Foods Greater Asia Manufacturing Excellence Lead

Overview

Role Title: Foods Greater Asia Manufacturing Excellence Lead

Primary Location: General Trias, Cavite (Philippines)

Additional Locations: Thailand/Vietnam

As the Manufacturing Excellence Lead for Foods Greater Asia, you will be responsible for driving the transformation of manufacturing capabilities across the cluster. You will lead the deployment of the Manufacturing Excellence (ManEx) program—including UMS, WCM, sustainability, agility, asset efficiency, digitization, and automation—by partnering closely with Site Directors and factory leadership teams. This role is critical in unlocking performance improvements, enabling future-fit technologies, and ensuring engineering best practices are embedded across operations. You will also serve as the single point of contact for global engineering initiatives, supporting innovation delivery, strategic project development, and capital efficiency improvements.

• Directs and enables factory journey to build the Masterplan and define the best-fit technology needed for the future.
• Develops and deploys the technology framework for each factory for assigned technology. Acts as the single point resource for the factory engineering team for technology selection (process design/machine selection).
• Supports factory engineering teams in Concept & FEED (pre-capex) stages in defining the technical solution. Support is higher for newer/higher risk technologies; for projects requiring replication of existing proven technology within the agreed framework, support is lower.
• Identifies opportunities for improving capital efficiency via development or rollout of new technologies, qualification of low-cost vendors and increasing productivity of existing assets (BCT reduction/line speed increase, asset transfer, etc.).
• Drives BU initiatives—flexible and agile operation, delivering savings targets, SHEQ improvements, and sustainability—by working closely with R&D, Planning, CM, Quality, SHE, SUIT, ManEx and factory engineering teams from idea development up to MPT stage.
• Partners with planning and R&D teams to define the technology solution for all 70/20 innovation projects. Engages SUIT/factory engineering teams to ensure smooth transition of innovation projects to execution.
• Ensures best engineering practices and designs are implemented across the country.
• Acts as the single point of contact for Global Engineering for technology transfer—global innovations, updates to engineering standards, and globally developed new technologies (e.g., higher speed lines); represents the cluster in relevant global networks or COP.
• Leads critical safety or quality interventions which are led globally.
• Leads early-phase definition and development of strategic projects with the business (brief/concept stage) until a dedicated team is in place (e.g., acquisitions, new plants, small MoQ mixer and flexible filling line).
• Drives the digitalization and automation roadmap by working closely with the factory and global teams to ensure Unilever standards are implemented.

• Manufacturing Excellence Expertise – Deep knowledge of UMS, WCM, TPM, Lean, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Engineering & Technology Leadership – Ability to define, evaluate, and deploy future-fit technologies across multiple sites.
• Project Management – Skilled in leading complex, multi-country initiatives from concept to execution.
• Digital & Automation Capability – Experience in developing and implementing digitization and automation roadmaps and deployment.
• Fully functional in data analytics and use of tools like Power BI
• Cross-functional Collaboration – Strong ability to work with diverse teams including R&D, Planning, Quality, and Global Engineering.
• Strategic Thinking – Capable of translating business needs into technical solutions and long-term manufacturing strategies.
• Coaching & Capability Building – Proven track record in developing factory teams through training and hands-on support.
• Influencing & Communication – Strong stakeholder management and ability to influence across levels and geographies.

• 4-6 years experience in manufacturing management
• Fully Operational in Digital Manufacturing and deployment of digital and IOT technologies
• Strong Manufacturing / WCM (or equivalent like TPM, Lean Management, etc.) background is required (with strong achievements)
• Good communication and influencing skills

We highly encourage applicants to exclude information on age, gender, and school/s in view of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Unilever assesses candidates based on skills, performance, experience and leadership.

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.