Senior Scientist – Ice Cream R&D North America - Temporary Position about 18 months long
The Ice Cream division at Unilever is preparing to stand on its own, aiming to become an independent, EUR 8.3 billion publicly listed company by the end of 2025. We’re on a mission to create the ultimate snacking company. A place where growth, innovation, founder and ownership mentality, and performance are cultivated and rewarded. And where we craft extraordinary ice cream experiences - transforming ordinary moments into lasting memories. Because we know, life tastes better with ice cream.
ABOUT THE MAGNUM ICE CREAM COMPANY:
The Magnum Ice Cream Company is all about growth. Growing our business. Growing our customers’ businesses. Growing our people’s careers. Growth begins with empowerment. So we free our people to be innovative, responsible entrepreneurs, driven and equipped to give our consumers more amazing products and unforgettable moments – and having fun doing it.
With 19.000 expert ice cream colleagues and iconic brands like Wall’s, Cornetto and Ben & Jerry’s, loved in 76 countries, we are the world’s largest Ice Cream company leading the industry. We have been taking pleasure seriously for more than 100 years, serving happiness with every lick or scoop of ice cream for generations.
We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of The Magnum Ice Cream Company as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen before the end of 2025.
We dream big but keep things simple to act fast.
If you want to grow with us, make an impact, and shape the future of Ice Cream, this is the place for you!
Who You Are & What You’ll Do
You love to win and have fun doing it: You are passionate about product development, and you are customer/consumer focused. You are comfortable with multi-tasking and operating in a fast paced, multi-faceted, and multi-cultural environment
You’re a dot connector: You are a problem solver: you break an issue into smaller parts to examine them. You build and manage relationships with cross-functional teams, key stakeholders, and strategic vendor partners to enable progress.
You’re a paradox navigator: You leverage your technical knowledge and experience, awareness of culinary and product trends and consumer insights to deliver superior new products that meet the project and business deliverables.
You’re a changemaker: You can identify and address emerging issues as well as set and manage priorities and continuously improve processes and practices
What you’ll do:
Lead projects:
- Lead and manage R&D project activities to support various projects
- Execute agreed R&D activities to deliver the ice cream transformation and value creation program.
- Works as a member of a cross-functional project team to deliver projects on time in full.
Develop products and complete product specification set up:
- Independently design products and reformulations and design/execute test protocols for the various technical aspects of projects as required (e.g., prototype development and scale-up, shelf-life testing, analytical testing, etc.)
- Lead the process of specification/label creation in SAP PLM from the request to the approved status.
Works in a creative and agile way to deliver multiple projects quickly:
- Actively participate in cross-functional meetings to deliver various projects in accelerated timelines
Establish and maintain internal and external working relationships
- Develop and maintain effective working relationships with R&D, Supply Chain and marketing teams, customers, and key stakeholders.
What You’ll Need To Succeed
A deep passion for product design and creative product development
Education/Experience
- Bachelor of Science Degree in Food Science or equivalent degree.
- 5-7 years of experience in the food industry, preferably in product development
Technical/Project management
- Ability to independently execute tasks and projects with moderate to high complexity.
- Ability to develop, plan, conduct, and coordinate prototype development initiatives across multiple projects/tasks.
- Working knowledge in use of ingredients, formulation, process, and product design principles.
- Working knowledge in specification creation and approval and costing.
- Ability to analyze and interpret data with guidance on final conclusions.
- Working knowledge of experimental design, root cause analysis and problem-solving techniques
- Good understanding of Supply Chain.
Communication
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to construct trial/lab reports and presentation, including recommendations.
- Ability to present information to both technical and non-technical audiences.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:
A unique mix of global scale & start-up spirit—€8.3bn powerhouse with an agile, entrepreneurial mindset. We’re building a new high growth Ice Cream company from the ground up.
Career without limits—42 markets, international opportunities, and fast tracked growth.
A performance-driven culture—Freedom to act, disrupt and grow – your success is measured by impact.
A company that celebrates joy, innovation, and purpose—We create extraordinary careers, just like our ice cream creates extraordinary moments.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
As publicly announced, Unilever will separate its Ice Cream business which is expected by the end of 2025. This role will transfer to the new Ice Cream company.
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
ARE YOU EXCITED TO CRAFT THE ICE CREAM FUTURE?
To apply, you must do so online. Please do not forget to upload your CV and a motivation letter.
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!
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Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion 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. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
For more information about your Federal rights, please see Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal and Pay Transparency Non discrimination Provision.
Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.
If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at [email protected]. Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses. The Protected Veterans or Individuals with Disabilities AAP narratives are available for inspection by any employee or applicant for employment Monday through Friday during normal business hours at establishment.
Unilever Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Unilever and has not been reviewed or approved by Unilever.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as comprehensive, spanning medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and occupational health support alongside a 24/7 employee assistance program. Wellbeing offerings such as health checks, resilience tools, and counseling support the perceived depth of health-related benefits.
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Retirement Support — Retirement support includes a 401(k) match that reaches up to 5% of base salary, strengthening the overall value of the package. Share and savings options are also referenced as part of longer-term financial support beyond salary.
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Flexible Benefits — Benefits customization is enabled through tools such as a “My Reward” system and a “Benefits Envelope” that allows employees to personalize selections. Flexible working approaches are also associated with improved overall satisfaction, reinforcing perceived choice and adaptability in the total rewards offering.
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