Head of Country UFS Italy

UFS HEAD OF COUNTRY ITALY


ABOUT FOOD SOLUTIONS (UFS)
Act like a founder, be part of a Winning team, accelerate your growth, stay ahead of the curve, enjoy the journey: JOIN UFS

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) is the 2nd largest Business Unit of Unilever, is one of the 3 Power brands of the Foods Business Group, and a global market leader in Food Service. We are an independent Global Business Unit that operates in over 76 countries, generating ~€3bn in Turnover, and employing ~4000 employees. We have a unique B2B business model focused on serving chefs and our purpose is to free Chefs to love what they do.
We at UFS have a bold and clear ambition and strategy in place to reach €5bn by 2030 with accretive profitability, by being the best solution provider to our 5 million operators. We plan to do this via a product first focus on superiority, by becoming the leader in AI powered Customer experience and by nurturing a Winning culture. We have had a history of delivering with excellence and resilient performance in the past few years. We also strive to stay 3 steps ahead in the industry. For example, our Future Menus Report identifies emerging culinary trends, making us a trendsetter for inspiring innovative solutions for chefs worldwide.

We have a culture of caring deeply not just for our business but also for our people. We foster an entrepreneurial culture built on speed, simplicity, trust, and a deep hunger to grow. Our people thrive on their roles being empowered and end to end - across all functions. We also invest heavily in building future skills and leaders. Our People agenda of Accelerate-Grow-Thrive consistently helps us lead in employee engagement, with Univoice scores exceeding Unilever scores across all dimensions and being one of the most engaged teams at Unilever.
Here, you will continuously learn, unlearn, and relearn, challenging yourself to accelerate your development in an end-to-end business and in end-to-end roles.

Italy is part of South Europe Region with a strong growth ambition, and we are looking for a Head of Country that guides the growth of our business in the Italian market.
If you're dreaming of contributing to Unilever’s 2nd largest Business unit, a fast-growing business, where you're empowered so you can play to win and thrive as part of One Team with One Goal, then come and join us!

GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE ROLE:
This Head of Country role will have responsibility for our business in Italy and is reporting into the UFS South Europe & Spain Managing Director. Within our South Europe performance unit, Italy is a key country which is essential to the overall success of the region. The main purpose of this role is to drive accelerated growth and lead transformation towards a significantly more sizable business future-fit for external market trends.
Your aim will be driving Italy consistently into a 50+ Mio Euro powerhouse by 27’ growing ahead of the average growth ambition and delivering a target UOM above 20%.
WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• Lead the country operations and full P&L to achieve business goals and objectives.
• Develop and implement strategic plans to drive exceptional growth and profitability.
• Manage and oversee all EtoE aspects of the business including sales, marketing, finance, and operations.
• Monitor and evaluate business performance, using relevant metrics (KPIs/OKRs) to drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure core business process effectiveness (S&OP, IBP, PR’s, QBR’s).
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including customers, partners, and government authorities.
• Lead & evolve the business transformational agenda (CX Evolution, data analytics, data-driven decision making…) & capability building agenda (digital selling, Chefmanship, Execution Mantra…)
• Identify, attract, and retain the right-profile individuals and focus on developing people-team investing in their growth focusing on the new Winning Culture Behaviors
• Foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and accountability within the team.
• Be a contributing member in the SE LT, the local UFS LT and in the Italian NMT (National Management Team)
• Ensure compliance with local regulations and company policies.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED
• Proven experience in a senior leadership role including in depth customer management knowledge and experience.
• Excellent commercial acumen, strong business development & distributor management credentials with a proven track record on delivery.
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
• You are a Leader of Evolution. People look to you to provide safety in an evolution moment and you also appropriately challenge to get even better results. You role model resilience and care. You navigate these times by flexing plans and your leadership style, always with authenticity.
• Strong financial acumen and business management skills, including P&L management understanding and experience.
• Experience in digital selling and transforming customer relationship management. Understanding of digital technologies, their capabilities, how they impact the ways of working and how job scopes are changed as a result.
• Acting on future-proofing talent, skills and organizational structures to drive superior performance.
• Food Culture: understand and be passionate about Food and the Food culture that we are creating through UFS.
• Excellent command of Italian and English

KEY INTERFACES:
• SE Finance manager
• SE HR business partner
• SE Marketing Lead
• SE peers (HoC)
• Supply chain (IT, UFS)
• Local Board team
• External Customers – Strategic Partners, C&C, Customers, Chefs network
• External Stakeholders – agencies and associations


ARE YOU INTERESTED?
• Please apply via this portal as e-mail applications will not be processed. By applying to this role, you are confirming that you have informed your Line Manager and that you are at a point in your career with Unilever where it is appropriate for you to be applying for other positions.

• We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to provide a positive, barrier-free recruitment journey. Should you require additional information or reasonable adjustments to allow you to present your best self during this process, please contact your Talent Partner Rosa.Piscioneri@unilever.com.

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.