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness, and scaling up agile research methods and tools.

• Performance Tracking: Constantly track innovation performance and advise on what to amplify, pivot, or discontinue.

• High-Growth Innovations: Help generate and implement high-growth, trend-responsive innovations for both short-term and long-term success.

• Bringing Outside in: Continuously gather and integrate the voice of the consumer along with the news from the market and competitors to ensure competitive intelligence is also a core part of our strategy.

SKILLS/EXPERIENCE & MINDSET:

• Market Research Expertise: Minimum of 7 years’ experience in Marketing and/or Market Research, proficient in quantitative and qualitative methods and analytics.

• Founder Mentality & Bias for Action: Embrace disruptive innovation ideas that transform the business and unlock growth opportunities.

• Digital & Tech Savvy: Proven experience with digital analytical tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, FB Audience Insights, Google Trends) and GEN AI knowledge is a plus.

• Lean Start-Up Mindset: Experience with start-ups or a start-up mentality is highly desirable.

• Growth Hacking Skills: Skilled in technical and data-driven experimentation for scaling a business.

• Category Passion: Personal passion for category strategy, trends, and market opportunities.

• Leadership: Strong team leadership with a track record of being a talent catalyst, comfortable leading a virtual and global team.

• Consumer Centric: Acute ability to put the consumer first, understanding and responding to true human needs.

• Facilitation Skills: Ability to co-create ideas using creativity and outside-in techniques.

• Experimental Approach: Shift from testing/validating to experimenting, iterative learning, and evidence-based decision-making.

• Business Model Exploration: Experiment with new business models and channels, testing solutions with retail partners.

• People Leadership: Experience in leading teams, both direct and indirect reporting lines.

BEHAVIOURS:

• Positive Attitude: Maintain a positive and proactive attitude amidst changing demands.

• Strong Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills to work with different functions and effectively deliver insights.

• Collaboration: Ability to collaborate seamlessly across agency partners and internal teams.

• Resilience: Demonstrate tenacity and resilience.

• Curiosity: Essential for exploration and understanding new trends.

• Attention to Detail: Strong attention to detail and great observation skills.

LEADERSHIP:

• Inclusive Motivator: Inspire your team to deliver with passion, fostering a climate of growth and learning.

• Results-Oriented: Balance personal responsibility with motivating others to deliver required outcomes.

• Emotional Intelligence: Understand and manage emotions to motivate and support your team effectively.

WHAT DOES UNILEVER OFFER/WHAT IS IN IT FOR YOU?

Unilever is the place where you can be yourself and bring your purpose to life with the work that you do – creating a better business and a better world. We offer an exciting & dynamic work environment where you can make things happen. Furthermore, we offer some great reward and benefits!

• Attractive total remuneration package; excellent company pension, bonus, share scheme.

• Flexible cross-disciplinary career opportunities and a wealth of training opportunities & wellbeing resources whenever and wherever.

• Plenty of company-paid holidays to further ensure your work-life balance is maintained.

• We encourage an inclusive culture, which comes to life with interchangeable public holidays, paid paternity leave of 6 weeks, and our transgender policy.

• Under the Hybrid Working principles, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 40%-60% in the office or at customers, suppliers, or partners to connect and collaborate. For the time you work from home, we will ensure you are well equipped. When you are at the office, you can enjoy our tasty canteen with prepped food and own products.

• Informal culture and being the first one trying our new products.

• My Fitness Plan (reduction on your Fitness Subscription).

• Home work allowance

• Company laptop and mobile phone

• Green Mobility Policy.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

As publicly announced, Unilever will separate its Ice Cream business which is expected by the end of 2025. This role will transfer to the new Ice Cream company.

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

We take pleasure seriously. Join the Ice Cream team now!