Technical Product Manager (Baby & Feminine), MEIA

SCA is a leading global hygiene and forest products company. The Group develops and produces sustainable personal care, tissue and forest products. Sales are conducted in about 100 countries under many strong brands, including the leading global brands TENA and Tork, and regional brands, such as Libero, Libresse, Lotus, Nosotras, Saba, Tempo and Vinda. As Europe’s largest private forest owner, SCA places considerable emphasis on sustainable forest management. The Group had about 44,000 employees year end 2013. Sales in 2013 amounted to SEK 93bn (EUR 10.7bn). SCA was founded in 1929, has its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. For more information, visit www.sca.com.com

Overview
MEIA is the Business Unit responsible for the SCA Hygiene Business in Africa, Middle East and India. Our aspiration is to extend the SCA footprint in this part of the world, building a world class operation in manufacturing, supply chain, marketing and sales. Technical Product Manager (Baby & Feminine) is the function responsible for continuous product and development support to our Operations located in South Africa, Maghreb, UAE, Egypt and Turkey, plus our licensee in Syria. The mission is to support the Operations with cost efficient, high quality baby and feminine products adapted to local consumer demand and local production facilities, fully aligned with SCA’s overall product and supply strategy. The position reports to the VP Marketing and Product Support Baby and Feminine MEIA and it is based in Gothenburg.



Main Tasks
* Drive, support, coordinate and/or implement cost and quality improvement activities for respective product assortment with factories and suppliers securing quality and manufacturability (within mandatory parameters) * Create and deliver high quality packaging development (incl. specifications) in product upgrades, launch projects or promotional activities, securing manufacturability and delivery according to agreed launch plans * Work on construction and dimension of consumer and transport packaging securing optimized pallet and shelf utilization * Provide input to innovation projects regarding ongoing quality improvements and material rationalisations (input to mandatory parameters) * Lead or sponsor selected activities of material/product changes and development * Responsible article owner for all products specifications : Approve all adapted product specifications and update related technical documentation * Review complaints and drive test runs to secure and evaluate product performance * Provide product information on performance/properties * Provide technical support to the markets with material, product and process knowledge * Invent and develop zero-cost solutions to support local marketing concepts * You will be the sounding board for our Operations both for products and process development in close cooperation with Global Hygiene Categories’ innovation teams and the European TPM network

Key Competencies
* Analytical and able to deal with concepts and complexity in a structured way * Ability to simplify and communicate complex matter in a meaningful and inspiring way * Be proactive and drive results * Ability to take a holistic view * Team oriented and open minded * Relates well to different cultures and builds good relations on all levels * Excellent interpersonal skill with ability to engage and build constructive and effective relationships and networks at all levels. * Good communication and presentation skills

Requirements
* University Degree or M.Sc. within a technical field of Engineering or equivalent * 5-7 years’ experience in product development related areas such as manufacturing, laboratory, materials, TPM etc, ideally in a personal care category * Understanding of production process work * International background or experience * Have interest in business and marketing aspects of the development work * Fluent in English * French and/or Arabic speaking is an advantage * Ability to travel as the function requires visits to factories and suppliers both in and outside of MEIA Region. You are expected to travel 60-80 days per year.