Business Operations & Performance Director UKI/ANZ - Elida Beauty

Business Operations & Performance Director  – Elida Beauty UKI ANZ

Work Location – London (hybrid working, 1-2 days in the office)
Travel – Minimal to Paris, United States 1-2 times a year

Who we are … we are Elida Beauty

Elida Beauty is a very exciting new beauty business within Unilever.  We are re-found iconic brands by remixing them for today’s generation, making them even bigger beauty hits than they were first time around.

Our remixes democratize beauty, because we want everyone on the ‘beauty dance floor’ with our top-quality products at a great value.

Driven by our colleague’s creativity, agility and close connection with consumers, customers and suppliers we are able to unleash the true potential of our loved brands with a fresh start.  We ‘Re-Found’ them using a start-up mentality that always ‘finds a way’.  Our ‘no silos’, one team approach drives both personal and business growth so that together we deliver outcomes that are music to the ears of consumers, customers, colleagues and the planet alike.

Your Role & Key Responsibilities

Your Role

Elida Beauty has started its journey to becoming an exciting new business within the Beauty and Personal Care sectors. The next stage of this journey is to lead the business and deliver its 3 year strategy through the new ownership transition.

This newly created role will report into the Elida Beauty UKI ANZ Managing Director (MD) and work cross functionally with all the heads of function in their leadership team. The role will also sit on the Elida Beauty Global XLT (Executive Leadership team).

The role is a high profile role and central to the UKI ANZ leadership team, you are responsible for driving the short to medium term actions for the regional strategy through the business and identifying future areas for value creation with the other cross functional leads. In conjunction with Finance and Customer and Channel Development, you will lead the reporting of the monthly and quarterly performance of the business. In addition, this role will lead the TIGI Transatlantic project for UKI and delivery of the 3 year strategy to drive global sustainable brand growth and GM optimisation.

The role brings a high level of both personal and business exposure with leadership and coordination of the UKI ANZ LT as well as the Global LT, where you will be key to ensuring the collective action and delivery in line with the strategy. You will work with a high degree of independence but critically must work with the UKI ANZ functional leadership team as your key stakeholders. Together you will be instrumental in driving the in year actions and long term planning for the region.

This role requires strong marketing, commercial & financial experience, paired with good organisation, a can-do attitude, and willingness to roll up your sleeves and use your relationships to get things done, unlocking barriers for our teams.

You will be a self-starter with an eye for detail, strong financial acumen and wider business strategy understanding. The individual will have the confidence to navigate, with support, a complex stakeholder and solution environment, to deliver transformative change. You'll build up expert knowledge of operations, stakeholders, digital solutions and data in your area as well as support the scoping and prioritisation of new requirements as they emerge in your area. Where applicable you will represent the region in operational and governance forums. It would be beneficial if you have a background of understanding in sales, marketing & supply chain.  

Your Key Responsibilities

Strategy Development

• Partner with the functional leads to review and identify further areas across the business for long term value creation (GM expansion, Innovation funnel in line with NRM findings/category insight, Savings, Pricing, Business model optimisation e.g. ANZ GTM strategy, 3 year TTS investment strategy )
• Work in partnership with the X-Elida Beauty LT to align regional needs against the category funnel
• Work with partner functions such as supply chain to identify and optimize 5S funnel savings

Annual Planning

• Lead the coordination and development of the annual plan for the region
• Partner with finance to provide the target framework in line with Strategy
• Lead the co-ordination & refreshment of jobs to be done across Marketing and Sales as part of the integrated business plan
• Present and align the annual plan with the Regional LT to the Board

Governance:

• Lead and organise the monthly BU Review for the MD and his LT bringing outputs from the quarterly business review, Innovation & Savings meetings
• Lead & Organise the Quarterly XLT meetings for the MD
• Support the tracking / monitoring of the BMI for the region to stay in guidelines 

Performance Delivery:

• Ensure visibility on the required performance metrics, mobilising teams behind the appropriate drivers (Financials, 5S funnels, Share, NRM etc)      
• Aid course correction and initiate interventions to ensure financial and market share performance & delivery
• Drive collaboration and communication across teams to ensure alignment and support for strategic initiatives and actions delivered in a timely manner.

TIGI Bed Head Transatlantic Project UKI Operational Lead:

• Lead the Transatlantic Project working with X-functionals in each of the different markets to create the actions to deliver the strategy to improve GM over the course of the next 3 years. Working with CCD, Finance & Marketing in each market, together lead the agreement of the appropriate drivers & actions, ensure visibility on the required performance metrics and mobilise teams behind the actions.

Networking and Industry Research:

• Stay informed about industry trends, competitive landscape, and best practices in strategic implementation through networking & research.

About you:

• Personal Care experience desired.
• Experience of Annual Planning & Long Term strategic planning or leading Strategy & Strategic Projects.
• High analytical ability, a head for figures with consumer & market curiosity.
• Strong P&L understanding & financial acumen.
• Ability to demonstrate a deep sense of organisation with great instincts and an ability to make things happen at pace.
• Resilience, can-do attitude, ability to navigate through ambiguous and complex situations and pro-activity in reaching and implementing solutions.
• Strong sense of team and ability to build relationships across functions & levels to get the best out of teams and individuals.
• Experience and comfort in delivering with challenging project timelines.
• Strong bias for Action & Growth Mindset.
• Strong influencing skills, ability to develop internal and external business relationships, using knowledge, skills and experience to influence others.
• Highly experienced in drafting reports for Senior Leaders, providing insight, not just information.
• Strong stakeholder management & engagement skills, ability to build relationships across the organization and levels
• Highly proficient in MS Teams, Excel, Word, PowerPoint.
• High level of attention to detail.
• Enthusiastic and can-do approach to work.
• Able to work under pressure, multitask and work autonomously.
• Proactive and positive.
• Professional discretion.

Ideal, but not required:

• Marketing, CD, SC and Finance operations & processes experience.
• Supply chain operations experience.
• Oracle Cloud & SAP experience.

In December 2023, we announced that Unilever has received a binding offer from Yellow Wood Partners LLC to acquire Elida Beauty, subject to the usual closing conditions, regulatory requirements, and consultation processes. We expect the transaction to complete in mid-2024.