FOOD & MICROBIOLOGY MANAGER

Job Title: FOOD & MICROBIOLOGY MANAGER

Location: Colworth Science Park

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. Unilever has more than 400 brands found in homes around the world, including Persil, Dove, Knorr, Domestos, Hellmann’s, Lipton, Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Marmite, Magnum and Lynx. Faced with the challenge of climate change and the need for human development, we want to move towards a world where everyone can live well and within the natural limits of the planet. That’s why our purpose is ‘to make sustainable living commonplace”

The future begins in Research & Development (R&D). In R&D, you’ll find out what consumers want and need, and then design the science and technology to make our innovations come to life. We have over 6,000 R&D employees designing, creating and developing exciting new products using innovative technologies - from scientists and product development experts to professional chefs who have the skills to evaluate new products. You could be designing and developing new innovations for brands like TRESemmé, Magnum, Cornetto and Domestos – straight from your team to the shelves!

At the core of our values is sustainability, and our teams are dedicated to making our products better for you, for our customers and for the world. We are committed to ensuring that all of our packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, and that we are using more recycled content. To achieve this, we collaborate closely either within the various R&D teams, with other Unilever colleagues like Marketeers and the Supply Chain, and with leading scientific experts from around the world. 

The role is based in Colworth Science Park, a site that has a strong track record of building and contributing to a number of our brands including Lipton, Magnum, Cornetto, Ponds and Dove. It is one of our two main R&D centres in the UK.

JOB PURPOSE 

The Science & Technology (S&T) team in the Nutrition and Ice Cream Business Groups (N&I BG) is an agile team of enthusiastic world-class scientists who deliver business relevant solutions underpinning brand innovation programs, based on scientific and technological capabilities.  One such key capability is Microbiology, accountable for the delivery of microbiological solutions across R&D and Supply Chain (SC).  The strength of the team lies in the integration of formulation (hurdle technology) and processing knowledge for R&D to develop microbiologically safe & stable products by design.

As an Ice Cream Microbiologist, you will work in the microbiology team delivering up-front solutions and security across our R&D innovation portfolio and business operations with primary focus on Ice Cream, supporting iconic brands such as Magnum and Walls. This is a critical business need as science-driven microbiological support:

(1) provides the unlock for faster and sustainable innovation, incident prevention and mitigation

(2) provides a solid basis to perform microbiological risk assessments and

(3) enables the business to deliver better for you and for the planet products.

RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Act as microbiology first point of contact in the provision of microbiological expertise for R&D product developers, quality and supply chain support.
• Line management and mentoring of microbiology team members.
• Ensure end-to-end quality in microbiology science-based support, including (statistical) data analysis and visualization, interpretation & presentation, and reporting to relevant stakeholders.
• Lead microbiological risk assessments to establish the basis for microbiological safety & stability of new product and process designs.
• Identify and adapt new methodologies/process/procedures enabling continuous future fit microbiological data science.
• Stay up to date on novel insights and solutions in the area of food preservation systems (e.g. hurdle-technology, natural antimicrobials, etc.).
• Provide technical expertise in the design of microbiological experiments for innovation support and ensure robustness of the data.
• Lead technical input for relevant good manufacturing documents and training materials to ensure maintenance of product & process design knowledge.

ALL ABOUT YOU 

• Ideally MSc or higher in relevant subject (e.g. Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Science & Technology – with focus on microbiology).
• Proven experience (relevant years) in applied/industry microbiology roles in the food sector, including leading projects and managing teams.
• Experience in molecular microbiology is an advantage plus.
• Good influencing and communication skills (fluent English written and verbal); ability to convince and defend own agenda in front of internal and external stakeholders (e.g. R&D, Supply Chain, Quality, 3rd parties, co-packers).
• Ability to use technical judgment to lead team activities and program direction, preferably experience in line management.
• Team player with flexible “we can” attitude, yet, ability to work agile and independently.

What We Offer 

Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, subsidised gym membership, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all. 

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities, and growing together for better business performance. We want to push boundaries, and have the flexibility needed to keep adapting in an ever-changing, more dynamic world. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

As part of your hiring journey, we are happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments, to improve your recruitment experience.

To find out more, including more information about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here.

Recruitment Fraud 

Cyber criminals advertise fake job adverts with prestigious employers as a way of stealing information or even defrauding individuals out of money. In the most sophisticated cases, they will set up fake websites, which have a similar address to companies like Unilever. They even conduct fake telephone interviews and then offer candidates a role with the proviso they pay a fee for background checks or to cover work visa costs.  These types of attacks are becoming more common as more people are looking for employment in the economic climate. 

How is Unilever tackling this? 

Many of Unilever’s recruitment sites publish a warning to candidates about recruitment fraud. The Cyber Security team also proactively scan for signs of people setting up fake Unilever sites and act to close them down. 

What can I do? 

If you become aware of potential recruitment fraud, spot fake Unilever recruitment adverts or fake LinkedIn profiles, report them via Una Live Chat. 

Unilever does not accept responsibility or liability for any candidates who are financially impacted by recruitment fraud. Your vigilance is key!