Ice Cream Associate Manager

Job Title: Ice Cream Associate Manager – Category Business Development 
Location: Englewood Cliffs

Terms & Conditions: Full-Time  

If you want to work for a global, leading Ice Cream player with €7.9bn Turn Over in 2023, come join Unilever Ice Cream! The Ice Cream business is operating in a highly attractive category, as we are part of the 1 trillion snacking and refreshment industry, growing consistently at high pace. We have strong brands equities: 5 of top 10 selling brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Magnum, Talenti, Popsicle, Good Humor, Klondike, and Yasso. We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of Ice Cream as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen by November 2025.

Ice Cream has distinct characteristics from Unilever’s other operating businesses and the growth potential of Ice Cream will be better delivered under a different ownership structure. As Ice Cream company we are committed to developing and nurturing talent as we build our diverse and inclusive culture. You will have ample options for career growth and exploration, allowing you for you to explore roles and opportunities across the new organisation. Your career development will be a priority for us, and we are dedicated to supporting your growth journey within the new company. We hope that you will want to build the new chapter of our Ice Cream history together with us.
 
Job Purpose:

As a member of the Out-of-Home team in the Ice Cream business, the Category Business Development Associate Manager plays a critical role in driving category growth and maximizing business performance. This role involves coordinating category strategies, providing actionable insights, and supporting business planning processes across the sector. The position focuses on optimizing profitability and ROI, identifying growth opportunities, and ensuring alignment with brand objectives.

This individual will serve as the voice of the Out-of-Home Division in the S&OP process, ensuring that Out-of-Home strategies and priorities are well represented. They will also play a vital role in validating volumes and strategies during the innovation process, supporting the successful launch and scale of new initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

• Category Strategy Development: Drive and coordinate category volume and merchandising plan development across the sector to achieve strategic business goals. 
• Forecasting: Ensure forecast accuracy by analyzing business drivers and market trends. 
• Trade Budget Oversight: 
• Lead the creation of trade budget plans in collaboration with Finance and CCS teams. 
• Ensure proper cascade of trade budget plans to RBMs and monitor actual spend against the plan to maintain alignment and achieve financial targets. 
• Track and report KPIs related to customer mix efficiency, investment ROI and budget adherence to ensure alignment with financial targets in collaboration with Finance and CCS teams. 
• Collaboration & Communication: 
•  Partner with the Customer and Channel Strategy (CCS) and Brand teams to ensure alignment and deliver clear, actionable insights to the field teams. 
• Act as a key liaison with Regional Business Managers (RBM), fostering collaboration and ensuring that investments are maximized for growth and efficiency. 
•  Data Analysis & Insights: Provide detailed volume and market share analyses to identify key drivers impacting performance across the Out-of-Home Division.  ROI Optimization:
• Maximize return on investment through detailed analysis of trade spend, product mix, and operational efficiency. Ensure investments deliver measurable value and are aligned with strategic goals. 
• Integrated Business Planning:  
• Leverage OOH insights to influence the CCS team during the S&OP process.  
• Support internal planning processes to achieve financial and operational targets, including managing overspend, NIP, market share, and supply chain metrics. 
• Category Growth Opportunities: Identify growth opportunities within the sector and build business cases to influence CCS and other key stakeholders. 
• Innovation Process: Contribute to the innovation process by validating volume estimates and strategic alignment to ensure the successful execution of new initiatives. 
• Capability Development: Innovate and implement new business models to enhance customer and retailer profitability through tools like Net Revenue Management, Omni-Channel strategies, and Route-to-Market efficiencies. 
• Program Development: Collaborate with Division Business Development Managers to design and execute programs aligned with brand strategies. 
• Bachelor’s Degree required. 

What You’ll Need to Succeed 

• +5  years of related customer business experience with demonstrated success in analytical roles. 
• In-depth knowledge of P&L management, retail math, analytics, financial and strategic modeling, and forecasting.  
• Advanced proficiency in tools like Excel, Tableau, SASS, Nielsen, and Power BI. Knowledge of Evergreen is a plus. 
• Strong Interpersonal Skills: Proven ability to build and maintain relationships across cross-functional teams, including RBMs, CCS, Finance and Brand teams, ensuring alignment and seamless execution. 
• Trade Budget Management Expertise: Demonstrated ability to create, oversee, and ensure adherence to trade budget plans while maximizing financial efficiency.
• Strategic Problem-Solving: Exceptional analytical and decision-making skills to navigate complexity and ambiguity effectively. 
• Proactive Mindset: A self-starter who takes ownership, demonstrates accountability, and drives continuous improvement. 

Pay: The pay range for this position is $83,200 to $124,700. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.  

​Bonus: This position is bonus eligible.  

Long-Term Incentive (LTI): This position is LTI eligible.  

Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents

What We Can Offer You

Meet the Women of Customer Development | Culture for Growth | Top Notch Employee Health & Well Being Benefits | Every Voice Matters | Global Reach | Life at Unilever | Careers with Purpose | World Class Career Development Programs | Check Out Our Space | Focus On Sustainability

Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion 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.

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Persons with Disabilities.

Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination under Federal law.

For more information, please see EEO is the Law  Employment is subject to verification of pre-employment drug-screening results.

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Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion 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. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. 

For more information about your Federal rights, please see Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal and Pay Transparency Non discrimination Provision.

Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at [email protected]. Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses. The Protected Veterans or Individuals with Disabilities AAP narratives are available for inspection by any employee or applicant for employment Monday through Friday during normal business hours at establishment.