Job Title: Head, Leadership Development

Location: Agnostic

JOB PURPOSE

Unilever is a unique business. With the purpose to “make sustainable living commonplace”, every day more than 2.5 billion people touch one of our products. That uniqueness is based in our people, and particular in our leaders of teams large and small across the organisation and around the world. That deep, purpose-driven leadership doesn’t happen by chance. It is the result of a proven system of developing leaders, which has been constantly improved and innovated.

In October 2023, the Unilever Leadership team announced the Growth Action Plan – a strategy which also includes dialling up the performance edge in our culture. As part of the GAP, we have introduced a new set of Unilever Behaviours that form the base of how we work, how we develop talent and leaders.

The role of Head, Leadership Development for Unilever is varied and challenging in nature. The role is designed to work closely with both business leaders, members of the HR Expertise leadership teams as well as external industry experts to unlock a systemic approach to building leaders in the organisation. The role holder will also be responsible for rolling out and embedding our new Unilever Behaviours with employees, leaders and line managers.

This is an exciting leadership role working as part of the Leadership Development team, within the Global Learning function. It reports to the Global Head of Learning for Unilever and is a member of the Unilever Learning leadership team.

We are a small, friendly, and passionate team on a mission to fulfil our Compass commitment to “grow great leaders for purpose and performance”. We work across the business and with third party suppliers to build and deploy a system to recruit, develop and deploy leaders who are strong and growing in our Unilever Behaviours. We design and deliver leading-edge, transformational leadership development experiences to our people, who work in an increasingly digital and disrupted world.

You could be an HR professional who wants to deepen and apply your “people expertise”. Or you could come from a business role, bring first-hand experience of front-line leadership challenges, and want to pursue your passion for developing others.

We will be looking for passion for growing others, a track-record of delivering solutions with business impact, and the ability to partner with senior business leaders.

This is a leadership role with local and global exposure – an opportunity to build and leverage a strong internal and external network.

RESPONSIBILITIES

It is an exciting time to be part of the Unilever Learning and Leadership development team. The role holder will play a key leadership role to partner the Unilever HR LT and key Business stakeholders in driving a culture of continuous development.

Shape the Leadership Development strategic agenda aligned to the Unilever Compass

Collaborate with the Leadership Development (and wider learning) team to prioritise, target, design, and deliver the Leadership Development Curriculum and strategic project portfolio aligned to the Unilever Compass.Be an architect of the Unilever culture, by scientifically linking leadership development and behaviours to sharpening the company’s performance edge.

Launch the newly built Unilever Behaviours across the organisation with a clear understanding of what this will mean for employees.

Work with established partners and the data science cell for Unilever to build robust success profiles and assessments which develop our top 2000 leaders

Lead the design and delivery of specific Leadership Development interventions:

Identify and structure learning needs, working with business stakeholders (global functions, categories, and market teams), identifying and analyzing relevant business performance and employee data (qualitative and quantitative)

Develop and evaluate the business case, including both design and delivery options.

Design programme content in collaboration with internal Subject Matter Experts and external partners

Ensure brilliant deployment at global or BU level, working closely with the event stakeholders and external partners, including flexible options appropriate to local context and budget.

Evaluate the individual and business impact of leadership interventions, and proactively adapt content or delivery to deliver highest impact at most appropriate effort, time commitment, and cost.

Leverage existing and experiment with new technologies to optimise learning and impact.

Proactively collaborate with TO, Global Cluster Learning, Org Analytics, and other relevant teams to prioritize effort and optimize impact.

Seek and connect external insights and approaches into our leadership development thinking and activity.

Contribute positively to our team capability and culture – we are a better team (not just a bigger one) because you join it!

Help develop our Four Acres Leadership Development Retreat as a beacon of Leadership for Purpose and Performance

We have two Four Acres sites, one in Kingston (UK), and one in Singapore. Our vision is to establish both as beacons of Leadership for Purpose and Performance

Our Global Four Acres Business Manager (based in the UK oversees the site strategy, operations, Capex, and PL. We expect you to work closely with the Global Four Acres Business Manager (via a dotted reporting line) to implement Global Leadership Development and Four Acres strategy in the region, and support underlying day to day site operations:

Host internal and external leadership development events on site, coordinating with internal business stakeholders, Unilever Workplace Services, and third parties.

Build external networks, explore leadership development opportunities, and develop business for the site (including virtual opportunities in collaboration with Four Acres)

ALL ABOUT YOU

We are therefore looking for someone who is passionate and willing to take this trajectory to the next level and raise the bar on people agenda. This role will equip the incumbent to drive strategy in action, influence and impact change and leadership at scale. It provides an opportunity for strong LD talent to architect change and culture in the organization

Experience of shaping leadership development in a multinational organisation, including working with 3rd parties.

Experience of instructional design and working with subject matter experts. Knowledge of the end-to-end learning cycle including needs analysis, learning design and development, learning delivery and learning evaluation.

Successful implementation of innovative learning approaches from initial assessment through final implementation

Strong project management, contracting and influencing skills.

Ability to effectively communicate ideas.

Proven collaboration skills, including working in a virtual and international team. Numeracy, and ability to manage budgets.

Experience of managing a learning facility would be a strong advantage

NOTES

About Unilever

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 Dove, Tresemme, Lynx, Lifebuoy, Shea Moisture, Persil, Domestos, Ben Jerry’s, Magnum, Marmite, The Vegetarian Butcher, Graze and Pot Noodle.

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’

Location    

In September 2020, Unilever announced the intention to build a new sustainable campus site in Kingston, London to house the employees who currently work in 100 Victoria Embankment in Blackfriars, Lever House in Kingston and Graze in Richmond. We are creating our own Unilever sustainable, agile work environment, purposefully bringing us together in our own Unilever ecosystem. The campus is due to be completed in early 2025 and will consist of two interconnected buildings, as well as landscaped surrounding areas.  

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!

Job Category: Human Resources

Job Category: Ressources humaines

Job Category: Recursos humanos

Job Type: Leadership Dev Director

Industry: UnileverExperiencedProfessionals