Benelux Market Deployment 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 (TMICC) 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.

We dream big but keep things simple to act fast.

The next major step in our journey is project Opus: to re-define all core company processes to a unified, global way of working and to introduce a full end-to-end tech stack along with it. It is the largest transformation initiative for this company and arguably in the wider industry. With Opus we set the ‘ice cream way of doing business’ and thus the foundation for many years to come.

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

Job Summary:

The Benelux lead for Opus will be the deployment lead of the entire Opus programme and be a key member of the European and global Opus teams. Europe is the first wave in the global deployment with a target go-live at the end of 2026. You will be at the leading edge of implementing best-in-class technology on time in full and be a key player to successfully land the change programme.

This role is absolutely crucial to coordinate the Benelux teams working on intersecting process flows and technology dependencies, being the voice of the business and perhaps most importantly being a key leader of change in the business. This role demands a strong business acumen and business process literacy without demanding to be an expert in all – we recognise that is impossible. You will have your functional leads locally to partner with and global experts to partner with.

Additionally, you will be partnered with a team from our System Integrator partner Accenture.

Within the scope of Opus falls the introduction of SAP S4/Hana as our new global ERP solution and a tech stack spanning from new best-of-suite solutions in planning, reporting, CRM, HR etc.

In addition to the core Opus related responsibilities this role leads the delivery or any other “Day2” related activities that are necessary for the completion of our journey to establish our independent Ice Cream company. The expectation is that this latter part constitutes only a minor share of the role.

The role is temporary in nature, at minimum supporting the business until the end of the hyper-care period (end Q1/2027).

Key Responsibilities:

• Deliver the entire project go-live and change programme as the deployment lead for the Benelux
• Identify key risks and issues and lead mitigation plans both locally and towards the global programme
• Champion the change management to ensure employees, partners, suppliers see the ‘why’ and ensure implementation of communication and training programmes
• Build & track the build-up of the standalone TMICC organization ensuring Day 2 readiness
• Act as a single point of contact for the project in the market cross functionally and be a strong partner in the European/global Opus team
• Work with the local teams to ensure that all local reporting needs are met, key operational processes do not get disrupted during transition and after go-live and all functions are trained on the new processes and systems

Experience and Qualifications:

• 10y+ experience with Finance and/or GtM background, experience in SC is a plus
• Prior transformation and cross-functional experience is preferred
• Proven ability to manage complex projects
• Systemic and strategic thinking: deep understanding of the business and ability to consider long term implications
• Owner’s mindset & strong drive with a positive, can-do mentality
• Strong resilience and ability to manage ambiguity for oneself and ability to inspire others
• Functional, Business and Commercial Acumen
• Change Leadership, Stakeholder Management and Communication Skills – ideally trained/familiar with structured change management approaches (ADKAR etc)
• Organizational Design Expertise

WHAT IS IN IT FOR YOU?

• Attractive total remuneration package; excellent company pension, bonus and 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% 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

EXCITED?

Join Unilever and our team!