European External Affairs Manager

**UNILEVER IS LOOKING FOR AN**European External Affairs Manager**

**ABOUT UNILEVER**

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people - we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world.

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our inclusive, collaborative, and flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

We want our business to flourish, and we know that our success depends on others flourishing around us. That's why our purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace, and why sustainable, long-term growth is at the heart of our business model.

**Who are we?**

At Unilever, we share one simple purpose: Brighten Everyday Life for All. Through our powerhouse brands such as Dove, Axe and Knorr, we want to achieve our Growth Action Plan 2030 - and you can be part of it

**Business context and main purpose of the job**:
Unilever is looking to recruit a European External Affairs Manager with a focus on our Home Care Business Group but also on some other cross-business topics. You will:

- Work closely with colleagues within the European and Global External Affairs team to help develop and deliver the European business and External Affairs priorities as well as driving our progressive agenda in Brussels. This includes delivering flawless issues management and outstanding thought leadership.
- Work with one business group (Home Care) and the European region through external affairs and advocacy interventions.
- Work on cross-cutting business group topics such as climate change, circular economy, green claims, sustainability reporting and others.
- Help to drive our progressive agenda in Brussels on Unilever’s agenda both in terms of driving growth and mitigating risks by creating the right regulatory environment to help land our Growth Action Plan 2030.

This will involve building/supporting multi-functional campaigns and advocacy strategies on topics covering detergents, biotechnology, chemicals amongst others. To do so, the European External Affairs Manager is required to have a good understanding of and experience with the EU Institutions and processes, knowledge of the EU chemicals legislation, and excellent advocacy and campaigning skills.

**Main Accountabilities**:
You will be working with the European External Affairs team to:

- Provide input, guidance and proactively draft and help shape positions/perceptions of external audiences as part of business strategy.
- Draft and implement communications and social media material, position papers and stakeholder outreach programmes.
- Represent Unilever in external contact building and networking with relevant European institutions including the European Parliament, European Commission and Council of Ministers.
- Represent Unilever in key European trade organisations.
- Build and maintain relationship with other key stakeholders such as NGOs, think tanks and academics.

**Who are you?**

**Relevant Experience**:

- 8-9 years’ experience in an external/public affairs role (in-house, consultancy, trade association) or relevant experience in one of the EU institutions.
- Experience in the home care sector and/or chemicals, circular economy.
- Network of established European external affairs contacts with the European Institutions, NGOs, and industry stakeholders.

**Key Skills**:

- A team player with a global mindset who is willing to work across public affairs, advocacy and communications disciplines, geographies and functions.
- Ability to summarize how certain regulatory and reputational issues can impact the business and to help create unlocks.
- Ability to translate complex, technical topics into clear, easy-to-understand messages for a political audience.
- Have business acumen and understand how the business operates
- Understand and advise on how European External Affairs can help drive business priorities
- Stakeholder management and knowledge
- Strategic Issues Management expertise
- Lobbying and Advocacy campaigning
- Able to get to absorb information and come to the essence with novel point of views for the business
- Perfect command of written and spoken English. Any additional language is a strong asset with a preference to Dutch, German or French.

**WHAT DOES UNILEVER OFFER**?**

Unilever is the place where you can be yourself and bring your purpose to life with the work that you do - creating a better business and a better world. We offer an exciting & dynamic work environm