Head of R&D - UFS

Act like a founder, be part of a Winning team, accelerate your growth, stay ahead of the curve, enjoy the journey: JOIN UFS

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) is the 2nd largest Business Unit of Unilever, is one of the 3 Power brands of the Foods Business Group, and a global market leader in Food Service. We are an independent Global Business Unit that operates in over 76 countries, generating ~€3 Billion in Turnover, and employing ~4000 employees. We have a unique B2B business model focused on serving chefs and our purpose is to free them to love what they do.

We at UFS have a bold and clear ambition and strategy in place to reach €5bn by 2030 with accretive profitability, by being the best solution provider to our 5 million operators. We plan to do this via a product first focus on superiority, by becoming the leader in AI powered Customer experience and by nurturing a Winning Culture. We have had a history of delivering with excellence and resilient performance in the past few years. We also strive to stay 3 steps ahead in the industry. For example, our Future Menus Report identifies emerging culinary trends, making us a trendsetter for inspiring innovative solutions for chefs worldwide.

We have a culture of caring deeply not just for our business but also for our people. We foster an entrepreneurial culture built on speed, simplicity, trust, and a deep hunger to grow. Our people thrive on their roles being empowered and end to end - across all functions. We also invest heavily in building future skills and leaders. Our People agenda of Accelerate-Grow-Thrive consistently helps us lead in employee engagement, with Univoice scores exceeding Unilever scores across all dimensions and being one of the most engaged teams at Unilever.

Here, you will continuously learn, unlearn, and relearn, challenging yourself to accelerate your development in an end-to-end business and in end-to-end roles. If you're dreaming of contributing to Unilever’s 2nd largest Business unit, a fast-growing business, where you're empowered so you can play to win and thrive as part of One Team with One Goal, then come and join us!

We are recruiting for the Head of R&D UFS (WL4X) to join our Foods R&D LT and the UFS LT, leading the full R&D program and teams across all regions. This pivotal role shapes and steers the UFS strategy, driving core growth through product superiority and impactful claims and demos, building the categories of tomorrow through breakthrough innovation, and fostering a Play‑to‑Win culture where we are all Food Lovers and Growth Hunters.

Accountabilities

• Define and deliver the UFS Innovation strategy, together with the CMO, including the development of long-term technology road map. ·

• Leadership of all Global UFS R&D resources across multiple sites; responsible for shaping culture and ensuring talent management across the UFS team and the Foods R&D team.

• Co-define the Foods R&D strategy with the Foods RDLT to ensure R&D remains Future fit and continues to deliver competitive advantages unlocked by technology, enabled by digital, ecosystem and of course talented people.

• Setting and delivering the overall R&D program for UFS.

• Act as an enterprise leader in the UFS LT, co-defining the strategy and ensuring full R&D integration and alignment.

• Responsible for development / execution of UFS R&D strategy including superiority, innovation, selling stories, value improvement, complexity reduction, boldly healthier building of required new capability and management of associated budget.

All About You: Qualifications / Experience:  

• Consistent track record of high performance and business delivery, with proven experience at Senior R&D Director or VP level

• Strong technical background, with strong preference for experience in formulation, packaging or processing in the area of Foods and experience in delivering complex technologies to market

• Able to drive Innovation and Product Superiority rooted in Consumer Insight

• Prior experience of leading large, multi-center, technical teams with a strategic approach & effective influencing 

• An advocate of using & developing digital and AI tools to step-change ways of working 

• A record of developing enduring and productive external partnerships

• An excellent communicator / influencer, with ability to translate complex scientific ideas and hypothesis into key messages for stakeholders (brand, customer development, operators,)

• Ability to deliver results through cross-functional partnering and thinks E2E  

Key Interfaces       

• Foods CRDO & UFS GM

• UFS Chief Marketing Officer ·

• UFS LT and Cluster R&D leaders.

• Foods R&D LT ·     

• Foods Science & technology

• HR Business Partners & Finance BP ·        

• External partners& suppliers.

• Patents and Regulatory contacts