Tea Expertise Managers & Tea Expertise Assistant Managers

Job description

COMPANY: Unilever, Colworth

JOB TITLE: Tea Expertise Managers & Tea Expertise Assistant Managers

SALARY: Competitive + Excellent company benefits

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Unilever is a global Fast-Moving Consumer Goods company in the UK and Ireland. We are already on target to achieve our huge ambition to double the size of our business globally whilst reducing our environmental impact. We are growing our business and also doing what is right for our consumers, community and environment. We are developing brands for people's lives today and for the changing environment tomorrow - making sustainable living commonplace.

Working at Unilever means that you get to take part in this exciting journey and work with amazing people who are really passionate about our large portfolio of famous brands. We want to improve billions of lives and you too can join us in making a sustainable difference.

Unilever is a world leader in Tea Beverages – having a host of brands that include not just Lipton, but also PG Tips, Pukka, Tazo, Pure Leaf and T2, among many others. Within Tea, the current product portfolio spans a wide range of raw material across black & green teas, flavours and herbal infusions.

MAIN JOB PURPOSE:


If you're looking for a great team and a challenging, innovative, fun and energetic work environment in the global Tea business, you are at the right place.

We are looking for a cross-section of Tea managers, with varying levels of experience and proven expertise. Candidates will possess a sound knowledge of tea tasting, blending and recipe development – for quality and cost. The job holder will be part of a specialised R&D team, that drives the blend design & product innovation agenda, across our global tea recipes.


JOB SUMMARY

Being a specialized domain-expertise role, it requires strong product knowledge and technical prowess. A keen appreciation of tea's bush-to-blend consumer journey is a must, coupled with a good understanding of recipe design and deploy. A basic appreciation of the global Tea industry would help, along with a working knowledge of subject areas such as cultivation & processing, origins & suppliers, tasting & sensory, prices & value, organic & sustainable sourcing, training & upskilling, and knowledge-based-selling to key stakeholders.

· Lead the translation of consumer preferences into ‘winning' tea blends - taking quality, value, availability, supply feasibility & sustainability into account. Essentially, drive tea blend development, in line with Consumer/Marketing briefs.
· Understand tea blend specifications and what it takes to maintain, but also challenge them
· Partner R&D Project Leads in developing ‘first time right' winning blend prototypes, for innovations & renovations.
· Develop, in parallel, relevant product experience toolkits & compelling story-telling content, in support of all NPD - to support internal stakeholders & external customer sell-ins.
· Constantly upskill self and teams in all tea types, especially black, speciality, greens and organic. A basic appreciation of Flavours & Herbals (with reference to how they interplay with Tea) is also useful and necessary.
· Generate Savings ideas, by drilling down into recipe components and suggesting value-improvement possibilities.
· Regular evaluation of Unilever & Competitor market samples – to build product quality understanding, monitor in-market consistency, and shadow-cost for value opportunities.

KEY REQUIREMENTS
· University Degree – with a preference in Plant Science, Agronomy, Food Technology.
· Trained tea taster & technical expert, with proven experience in tasting, blending & NPD
· A useful proficiency in tea tasting is a key skill underpinning this role. This would facilitate an ability to fingerprint raw material against a bespoke internal Categorisation (for leaf and liquor) system.
· A strong understanding of NPD, including an appreciation of Innovation Process Management (IPM) & Project Risk Management.
· Good communication skills, both written & spoken English.
· While being a “self-starter”, the candidate must be able to tap into cross-functional teams, manage stakeholders, and get the best out of colleagues from diverse cultures.
· An immaculate level of attention to detail ; the ability to think forward & proactively problem-solve ; and be able to discern the most effective solution for delivering Tea blending expertise.
· A strong team player, with an infectious enthusiasm for tea.

This is a permanent, full time, Manager role, that works closely with, and reports to the R&D Beverages Expertise Director. It is based at the company's Beverages Global Design Centre, at Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, UK.

Unilever provide a pension plan that is well above market average, discounted products, discounts at high street brands, well-being support, a plethora of training and flexible working where possible to ensure that you are supported professionally and personally during your Unilever life.


APPLICATION PROCESS

Please note: As part of the job application, you will be asked to complete a brief online application form. Completion of the form is required in order to be considered. Please allow yourself enough time to complete the application form as when filled out partially or not at all it may adversely affect the progress of your application.