Job Description
Job title: Unilever International - R&D - Beverages - Executive
Location: Bengaluru, Whitefield, Bangalore, India
Purpose & Context
Unilever International is Unilever’s White Space Arm of Unilever. With a TO of 1.4 billion € it is one of the fastest and profitable business of Unilever.
UI works across the world to fill white spaces for Unilever. As intrapreneurs, we introduce Unilever’s brands into white space geographies like Korea, Pacific Islands, Mongolia, and spearhead launches of iconic household brands like Dove, Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Fair & Lovely, TRESemme into big markets like U.S, China, Western Europe, and SEAA.
As Unilever’s growth engine, we establish global white space businesses in key channels such as Health & Beauty, Discounters, E-Commerce, and alternate channels such as travel retail, marketing to institutional partners like the United Nations, and seeding Unilever brands to overseas diaspora who crave for a taste of their familiar home brands.
Singapore is our global hub leading strategy, marketing thinking, seeding plans, and alignment with the global categories and supply chain. We have global presence and UI hubs all over the world.
R&D is spread across India (Mumbai, and Bangalore), Korea, Europe and USA.
Foods in Unilever International is a €300 million business with great potential and growing big. Unilever International will be back in Tea export business from July 1st 2025 for Indian diaspora in key geographies and will look at innovation/ renovation/ value improvement projects for both product and process development in Beverages (Tea, Instant Tea). India will be the key sourcing unit for all key blends under Red Label, Taj Mahal, 3 Roses, Taaza etc..
Purpose of the job: To lead Tea innovation for key brands from India – understand key WiMi blends and suggest suitable blends for target markets. Planning and execution of experiments, landing strategic projects for Beverages in UI.
Unilever International is Unilever’s White Space Arm of Unilever. With a TO of 1.4 billion € it is one of the fastest and profitable business of Unilever.
UI works across the world to fill white spaces for Unilever. As intrapreneurs, we introduce Unilever’s brands into white space geographies like Korea, Pacific Islands, Mongolia, and spearhead launches of iconic household brands like Dove, Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Fair & Lovely, TRESemme into big markets like U.S, China, Western Europe, and SEAA.
As Unilever’s growth engine, we establish global white space businesses in key channels such as Health & Beauty, Discounters, E-Commerce, and alternate channels such as travel retail, marketing to institutional partners like the United Nations, and seeding Unilever brands to overseas diaspora who crave for a taste of their familiar home brands.
Singapore is our global hub leading strategy, marketing thinking, seeding plans, and alignment with the global categories and supply chain. We have global presence and UI hubs all over the world.
R&D is spread across India (Mumbai, and Bangalore), Korea, Europe and USA.
Foods in Unilever International is a €300 million business with great potential and growing big. Unilever International will be back in Tea export business from July 1st 2025 for Indian diaspora in key geographies and will look at innovation/ renovation/ value improvement projects for both product and process development in Beverages (Tea, Instant Tea). India will be the key sourcing unit for all key blends under Red Label, Taj Mahal, 3 Roses, Taaza etc..
Purpose of the job: To lead Tea innovation for key brands from India – understand key WiMi blends and suggest suitable blends for target markets. Planning and execution of experiments, landing strategic projects for Beverages in UI.
Key Responsibilities
The job will lead all the R&D interventions for UI Tea blends, and value-added tea products (Instant tea/coffee-based products). The job requires collaborating with cross-functional teams, such as TEC (Tea Excellence Centre), Regulatory, Supply chain, Finance, Quality, and HUL R&D, to ensure smooth execution of the innovation pipeline and market delivery.
Core:
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Drive & deliver formulation design work for innovations & cost saving initiatives to deliver superior and consumer winning products OTIF
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Driving projects on Instant tea/Instant Coffee based premixes, Tea bags, Black & Green tea, R&G Coffee, and Roasted Coffee Beans
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Ensuring statutory regulatory & legal compliances for products & process
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Responsible for establishing appropriate technology for manufacturing products to specification at lab-scale and pilot-scale
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Responsible for scaling up to factory with relevant transfer of technology documentation and training factory team.
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Responsible for specification of formulation, process, pack, and Quality Assurance regimes to support / enforce these specs agreed technical action standards.
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Conduct shelf-life studies to establish shelf-life of new products and/or intervene through formulation/recipes to enhance shelf-life.
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Use appropriate measurement techniques (either existing or develop new techniques) to characterize key attributes of the product
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Managing customer complaints (technical aspect) and appreciating their concerns
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Anticipate assessment and minimization of environmental, safety, regulatory, PR and competitive challenges
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Build and maintain strong networks with cross functional (Brand, SC, CQA etc)
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Co-partner relevant functions within R&D – Pkg, Diet & Health, HUL R&D, and Processing team for driving innovation/renovation and VIP projects
Capability
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Responsible for risk management, claims and legal compliance with local requirements.
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Working knowledge on PLM and FLOF framework
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Develop capability to be able to produce finished product of the desired quality with a range of raw materials within the specified range.
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Prepare technical dockets for transferring technologies to SC / factories.
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Continuously look for / experiment with new technologies /recipes to develop products that offer tangible, new benefits to the consumer.
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Track moves by key competition & local players by carrying out competition benchmarking
Required Professional skills
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Project management skills and good stakeholder management
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Good Verbal/written Communication skills
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Dealing with people from multicultural backgrounds.
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Multi-tasking ability
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Ability to work independently with cross-functional team members
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Travelling to target markets/factories
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Strong business understanding
Standard of leadership (SOL)
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CARE DEEPLY to nurture our tribe and work and win together
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FOCUS ON WHAT COUNTS – Consumer and customer obsession
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STAY THREE STEPS AHEAD to drive hunger for growth
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DRIVE WITH EXCELLENCE & Passion for execution
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DIGITAL YODA (Digital first)
Education
B. Tech. (Food Technology/Chemical Engineering/Dairy Technology) Or Masters / M. Sc. / M Tech Food Science & Tech. / Chemical Engineering / Food engineering with relevant experience.
Required Experience
3-5 years of experience, preferably in Food/Beverage R&D
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.
Unilever Insights
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