Associate Strategy And M&A Project Manager - Health & Wellbeing

Location:Los Angeles or Englewood Cliffs, USA

Function: M&A 

Reports to: Senior Manager Strategy & M&A, Health + Wellbeing

WHO ARE WE?

We are the Global Health & Wellbeing(H&W) team at Unilever. We are a start-up (less than 5 years old), focused on one of Unilever’s largest growth opportunities – the €140bn Health & Wellbeing space defined by Vitamins, Minerals, and Supplements (VMS).

We work in an agile and entrepreneurial way, collaboratively within the team and with our Unilever colleagues around the world. We take a project-based, networked approach where team members are encouraged to take a step back and think strategically, to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, to be entrepreneurial and experiment, to bring in the best of Unilever while navigating the structures of a large company, and to take charge and lead while simultaneously supporting others.

OUR BUSINESS & CONTEXT

Unilever’s Health & Wellbeing portfolio includes US-based Olly, LiquidIV, SmartyPants, Welly, Onnit, and Nutrafol, as well as Italy-based Equilibra. Each brand is completely unique and focused on giving consumers superior experiences within their respective target segments. Unilever is committed to continue to grow its Health & Wellbeing business globally, through a programmatic approach to M&A and through international expansion of acquired brands, in order to achieve the ambition of becoming a top 5 global VMS company. 

MAIN JOB PURPOSE: 

Based in Los Angeles or Englewood Cliffs, reporting to Senior Manager Strategy and M&A, the role of theAssociate Strategy and M&A Project Manager - Health & Wellbeingis to drive the programmatic M&A Strategy andsupport overall projection management and coordination. This role involves overall M&A funnel development for proactive deal sourcing, as well as supporting strategic stakeholder engagements across acquired businesses and the H&W Leadership Team. It also includes taking a lead role in M&A projects, leading the overall due diligence assessment for all M&A processes.

• Managing the overall M&A funnel development with a stable pipeline of assets, including proactively reviewing and managing thecadence and evaluation of M&A opportunities at various stages of the M&A process. This involves maintainingmultiple databases and tracking funnel movements, including inbound opportunities, in weekly M&A meetings.

• Providing end-to-end project management for M&A target assessments (including market scanning, target identification, due diligence assessments, transaction closing, etc.), with a disciplined process and flexible approach to assessingkey risks and opportunities, and unique synergy opportunities with Unilever. This includes developing project work plans, identifying key issues and opportunities, coordinating cross-functional teams, following-up on actions, clarifying insights and pushing internal thinking, developingand presenting the strategic narrative to key stakeholders to drive alignment, and holding the pen on key formal documents, including internal bid proposals.

• Supporting overall project management and coordination by ensuring optimalcross-functional collaboration across multiple teams through efficient information and knowledge management. This includes leading team meetings and managing meeting cadence, disseminating information across multiple teams and stakeholders, updating strategic and operational documents, and onboarding new team members. 

• Developing storylines and presentations for strategic initiatives and stakeholder engagementsthat inspire actions and impact business decisions, including presentations to Unilever’s senior management, C-suite, and Board of Directors. 

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Undergraduate degree, primarily in science, business, economics, finance  with 4 years of relevant experience with ability to analyse vast amounts of unstructured data and assess potential opportunities that can create value for our portfolio / business

• Project leadership experience from an MNC (multi-national corporation) environment

• Sound business acumen and judgment in areas of risk and uncertainty 

• Working with exposure to senior stakeholders; managing pressure and tight deadlines during high stakes M&A projects

• Ability to communicate clearlyand succinctly (verbal and in writing)

• Advanced Skills in application software (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Think-cell, managing projects) 

• Strong expertise in consumer goods data & analysis tools (IRI, Nielsen, Numerator, Euromonitor)

• Ability to be a self-starter, working with minimal structure

Additional info

• https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190418005592/en/Unilever-to-Acquire-OLLY-Nutritionopens in a new window

• https://www.nutritioninsight.com/news/merging-wellness-with-nutrition-unilever-expands-supplements-portfolio-with-smartypants-vitamins-acquisition.htmlopens in a new window

• https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/liquid-iv-expands-its-flagship-product-line-after-unilever-acquisition/opens in a new window

• https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2021/04/27/Unilever-to-acquire-human-optimisation-brand-Onnitopens in a new window#

Pay: The pay range for this position is $83,200 to $124,700. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.

Bonus: This position is bonus eligible.

Long-Term Incentive (LTI): This position is LTI eligible.

Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.