Challenges every day
Consider some of the challenges we face when developing a groundbreaking new product like Lynx Click or Flora Pro-Activ. Flora Pro-Activ is an extraordinary product – because just six teaspoons of it every day will lower cholesterol. It was a world-first when launched and it’s been a huge success. But the process of bringing the idea to life was long and complicated.
Many questions had to be considered. What kind of food could hold this special active ingredient – and allow it to remain active when mixed in? How could the product be created to have a long enough shelf life? How do you create the technology, processes and facilities to make enough of it, quickly and cost effectively? And how do you make it taste great too?
These are the challenges we face everyday in Innovation and Technology Management (ITM) – not just for our food products, but for our Home and Personal Care products – such as Lynx or Persil. Designing and delivering bigger, bolder, more exciting brands and products to global markets is vital to our success – particularly as consumer tastes, market trends and scientific advancements change constantly. To do this, we work closely and constantly with scientists and teams from Supply Chain, Marketing and Sales. So uniquely, ITM gives you both a scientific and commercial insight into Unilever – and of course the satisfaction of seeing your ideas end up on the shelves.
What will you do?
You’ll enjoy between four to six placements, working with a range of teams – from marketing gurus through to scientific experts – to identify new opportunities for our brands and take ideas through all stages of our innovation process: Idea, Feasibility, Capability, Launch and Roll-out.
So you could be rolling out projects within one of our Regional Innovation Centres or Global Technology Centres; looking at longer term science projects within one of our Global Research & Development Centres; or focusing on manufacturing projects, working out how we take a prototype all the way to full scale production.
In addition to all of that, you’ll take one placement outside of ITM, which will enable you to understand the needs of other business areas when developing new innovations. What’s more, because our Innovation and Research and Development operations are managed on a Regional basis, you’ll often find yourself travelling. Again, this gives you a fantastic view of Unilever, and a chance to see for yourself the challenges we face in bringing new products and developments to light.
There’s also great training: our ITM Foundation Programme includes a marketing course which will hone your expertise in research and development; Innovation Process Management; Project Management; and Risk Assessment.
What have recent trainees done?
- Helped to develop the latest 24 hour fragrance for Lynx.
- Led a research project to investigate how people’s memory of foods and certain food experiences affect how they perceive products in the future, and consequently how they conduct their shopping.
- Led a cross-functional team through the crisis management for an innovation project. This project has had to be delayed at launch stage because of manufacturing issues at the supplier – so our graduates has to manage an investigation into the issues by a team of experts from throughout the business, and work to eliminate future manufacturing issues. This involve supporting supply management colleagues in negotiations and putting a plan in place for the project to be successfully launched at a later stage.
- Project managed the PG Tips World Cup promotion – which involved around 2,350,000 mugs.
Who is it for?
Whether you’re figuring out how to cram 700g of tomatoes into a 500g jar of Knorr sauce, or creating a detergent that cleans just as well at a fraction of the temperature, you’ll need a strong background in science or engineering and a degree in either Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry or Food Science - and a fervent interest in food, home and personal care products. This is perfect for people who want to use science to benefit a big business – and millions of consumers. Could that be you?
