Ice Cream Head of Artificial Intelligence

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Job description

Role: Head of Artificial Intelligence, Ice Cream

Scope: Global, Full time

Reports to: Chief Enterprise Architect

Location: India (Pune), UK, NL, Mexico

If you are in the Unilever Ice Cream business or consider choosing to work for the Unilever Ice Cream business, you will work for the Global, leading Ice Cream player with €7.9bn Turn Over in 2023. 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 Wall’s, Magnum, Ben &Jerry’s. 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 within our Ice Cream company. 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.

ABOUT ICE CREAM: Life Tastes Better with Ice Cream

Unilever Ice Cream is the largest global Ice Cream Company in the world, with over 100 years of experience delivering a diverse range of indulgent, yet responsible, craft food experiences and treats delighting consumers. Committed to innovation, quality, and sustainability we have 35 brands, including 3 one billion Euro brands (Magnum, Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s), a strong presence in over 60 countries, generating annual revenue of over $8 billion. All brands are driven to transform moments into memories through indulgent yet responsibly made and marketed products. We have a well-developed strategy to deliver growth and value creation which is clear on where to play and how to win.

We turn the ordinary into the extraordinary by designing unique and innovative Ice Cream experiences that make life taste better, creating joyful experiences. In our Ice Cream business, we’re crafting the future through innovation and imaginative minds, creating unique products. We spark moments of happiness for people and within the communities where we operate. However, it is not as simple as it may seem. As Ice Cream makers we are serious about happiness. With warm hearts, we create the coolest products.

JOB PURPOSE:

As part of our growth strategy, we are seeking a highly skilled IT Professional with experience in Artificial Intelligence technologies to join our dynamic team. The role is part of the Enterprise Architecture team.

The newly created Ice Cream Technology function will drive the technology set-up, standalone design and implementation of all required technology capabilities to enable Unilever’s Ice Cream business to become a fully functioning standalone company, separate from Unilever.

This role is responsible for the creation of a virtual AI Centre of Excellence that will drive the creation of an Enterprise-wide Autonomous AI platform. The platform will connect to all Ice Cream technology solutions providing an AI capability that can provide autonomous business processes and has the capacity to identify and resolve issues without the requirements for human intervention. The platform is expected to enable high levels of automation and intelligent decision-making across all facets of the Ice Cream organisation. Due to the cross-functional nature of this platform, the role requires a collaborative leadership approach.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Architecture Strategy: Define the AI architecture ensuring alignment with the Ice Creams overall business objectives.
• Strategic Planning and Alignment: Define the vision and objectives, articulating the CoE’s mission to ensure AI initiatives align with strategic goals. Align to the strategy and design for a highly autonomous business processes.
• AI Ethics, Standards and Governance: Establish an AI council to implement the governance framework, oversight mechanisms, policies, security aspects to oversee AI ethics. Ensure AI solutions comply with industry standards and regulations, implementing best practices for security and data protection and privacy.
• Data Governance & Quality: Deeply collaborate with the Data organization to ensure the right data strategy enabling strong data governance to facilitate high quality, accuracy, availability and continuous enrichment of data.
• Innovation: Stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and technologies, and evaluate their potential impact on the organization.
• Technical Leadership: Provide technical guidance and direction to teams, including product management and development, promoting best practices and standards, to ensure compliance with industry regulations.
• Team Development: Resource the CoE with the necessary expertise and provide the necessary training to build the required competencies.
• Collaboration: Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product management, operations, and development, to align technology initiatives with business needs and architectural standards.
• Documentation: Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for all core system application architecture.

Skills and Experience Required:

• Education: Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Technical Expertise: This role requires a high level of proficiency in Cloud Computing, Data Analytics and all facets of Artificial Intelligence.
• Experience: Practical experience of Artificial Intelligence in a Technology Leadership Role
• Leadership: Strong leadership and team management skills, with experience leading technical teams.
• Project Management: Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Security: Expertise in cloud security best practices and compliance standards.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot complex issues.
• Communication: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to convey technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Certifications: Industry recognized certifications in AI principles, applications, cloud infrastructure and ethics

LEADERSHIP:

• Critical SOL (Standards of Leadership) Behaviors
  • PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Has emotional intelligence to take feedback, manage mood and motivations, and build empathy for others.
  • PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Generates intensity and focus to motivate people to deliver results at speed. Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results.
  • CONSUMER LOVE: Invests time inside and outside to understand the needs of consumers.
  • BUSINESS ACUMEN: Creates sustainable growth with purpose, engaging different partners across the system for change.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

For the recruitment of this position, we would like to emphasize that local conditions apply to the position and for this vacancy in principle we will first consider candidates based in the Netherlands. If you are based outside of the Netherlands and you are interested to apply, please feel free to do so but we can only take your application on if a decision is made to also recruit outside of the Netherlands.

Please be aware if you are applying for this role from outside the Netherlands, if successful, your internal application will be treated as a self-initiated Change Location Outside of Country (CLOC) transfer.

You will be eligible for relocation support in the form of flights (to NL), immigration and tax support (in the year of move) and a lump sum in cash to be paid out during the first salary payment in the Netherlands. No further relocation support will be provided in a self-initiated CLOC. 

ARE YOU EXCITED TO CRAFT THE ICE CREAM FUTURE?

To apply, you must do so online. Please do not forget to upload your CV, latest EoY and a motivation letter.  If you have been informed that you are at risk of redundancy, please make sure to tick this box during your application. Please also attach your letter of redundancy to the application.

Your application will be reviewed against our requirements, and we will be in touch shortly after the closing date to provide you with an update on the status of your application.

Disclaimer 

Equal Opportunity Employer: Unilever is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, or any other basis protected by applicable law, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. 

We take pleasure seriously. Join the Ice Cream team now!