Unilever Hiring for Product Engineering Science Leader – Bars/Soft Solids at Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Full Time

Be part of the world’s most successful, purpose-led business. Work with brands that are well-loved around the world, that strive to improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us every day. Every day, nine out of ten Indian households use our products to feel good, look good and get more out of life – giving us a unique opportunity to build a brighter future. We promote innovation, big and small, to make our business win and grow; and we believe in business as a force for good. Our brilliant business leaders and colleagues provide mentorship and inspiration, so you can be at your best.

At HUL, we believe that every individual irrespective of their race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, nationality, caste, disability or marital status can bring their purpose to life. So apply to us, to unleash your curiosity, challenge ideas and disrupt processes; use your energy to make the world a better place. As you work to make a real impact on the business and the world, we’ll work to help you become a better you!

We are looking to hire a Product Engineering Science Leader – Bars/Soft Solids based in Bangalore:

Background

Product Engineering is one of the Science & Technology Platforms within the Personal Care/Beauty & Wellbeing R&D organizations. Its purpose is to translate the relevant science generated both internally and externally into a stream of innovative consumer products with superior, differentiated benefits. This is a scientific discipline, requiring deep expertise in surfactant physical chemistry, material science, colloid science, processing, surface science, and product interaction with biological substrates.

The Product Engineering team is located at Unilever R&D sites in Port Sunlight (UK), Trumbull (US), and Bangalore. Each site focuses primarily on categories that have co-located Design (product development) teams, but they collaborate closely, sharing ideas, technologies, and best practices. Their common purpose is to create a stream of innovation that delivers benefit-led technology to the relevant Design teams over the next 5 years. These technologies primarily take the form of next generation products scaled at least to pilot plant level, but may also include novel claims, claim support measurements, and Expertise & Authority. In addition, the Product Engineering team often partners directly with the Design teams to solve critical product-based problems or to provide deeper insight into new products or processes.

This role will be part of the Bangalore Product Engineering team.

Main Job Purpose

The job holder will be part of an integrated, cross-laboratory team responsible for creating and driving innovation in skin cleansing product science and engineering with a primary focus on soap bars, leading a small team of scientists. The work will be tightly coordinated with the broader strategies for these product formats and the strategic direction of the skin cleansing category.

Key Responsibilities

• Under the guidance of the WL2C team leader and the relevant technical experts in the PE teams in Trumbull and Port Sunlight, create and drive a science work stream whose aim is to deliver the next generation of benefit-led soap bars.
• Lead team-based experimental design and execution to explore current and novel soap bar technologies from concept through to proof-of-principle phase.
• Build and maintain product characterization capabilities to generate deeper material science insights and product design rules.
• Lead and manage a small team of junior scientists and direct their work to meet all technical milestones.
• Maintain regular and frequent contact with technical experts and relevant project leaders (in Trumbull, Port Sunlight and bars Global Design Center (GDC)) to ensure an integrated, coordinated effort and the most efficient use of time and resources.
• Regularly bring in new approaches and new ideas based upon cutting edge science. Be an integral part of relevant collaboration with externals, and employing emerging new technologies and methodologies in driving the innovation funnel work streams (e.g. in-silico modeling, automation/rapid screening, etc.)
• Ensure IP opportunities are fully explored and developed.
• In partnership with the Digital R&D team and PE digital experts, apply digital and modeling tools to enable predictive capabilities and insights linking bar properties to processing parameters.
• Maintain an agile mindset, where complexity, resource efficiency, risk taking, and speed are all embraced and lived by the team.

Key Requirements

• A Ph.D. or M.S. in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, with a strong understanding of the physical science bases underpinning personal care products.
• Experience in working with soft solids, their characterization, and relevant characterization techniques.
• A minimum of 3 years of product-centric industrial experience in relevant areas such as material science, surface science and/or process engineering.
• Proven track record of creative scientific problem-solving skills
• A proven track record of project management.
• The ability to work effectively across multiple teams, geographies and functions. This is particularly important as success depends upon tight coordination with the project leaders and technical experts in the other PE sites and in Design.
• The ability to present and communicate in a compelling, efficient, and effective manner, to cross-functional teams across multiple geographies.
• The ability to lead, manage and mentor junior scientists.