Country Operations Manager UAE & Oman – Tea Division

About the Tea Business

Unilever is proud of its Tea business, the biggest in the world, with world class purpose driven brands such as Lipton, PG tips and Pukka. Recently, Unilever decided to separate the Tea business to ensure it can best achieve its potential. Unilever is currently reviewing several options for separation, including a demerger, an initial public offering, a disposal or through partnership models. The Tea businesses in India and Indonesia, and the partnership interests in the ready-to-drink Tea joint ventures will be retained.

The balance of the Tea brands and geographies and all Tea estates, with generated revenues of €2 billion in 2019, is growing and profitable with proven potential both pre- and post-COVID-19. As a standalone entity, the Tea company remains number one in the world and is even better positioned to lead the industry and take full advantage of the opportunities in the category, with more focus and entrepreneurship driving greater growth and value.

The current vision for the Tea company is to champion a tastier, healthier, more sustainable world of plant-based drinking. Purposeful thinking will be the core anchor of the business, its brands as well as its culture, and enables simple and agile decision making, supports an entrepreneurial mindset and is driven by passion for our consumers.

As we move through this journey towards separation, we are seeking employees with a passion for exciting entrepreneurial experiences, who want to pursue unique career opportunities and have a desire to be an integral part in building the bright future of this plant-based company.

Company Vision:

• To grow a world of wellbeing through the regenerative power of plants

Company Mission

A virtuous cycle of growth for everyone connected to our business

CONSUMER: we will craft winning brands that become the universal beverage of choice: serving only the tastiest products that enrich physical, emotional and social wellbeing

CLIMATE: we will lead the way and create a net positive, giving back to the planet much more than we take.

COMMUNITY: we will enrich lives by delivering more value per cup and share that value amongst growers, blenders and farming communities.

EMPLOYEES: we will nurture the growth of every employee, maximizing learning and impact of every individual

SHAREHOLDERS: we will lead value creation with sustainable high performance, delivered with transparency and consistency

Our values:

• Sustainability
• Fun loving
• Risk taking ability
• Simple thinking
• Transparent and fair
• Innovative
• Promote diversity
• Ownership and accountability
• Entrepreneurial

Main purpose of the role

The main purpose of the Country Operations Manager UAE & Oman is to:

• To achieve countries topline & bottom line targets.
• To effectively manage the Distributor/JV and trade channels with deployment of resources at disposal.
• To ensure a close partnership between UA, Distributor/JV Management and staff

Key Accountabilities

• To ensure category objectives are fully met in served channels.
• To contribute to Channel strategies & ensure implementation.
• To ensure agreed standards of customer service are met.
• To ensure all objectives of innovation roll-out are met.
• To effectively manage sales budget to achieve company objective.
• To negotiate annual contracts with key accounts.
• To deliver high customer service through available resources & regular customer visits.
• To constantly provide on the job coaching / training to distributor sales staff.
• Effective external monitoring of sales force through well designed control, reward and feedback system
• To keep the sales team of all distributors motivated, cohesive and focussed all the time.
• To ensure that adequate stock levels are maintained with close co-ordination (BL and RDC).
• To liase with Commercial to ensure payments by distributor is as per agreed timings
• Actively fight the menace of greys/counterfeit with help from local TMO and Trade Mark.

Critical success factors of the job

Key competencies

• Passion for growth
• Team Management
• Seizing the future
• Change catalyst
• Developing & empowering others

Key skills:

• Objective analytical power
• Practical creativity
• Negotiations skills
• Man management
• Qualification/Degree in recognized business discipline.

Relevant Experience

• Minimum 5 years in customer management/operations with managerial experience.
• Experience in managing multi-cultural sales team with exposure to key accounts & distributor management .

Excited about the Role?

Please apply online. Your application will be reviewed against our requirements and we will be in touch to provide you with an update on the status of your application.

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.