Operation Manager - Small Format, Central

Work Location: Central Region

Job Purpose: To manage and ensure best-in-class in-store execution across MT stores in the assigned region

Job Description:

1. Regional Execution Management

• Joint Business Plan with top stores
• Implement national field execution plans tailored to regional retail dynamics.
• Be Customer/Category Champion (if assigned) to drive execution excellence of the assigned customer(s) in collaboration with internal stakeholders (Key Account, Customer Strategy & Planning, …)

2. Execution Monitoring & Continuous Improvement

• Drive execution KPIs such as On-shelf Availability (OSA), Share-of-Shelf, secondary display location, rental compliance.
• Implement continuous improvement initiatives through Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and performance dashboards.
• Conduct regular market visits to assess compliance and identify improvement opportunities.

3. Cross-functional Alignment & Customer Relationship Management

• Act as key regional point of contact for store-level issues with Modern Trade partners.
• Collaborate with logistics and supply chain for availability and replenishment issues at store level.
• Build and nurture professional relationships with customer’s regional managers and top store managers to support in-store cooperation.

4. People Manager and Capability Development

• Build team capability in merchandising standards, in-store negotiation, perfect store execution and shopper engagement.
• Drive adoption of executional tools, dashboards and scorecards to track commercial and executional KPIs in real-time.

Key Metrics:

1. Commercial & Executional KPIs

• Growth/ Share Gain
• NIV/ Offtake by 1U/BU
• Perfect Store (%) by 1U/ BU
• OSA
• Secondary Display Location
• Rental Compliance
• NPD

2. Coverage & Productivity KPIs

• Store Coverage Compliance (%) % of planned store visits completed by field team ≥ …%
• Field Team Productivity Score Average number of effective calls/visits per rep per day
• 100% in-store team obtain License to Operate (L2O)
• CICO, geo fencing, SOP compliance, Timespent
• Attrition rate

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, Supply Chain, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in Sales Operations, Field Sales, Retail Execution, or Modern Trade within FMCG/Consumer Goods; with at least 2 years in a people leadership role.
• Strong understanding of Modern Trade/Small Format (BHX, WCM, ...) retail operations, merchandising standards, Perfect Store, and execution KPIs (OSA, Share of Shelf, display compliance).
• Proven ability to analyze performance data, conduct root cause analysis, and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills, with experience collaborating across Sales, Customer Strategy, Supply Chain, and retail partners.
• Demonstrated leadership, coaching, and capability-building skills, with proficiency in execution tracking tools, dashboards, and commercial performance reporting

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.