Global Strategy and Innovation Manager - B&W

Unilever; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global consumer goods company is seeking a Global Strategy and Innovation Manager to lead strategic planning and the global innovation pipeline for beauty brands. The role involves collaborating with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to drive business goals. The ideal candidate will have relevant experience in FMCG marketing or strategy consulting, strong analytical skills, and excellent communication abilities.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Family-friendly workplace

Qualifications

• Relevant experience in FMCG or strategy consulting focused on consumer goods.
• Strong problem-solving skills with clear recommendation development.
• Excellent communication skills tailored for senior leadership engagement.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic planning with cross-functional teams and senior leaders.
• Drive strategic meeting preparation and high-stakes presentations.
• Support delivery on high-impact and urgent priorities.

Skills

Analytical Thinking

Strategic Planning

Communication

Collaboration

Tools

Excel

Job description

ROLE TITLE: Global Strategy and Innovation Manager – Beauty and Wellbeing
LOCATION: 100VE

About Unilever Beauty & Wellbeing

Beauty & Wellbeing (B&W) includes some of Unilever's most exciting categories including Skin Care and Hair Care with brands like Dove, Sunsilk, Vaseline, TRESemme and more. We are also home to our Prestige portfolio of luxury brands such as Dermalogica, Hourglass and Living Proof; and Health & Wellbeing, a carefully crafted collection of Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements brands including Liquid I.V., Nutrafol and OLLY. We are building a unified and mutually supportive team of people who are beauty and wellbeing‑obsessed, consumer focused and driven by a passion for winning. Our role is to add value to our brands, deliver tangible beauty benefits through our products, create desire, and pioneer trends. With more than 1 billion people using our products every day, we have an opportunity to use our scale for good. We’re embracing a new era of beauty and wellbeing – one that’s inclusive, equitable, regenerative and positive – so that people and the planet can thrive together.

Job Purpose

This role sits within the Global B&W Strategy & Operations Team, which defines the multi‑year strategy for our global skin and hair care portfolio (including Dove, Sunsilk, Clear, Vaseline, TRESemme, Nexxus, Ponds, Clear), governs the global innovation pipeline, leads integrated business planning between global brand teams and local market, and works to drive excellent execution against short‑ and long‑term business goals. As part of a small, high‑impact and high‑exposure team, this critical role works closely with senior stakeholders including the B&W CMO, CFO, President, Global Brand VPs, Country GMs, and their teams. It offers unprecedented visibility and access to Unilever’s global portfolio of beauty brands, markets and teams.

Job Responsibilities

• Lead strategic planning – Collaborate with global and local brand teams, cross‑functional leaders (e.g., supply chain, finance, R&D) and senior leadership to shape annual and multi‑year business plans; drive strategic decisions on brand investments and project launches through analysis, reporting, and presentations; and participate in market and brand strategy workshops, rapidly comprehending market and business dynamics across geographies and categories to inform global strategy.
• Lead strategy deep‑dives & initiatives – Partner with colleagues and cross‑functional experts across the business to address a range of critical business questions‑ ranging from portfolio strategy, marketing capability building, competitive analysis to go‑to‑market improvements.
• Drive strategic meeting cadence – Own the preparation of key monthly strategic meetings, including the Global Leadership Category Team Meeting and Marketing Leadership Team Meeting; ensure sharp governance and alignment across markets and functions; lead preparation of high‑stakes presentations for internal and external audiences, including the CEO, Board, and globally‑top priority external partners (e.g., suppliers or customers).
• Support delivery of broader team priorities as needed – Demonstrate flexibility and ownership by partnering with other colleagues in the team on selected high‑impact and high‑urgency priorities, e.g., preparing for innovation gatekeeping, aggregating and analysing business‑critical data; remain at the forefront of industry and marketing trends by participating in regular B&W marketing and beauty training (e.g., Beauty Academy).

About you

• Passion & Ambition
  • Passionate about Beauty and building desire at scale for our Hair Care and Skin Care brands
  • Ambitious to drive bold ideas and brand growth
• Experience & Expertise
  • Relevant experience in FMCG (ideally Beauty, and most likely within marketing, strategy) or strategy consulting (with a focus on consumer goods)
• Strategic & Analytical Thinking
  • Able to toggle between big‑picture strategy and practical execution - with a strong eye for detail
  • Strong problem‑solving skills with clear recommendation development
  • Consumer‑ and competitor‑obsessed, with strong external orientation
  • Proficient in data analysis and Excel modelling
• Communication & Influence
  • Excellent communicator – able to simplify complexity through very well structured written & visual presentations, and ability to verbally articulate clear points of view
  • Comfortable engaging with senior leaders and influencing global teams
  • Thrives, and is able to drive change, in fast‑paced, high‑impact environments
• Collaboration & Leadership
  • Skilled at building trust‑based relationships across cultures and functions
  • Takes ownership and drives workstreams independently with quality and speed
  • Agile and flexible – comfortable pivoting quickly to deliver on the most business‑critical priorities
  • Reliable and proactive – keeps momentum and ensures delivery
  • Collaborative team player with a positive, can‑do attitude
• Language
  • Fluent in written and spoken business English

What we offer

Whilst the role is advertised on a full‑time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We strive to achieve a family‑friendly and inclusive workplace and, above all, create possibilities for all. Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. 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 are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to present your best self. To find out more, including about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (unilever.com).

Location

In June 2020 we announced our plan to consolidate a number of Unilever’s offices across the South East of England into a new Unilever campus in Kingston‑upon‑Thames in or around early 2025. However, on the 08 August 2024 we announced to our existing staff our proposal to retain our central Head Office in London, 100 Victoria Embankment ("100VE") until our lease expires in 2027. As a result of this new proposal, we will be consulting with our existing staff, and new joiners who join during this period of consultation at 100VE, on the proposal made in August 2024. During consultation we will clarify the future location of each team and function. This means your role will either be based in 100VE until 2027 or in Kingston‑upon‑Thames from early 2025. As we are yet to commence consultation on the proposal you agree, until such a time when consultation has concluded, your normal place of work as set out in the enclosed Statement of Terms & Conditions will be 100VE. You agree that on the conclusion of the consultation your place of work will be 100VE or 100VE until early 2025 and then Kingston‑upon‑Thames ("the locations") and you will be notified of which of the locations will be your place of work after that consultation ends.