Research & Development
This is the hotbed of ideas for brands, products, packaging, manufacturing and technology. In a business whose very purpose is to make products people love, our future begins in R&D.
What will I be doing?
You’ll be undertaking research to understand what consumers want and need and develop the technology and science to bring innovations to life. You’ll be making things even healthier, more appealing, more efficient, more environmentally friendly – improving our products in any way possible. This could mean developing the next flavour of ice cream, saving water and energy in washing, or saving millions of lives through clean water and better washing of hands. Our teams work closely with people right across the entire company – and the world.
What do we look for?
We are looking for people that want to make a difference across the world, tackling the real challenges of the next 50 years. You’ll need a strong technical qualification in either a Chemical, Biological, Physical or Food-related Science or in Chemical/Materials Engineering or a related discipline. You need to be the kind of scientist who has a genuine business interest: bags of enthusiasm mixed with commercial acumen. (Please note these degree requirements only apply to our placement and graduate programme. We accept a broader range of degrees within R&D for other roles, visit www.unilever.co.uk/careers to search these vacancies)
What will the programme involve?
Over at least three placements, you’ll work with teams from different business areas:
Rolling out projects with Regional Innovation or Global Technology
Looking at longer-term science projects in one of our Global R&D Centres
Focusing on manufacturing – working out how we take a prototype all the way to full-scale production
You’ll also take at least one placement outside of R&D, to help you understand the full scope of our business
