Customer Strategy & Planning Assistant Manager - Foods

Unilever; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 300,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking company where you can lead market plan execution and drive category growth strategies. This role offers the opportunity to innovate and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to deliver exceptional results. You will be responsible for tracking targets, managing budgets, and deploying commercial plans that resonate with customers. With a commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity, this organization values your unique contributions and supports your career development in a flexible working environment. If you are passionate about making a difference and thrive in a dynamic setting, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years experience in Marketing or Sales in FMCG industry.
• Strong Excel skills and demonstrated cross-functional team collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Localise and deploy Category Growth Strategies at channel and customer level.
• Define national innovation & launch plan to channels/customers.

Skills

Innovation mindset

Commerce channels execution

Digital business models

Commercial Strategy

Business Acumen / NRM

Category Growth Management

Data-Driven Mindset

Customer and Retailer Understanding

Education

BComm degree (preferably in Marketing, Business Administration, Financial majors)

Tools

Nielsen

PowerBI

Dunnhumby

Job description

About Unilever

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world.

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our inclusive, collaborative, and flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

CATEGORY/FUNCTION INTRODUCTION

Customer Development (CD) is what we call our Sales organization at Unilever. Customer Development works closely with our customers to pioneer new products, build categories, and deploy best-in-class retail and shopper capabilities.

Job Purpose

Lead in Market Plan execution (Aligned to BU Strategy)

• Localises Category Growth Strategy
• Executes strategically aligned Commercial Plan in Market
• Decides Channel/Customer Prioritisation in Market and deploys Budget accordingly.
• Leads Core Capabilities and objective customer engagement (Catman / Shopper / NRM)
• D4C/D4R: executes locally AND integrates Channel & Customer upstream into BU.

What Will Your Main Responsibilities Be

• Category Growth Strategies: Localise (Develop and deploy) CGS at channel and customer level, work closely with Brand, CMI, NRM, Shopper Marketing to build Customer sell-in.
• Innovation: Define national innovation & launch plan to channels/customers. D4C/D4R: executes locally AND integrates upstream into BU.
• Targets and Budgets: Tracking USG targets and investment to deliver BG strat by channel and customer.
• Pricing and promotions, Mix: Own Pricing & Promo strategy. NRM: Ownership of L4 and L5.
• Execution: Deploy strategically aligned commercial plan in Market via CBD Deploy launch plans to channels/customers to ensure strength of execution. Define channel / Customer Execution: (SoS, TDP). Shopper / Digital marketing led.
• Capability: Deploy core capabilities required to win by Channel and Customer. Catman / Shopper / NRM.

Experiences & Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years experience in Marketing or Sales in FMCG industry.
• BComm degree (preferably in Marketing, Business Administration, Financial majors).
• Strong Excel skills.
• Demonstrated cross-functional team collaboration.
• Strong demonstrated insight & analytical skills.
• Previous experience using Nielsen, PowerBI or customer platforms like Dunnhumby or PnP info hub would be very favourable.

Skills

• Innovation mindset
• Commerce channels execution
• Digital business models
• Commercial Strategy
• Business Acumen / NRM
• Category Growth Management
• Data-Driven Mindset
• Customer and Retailer Understanding

Leadership

• You are energized by delivering fantastic results. You are an example to others – both your results and your resilience. You are constantly on the lookout for better ways to do things, engaging and collaborating with others along the way.
• As an individual, you are responsible for your own wellbeing and delivering high standards of work. You must also focus on the Consumer and what they need. You are humble and have your head up, looking around to interpret evidence and data smartly, spotting issues and opportunities to make things better.

• Critical SOL (Standards of Leadership) Behaviors (Minimum vs Preference):
• PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results. Has an owner’s mindset, using data and insight to make decisions.
• PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Actively builds own wellbeing and resilience.
• CONSUMER LOVE: Whatever their role, always looks for better ways to serve consumers. Invests time inside and outside to understand the needs of consumers.
• PURPOSE & SERVICE: Has humility, understanding that leadership is service to others, inside and outside Unilever.
• AGILITY: Explores the world around them, continually learning and developing their skills.

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever, we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.