Chief of Staff

PE Global is currently recruiting for a Chief of Staff, Consumer Science / Grade 12 to join a leading global organisation on an initial 12–18 month contract.

This is a senior role supporting the VP Global Consumer Science, with responsibility for Chief of Staff activities, portfolio management, organisational planning, budgeting and resource allocation across the Consumer Science function.

The successful candidate will work closely with senior leadership, Finance, Planning, Procurement and other key stakeholders to ensure the organisation's highest-priority programmes and projects are appropriately resourced and funded. You will provide clear visibility of spend, resources, risks, opportunities and organisational performance while supporting strategic and tactical planning activities across the function.

Role Details

Location: Remote – ideally commutable to Bournville or Reading for occasional site attendance
Start Date: ASAP
Contract Duration: 12–18 months
Hours: 36 hours per week, Monday–Friday
PAYE Rate: £39.10–£48.88 per hour, depending on experience

Key Responsibilities
• Support the VP Global Consumer Science with Chief of Staff responsibilities, including meeting planning, organisational planning and coordination of key functional activities.
• Manage the operational and technical elements of the Consumer Science Lead Team.
• Partner with the VP Global Consumer Science and People Lead on salary and benefits planning.
• Track people and non-people expenditure throughout the year, ensuring the function remains within budget and identifying potential risks and opportunities.
• Work closely with Finance and senior stakeholders to prioritise spend and ensure resources are aligned to the highest-value programmes and projects.
• Work with global category planners and relevant planning teams to strengthen forecasting, budget tracking and ways of working.
• Support monthly actuals reviews and other financial performance reviews with Finance.
• Partner with the VP Global Consumer Science to analyse organisational structures and ensure resources and talent are being utilised effectively.
• Lead the annual planning process, including re-planning activities and loading of people and non-people spend into relevant planning systems.
• Provide regular updates on budget, resources, risks and opportunities to the Consumer Science Lead Team.
• Lead the Global Consumer Science portfolio management process, maintaining relevant KPIs and portfolio dimensions and delivering quarterly resource and portfolio reports.
• Produce monthly reporting on spend and organisational KPIs.
• Lead management of the functional CAPEX budget.
• Support annual planning activities, including November re-planning and people-spend planning.
• Manage external resources through RFP processes in partnership with Global Procurement.
• Work collaboratively with Finance, R&D Planning Leads, cost package owners, Data Science and other key stakeholders.

Key Objectives
• Ensure the organisation's highest-priority programmes are appropriately resourced and funded.
• Maintain effective control and visibility of an annual budget of approximately $34 million.
• Provide accurate and timely insight into resource allocation, expenditure, organisational performance, risks and opportunities.
• Support effective organisational planning and ensure resources are aligned to strategic priorities.

Key Stakeholders
The role will work closely with a broad range of senior stakeholders, including:
• Consumer Science Leadership Team
• VP Global Consumer Science
• Finance
• Cost Package Owners
• R&D Planning Leads
• Global Category Planners
• Procurement
• Data Science
• External resources and suppliers

Essential Requirements
• Bachelor's Degree in a quantitative discipline such as Finance, Accounting, Economics, Data Science, Analytics or a related field.
• Minimum 8 years' professional experience.
• Proven experience in project management, project planning and organisational planning within a commercial environment.
• Strong experience managing budgets, financial data and resource planning.
• Advanced Excel skills with the ability to manage large datasets and translate data into meaningful insights.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with senior stakeholders.
• Strong prioritisation and decision-making capabilities.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to remain hands-on and deliver tactical activities.
• Highly action-oriented, results-focused and comfortable challenging existing ways of working.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information, particularly relating to organisational design, costs, salary and benefits.
• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Desirable Experience
• Experience working with advanced analytics platforms and large datasets.
• Familiarity with structured project and innovation management processes.
• Experience with portfolio management and resource planning systems.
• Previous experience within a large, complex commercial or R&D environment.

Please not our client cannot provide sponsorship for this position.

Interested candidates should submit a CV.

Although it is not possible for us to respond to all applications, we at PE Global will do our upmost to give you feedback on your application. You have sent your Cv into us as a company and even though you have sent your CV to a particular position, we are making the reasonable assumption that you are active on the job market and as part of our normal recruitment service we will discuss other suitable positions with you. You are free to opt out of this so please specify in your application to us if you just want to be contacted in relation to a specific vacancy. Your Cv is sent to a central recruitment inbox which a number of people in the applicable PE Global division have access to and so this means that you might not be contacted by the named person in this advert