Unilever Future Leadership Programme - Technology Management UK

Our Future Leaders Programme will ignite the leader in you. This unique programme is designed to develop Unilever’s Future Leaders (UFLs) by providing challenging and purposeful opportunities that accelerate their readiness to take on business leadership roles.

The Unilever Future Leaders Program (UFLP) is a global initiative enabling Unilever to build a strong talent pipeline that will support and lead our business growth. In the UK, our UFLP is a 36-month rotational leadership development program for which we recruit top-performing undergraduate talent who demonstrate the potential to become managers within our business. It’s designed to grow you into a manager, through hands-on learning alongside world-class experts. You’ll be hired into a function and develop your leadership skills by working on live projects which offer you all the experience you need to become ready for your first management role. At the heart of it, it’s about developing tomorrow’s leaders, today.

From Day 1, you will take on real business challenges within your own function and across the organization. Along the way you will develop deep core professional skills and leadership skills, and build a robust support network. On top of all that, you will have a lot of fun along the journey.

We look for people who want to get to grips with the inner workings of a vast business and a desire to understand how it works. It’s about commitment, real people skills and a deep-seated interest in the business as a whole. You’ll become part of a leading-edge company, where you’ll work with outstanding brands and outstanding people to drive sustainable business growth.

Your Future Employer

Unilever is one of the world's leading FMCG companies, home to iconic brands including Dove, Vaseline, TRESemmé, Lynx, Persil, Domestos, Surf, Radox, Sure and Liquid I.V. Through products used by millions of people every day, we help improve health, wellbeing, confidence and care around the world.

Established over 100 years ago, Unilever has a proud heritage of innovation and a long-standing belief that great brands, great people and responsible business go hand in hand.

Today, we are transforming into a faster, more focused growth company centred on Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care and Home Care. Through world-class brands, cutting-edge science and technology, digital innovation and AI-enabled capabilities, we are building unmissably superior products and experiences for consumers around the world.

A career at Unilever offers the opportunity to work at global scale while helping shape the future of some of the world's most recognised brands. Our people are at the heart of everything we do, bringing curiosity, creativity and passion to solve real business challenges and make a meaningful impact every day.

*As we receive a high volume of applications, please make sure to read the job descriptions on our website carefully and apply for the ONE function you are most interested in. Only your first application will be considered*

What we’re looking for?

We’re looking for curious, purpose‑driven graduates with a keen interest in technology and who want to keep learning every day. You don’t need to be an expert yet and we welcome all degrees, however you do need a real interest in tech, a growth mindset, and the confidence to ask good questions. If you enjoy challenging the status quo, solving problems, spotting patterns in data, communicating clearly, and are comfortable with ambiguity, you’ll thrive here. Integrity matters to us: you’ll show good judgement, take ownership, and be comfortable balancing pace with care when the stakes are high.

What will the programme involve?

You’ll complete six rotations, each lasting six months, allowing you to gain both depth and breadth of experience.

You will:

Participate in a leadership development programme designed to accelerate your growth and prepare you to become one of Unilever’s future leaders.

Specialise in Technology or Cyber Security or Data & Analytics

Complete rotations within your chosen area to build core expertise

Potentially have the opportunity to work outside your chosen track (e.g. marketing, supply chain, customer development)

Need to be flexible on the scheme and work across offices in Kingston upon Thames, London, and Port Sunlight (near Liverpool) depending on the rotation.

Be supported with a dedicated mentor, who is an expert in your chosen stream and will guide you throughout the programme.

Shape the scheme through our graduate-led pillars, such as wellbeing, learning and development and placement success. These pillars are run by current graduates and play a key role in shaping the UFLP experience.

Please see further information on the Technology stream below:

The Technology stream is a general pathway within Unilever’s Technology UFLP, our leadership programme for future tech leaders. You’ll join Global Digital Technology (GDT), the team that powers and protects the business while driving our digital, data and AI capabilities.

In this stream you will develop broad technology expertise through a variety of rotations across our technology organisation. You’ll gain an understanding of agile methodologies and partner both global and country business teams to land technology innovations and transformations that power Unilever to win in the marketplace. You’ll gain experience across our technology experience teams, delivering cutting edge capabilities to ensure we serve our consumers, customers and employees at the highest level. This could include leveraging digital innovations such as Generative-AI to support our disruptive marketing campaigns, landing new capabilities to give our sales teams an advantage, or empowering Unilever’s people to work at their best by revolutionising the Digital Workplace in a hybrid working world. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to gain exposure to our other streams; Cyber Security and Data & Analytics, to build breadth of knowledge and experience across all that technology at Unilever has to offer.

What could your day-to-day role include (depending on your role)?

Throughout the programme, you will gain experience across our diverse technology organisation, designed to equip you with the necessary skills and expertise to become one of Unilever’s many senior technology leaders. You could be working with some of our strategic technology partners like Microsoft, Salesforce, Google and SAP, to deliver large scale global programmes, or with niche technology start-ups and industry innovators to solve current business and sustainability obstacles.

Some of the teams you could be allocated to include :

Working in a business engagement team to connect Tech to areas like Marketing, HR, R&D and understand the role our tech plays in them.

Working in Enterprise Architecture evaluating different technology investments to make sure they are aligned with business priorities.

Working in a Product team owning and delivering a technology product through its lifecycle from design and development to deployment.

Working in a business transformation team to simplify current processes or scale different AI projects across the business.

Skills you’ll develop include:

Stakeholder management

Product management

Systems thinking

Artificial intelligence

Project management

Change management and activation

Strategic thinking

Third party management

Finance/budget literacy

Data literacy

Our application process involves:

Step 1: Online Application

Complete the online application form. It is a simple and easy application process with the option of filling out your details using your LinkedIn profile. You may apply to one function in your application.

Step 2: Profile Assessment

Complete two stages of profile assessment; a portraits personality test and an online assessment. These are designed to look at different elements of your cognitive, emotional and social