U

Unilever

Global consumer goods manufacturer and marketer

Manufacturing Manager - Night Shift

Full-TimeDeadline 10/30/26
$103k - $154.4k/yr+ Bonus + Long-Term Incentive
Senior
Bachelor's
Independence, MO, USA
In Person
Manufacturing & Production Operations
Company Does Not Provide H1B Sponsorship

About the job

Requirements
  • Willingness to work a flexible night shift operation.
  • At least 5 years of manufacturing, operations, or supply chain experience within food, consumer goods, or a similar manufacturing environment.
  • At least 3 years of leadership experience managing manufacturing teams.
  • Experience operating in a unionized manufacturing environment.
  • Strong experience managing safety, quality, productivity, and labor performance metrics.
  • Proven ability to lead teams, develop talent, solve complex problems, and drive operational results.
  • Ability to work a night shift schedule and act as the senior site leader during assigned coverage.
Responsibilities
  • Lead the factory's overnight operation, ensuring safety, complaint, and efficient production execution.
  • Deliver key operational targets across safety, quality, service, productivity, and cost.
  • Drive accountability and performance through front-line supervisors and shift leadership teams.
  • Serve as the primary escalation point for operational, maintenance, quality, and people-related issues during night shift operations.
  • Build a high-performance culture focused on employee engagement, development, and continuous improvement.
  • Partner with day-shift leadership to ensure seamless communication, execution, and shift handovers.
  • Drive loss elimination and operational improvements using Lean Manufacturing, TPM, WCM, or similar methodologies.
  • Lead all manufacturing activities during assigned night shift coverage.
  • Coach and develop supervisors and front-line leaders to strengthen capability and performance.
  • Monitor and improve KPIs related to safety, quality, service, productivity, labor, and cost.
  • Coordinate cross-functional teams including Production, Maintenance, Quality, Warehouse, and Engineering.
  • Lead incident response, risk mitigation, root cause analysis, and corrective actions.
  • Ensure compliance with OSHA, GMP, HACCP, food safety, environmental, and quality standards.
  • Facilitate effective communication, issue escalation, and shift transition processes.
  • Champion continuous improvement initiatives that improve reliability, efficiency, and employee engagement.
  • Build credibility across union and non-union teams through visible leadership and accountability.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience leading large-scale manufacturing operations in a 24/7 environment.
  • Food manufacturing experience with GMP, HACCP, and regulatory compliance requirements.
  • Knowledge of TPM, Lean Manufacturing, WCM, Six Sigma, or related operational excellence systems.
  • Labor relations, grievance management, and collective bargaining experience.
  • SAP experience.
  • Track record of leading cultural and performance transformation initiatives.

About the company

Unilever makes and sells a wide range of everyday consumer goods, including foods, personal care, and home and cleaning products. Its products come from a large portfolio of brands manufactured at scale and distributed through global and local retailers, making them easy to access in many markets. The company stands out by offering a diversified mix of brands across multiple categories and regions, along with a history of strategic acquisitions and restructurings and a focus on sustainability. Its goal is to help people feel good, look good, and get more out of life by delivering trusted, affordable products at scale while pursuing sustainable growth and responsible business practices.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

London, United Kingdom

Founded

1872

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • H1 2026 sales grew 4.8%, with 4.2% volume growth and 20.3% margin.
  • Unilever completed a €1.5 billion buyback in June 2026 and raised its dividend 3%.
  • Zwitsal's sale and other divestitures free capital for higher-growth global brands.

What critics are saying

  • The McCormick food spin-off targets mid-2027, risking distraction and execution slippage.
  • Benzene and fragrance antitrust litigation in Connecticut and New Jersey continue in September 2026.
  • If Power Brands stall, Unilever becomes a shrinking beauty-and-home conglomerate with fading relevance.

What makes Unilever unique

  • Unilever owns 30 Power Brands driving 78% of turnover, simplifying execution in 2026.
  • Its New Haven innovation center concentrates fragrance, packaging, and AI R&D by spring 2029.
  • PaperFlex Consortium membership with P&G and Nestlé gives Unilever packaging R&D leverage competitors lack.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Life Insurance
  • Disability Insurance
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • Paid Vacation
  • Paid Sick Leave
  • Paid Holidays
  • Parental Leave
  • Performance Bonus
  • Group home and auto insurance discounts

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

2%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
ProPakistani
Oct 21st, 2026
McCormick to buy 76.55% of Unilever Pakistan Foods in $20B global food deal

McCormick & Company, a US food and flavourings maker, plans to acquire at least 76.55% of Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited and take control of the company. The announcement, dated October 21, was filed through Arif Habib Limited, the manager to the offer. McCormick intends to buy 4,876,294 shares by agreement. The number of shares in a later public offer has not been set. The deal is part of a March 31, 2026 agreement under which McCormick would take sole control of substantially all of Unilever PLC's global food business. It needs regulatory approvals, including from the Competition Commission of Pakistan, and may be withdrawn without them. The combined group would have nearly $20 billion in annual revenue. Its brands would include Knorr, Hellmann's, French's, and Cholula.

Chain Drug Review
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Forward Consumer Partners to acquire Welly.

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Financial Post
Oct 19th, 2026
Kimberly-Clark offers bonds to help fund Tylenol maker takeover.

Kimberly-Clark offers bonds to help fund Tylenol maker takeover. Kimberly-Clark Corp. is looking to help fund its pending acquisition of Kenvue Inc. as it aims to rival Unilever PLC Bloomberg News Brian Smith and Ying Luthra Published Oct 19, 2026 Kimberly-Clark Corp. is selling investment-grade bonds in as many as five parts to help fund its pending acquisition of Tylenol maker Kenvue Inc. The consumer-goods company is offering notes in as many as five parts with maturities of two to 10 years, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. Initial price discussions for the longest tenor involve a premium of about one percentage point above U.S. Treasuries, the person added. Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Kimberly-Clark held investor calls on Friday, amid a turbulent period for markets. Numerous companies held off on bringing high-grade bond sales last week as Treasury yields swung sharply on stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data and worries about the artificial-intelligence trade. Canada's best source for investing news, analysis and insight. Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The Kleenex maker's third-quarter report is due on Nov. 5. Companies typically don't issue bonds in the roughly two-week period before disclosing results. JPMorgan Chase & Co. provided US$7.7 billion in bridge financing late last year to help fund the acquisition. The bond sale is expected to replace that temporary borrowing facility. Other banks managing the bond sale are Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley, the person said. The largely-stock acquisition, expected to close by the end of the year, is currently valued at about US$36 billion. Compensation is set to include US$6.7 billion of cash that would in part come from new debt sales, Kimberly-Clark has previously said. Kenvue has struggled financially since being spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023, and the company found itself battling with the Trump administration last year over the safety of its biggest product, Tylenol. Its portfolio also includes Neutrogena lotion, Listerine mouthwash, Benadryl allergy medicine and Band-Aid wound care products. Kimberly-Clark said when the combination was announced last year that buying Kenvue would create a company with US$32 billion in revenue and allow it to surpass Unilever PLC to become the second-biggest seller of health and wellness products after Procter & Gamble Co.

Unilever
Oct 16th, 2026
New Knorr range offers air fryer cooks flavour inspiration.

New Knorr range offers air fryer cooks flavour inspiration. Published: 16 October 2026 As home cooks increasingly turn to air fryers to save time, they're looking for new and inspiring ways to add flavour and variety to everyday meals. Knorr is tapping into this cultural and culinary shift to boost brand relevance and drive growth. The use of air fryers has transformed from a niche curiosity into one of the fastest-growing global cooking methods of the past decade. According to research from Knorr, 87% of air fryer owners in the UK use theirs weekly and 57% for three or more main meals a week. Europe in particular is emerging as a key growth market, with the category expected to generate over €2 billion in annual sales by 2030.[[a]] With such a big growth opportunity, the Unilever Foods Power Brand Knorr has launched a dedicated product range to help home cooks achieve flavour-rich meals with minimal effort. Introducing Knorr's air fryer seasonings and coatings. Knorr's new Air Fryer Meal Mixes line offers seasonings and crispy coatings developed specifically for air fryers to deliver delicious results. All nine mixes are based on consumer insights and flavour trends reflecting the most popular air fryer meals across launch markets Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. "By bringing together the culinary expertise of our own chefs and deep consumer insights, we've developed products that work perfectly in the air fryer, helping people create flavourful, crispy and satisfying dishes with ease," explains Joanny Lijbers, VP, Cooking Aids & Marketing Transformation, Unilever Foods, Europe. "It's all about giving consumers the confidence to try something new while delivering the great taste they expect from Knorr." An innovative foods x tech partnership. Unilever Foods and Versuni, the makers of Philips air fryers, have joined forces to help people get even more from their cooking. 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"The air fryer has opened up a whole new world of tasty possibilities. It's a tool for creativity, helping people discover new recipes and experiment with different dishes. "Across markets, air fryer adoption is already widespread and rising rapidly, offering a rare household platform on which brands can build penetration and cultural relevance. As more people embrace this way of cooking, it represents a huge opportunity for Knorr." Why are air fryers so popular? The increasing pace of air fryer ownership illustrates the sheer scale of the shift. By 2030, the UK is expected to generate €313 million[[a]] in annual air fryer sales, making it the fifth-largest market globally, with Germany close behind at €308 million. Air fryers deliver exactly what home cooks want in terms of speed and convenience, with users estimating they save an average of 19 minutes per meal, equivalent to around 1.5 hours across a typical working week. 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For Knorr, that makes the air fryer more than a convenience appliance, it's a platform to unlock flavour-led solutions, helping people to create easier, tastier and more enjoyable meals during the week. Frequently asked questions. (1, 2) Source: Statista (2026) Air Fryers - United Kingdom | Statista market forecast. Retrieved 8 October 2026 from https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/household-appliances/small-appliances/air-fryers/europe/?currency=EUR.

Fox News
Oct 15th, 2026
Warren warns $45B McCormick–Unilever condiment merger could raise prices, sparking online mockery

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has warned that McCormick's proposed $45 billion merger with Unilever's foods business could raise grocery prices. The deal would combine brands such as Cholula, Frank's RedHot, Hellmann's, and Knorr. Online users mocked her "Big Condiment" warning. In an October 6 letter to the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, Warren urged regulators to scrutinise the deal, along with two other proposed food-industry mergers. She argued it could reduce competition for shoppers' spending and retailers' shelf space, leaving consumers with fewer choices. Announced in March, the deal is expected to close by mid-2027, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.