Director of Strategy and Transformation

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Owner of the I+S Transformation Agenda 

Business: Ingredients + Specialties (I+S)      •      Reports to: SVP – Innovation, Growth & Strategy      •      Location: The Woodlands, TX / Hybrid      •      Experience: 10+ years 

About the Role:

The Director, Strategy & Transformation owns the transformation agenda for the Ingredients + Specialties business — the portfolio of forward-looking initiatives that fundamentally change the trajectory of I+S. This is the "decide what changes next" seat: it identifies where the business must move, builds the business cases behind the moves, and mobilizes the cross-functional teams that deliver them. It does not run the current commercial engine, sell, set price, or own the data platform. Its distinctive contribution is converting strategy into transformation — Bend the Curve, Accelerate, portfolio, private label, GTM evolution, and rebrand/spin theses — with rigor, ROI discipline, and value-creation-plan traceability. 

The role is the deliberate counterpart to Revenue Operations and Data & AI. RevOps owns the operating system that runs the current business. Data & AI owns the intelligence layer that informs it. Strategy & Transformation owns the change agenda that redefines it. Reporting to the SVP – Innovation, Growth & Strategy, the role partners with Business Leaders, Product Management, Marketing, RevOps, Data & AI, Pricing, Finance, and the enterprise PMO. 

What This Role Owns: 

1. Transformation Portfolio & Bend the Curve / Accelerate Programs 

• Own the I+S transformation portfolio — Bend the Curve, Accelerate, and the next wave of enterprise change programs — as one governed portfolio tied to the value-creation plan. 

• Own the initiative pipeline — identification, scoping, prioritization, sequencing, and sunset — so investment follows value, not noise. 

• Anchor every initiative to the four I+S growth objectives — reduce churn, improve win rates, optimize margin, improve customer experience. 

2. Growth Strategy & Commercial Transformation Agenda 

• Set the mid- to long-term growth agenda  across the I+S portfolio — GTM evolution, market expansion, channel mix, customer segmentation, cross-sell/upsell, and supplier partnership expansion. 

• Own the portfolio and private-label strategy work — from thesis to business case to launch plan — in partnership with Product Management and the BU SVPs. 

• Own the rebrand/spin and specialty-positioning thesis — the forward-looking work that redefines what I+S is and how it is valued. 

3. Business Case Discipline & ROI Governance 

• Own the business-case standard for commercial and enterprise investments — the shared template, hurdle rates, sensitivity discipline, and stage-gate governance. 

• Build and pressure-test business cases for growth and transformation initiatives — value accelerators, investment requirements, management plans, and where outcomes hit the I+S P&L. 

• Own ROI tracking and value realization — hypothesis to budget to actuals — so every dollar committed is traced through to EBITDA. 

4. PMO Orchestration & Program Governance 

• Dotted-line ownership of the PMO resources supporting the division — the delivery muscle behind the transformation portfolio. 

• Run the Transformation SteerCo — cadence, agendas, decisions, escalations, and stage-gate reviews. 

• Facilitate requirements gathering, vendor selection, and proposal structuring with external partners (consultants, technology vendors, analytics providers). 

• Oversee build and activation phases , often coordinating multiple consulting firms, contractors, and internal teams simultaneously. 

5. Strategic Choices, Frameworks & Board-Ready Analysis 

• Develop enterprise-grade strategic frameworks — customer and product profitability, whitespace and wallet share, cost-to-serve, and portfolio choices — that inform resource allocation and prioritization. 

• Prepare Board, and CEO-level materials — decision memos, thought pieces, and value-creation narratives — that frame the strategic choices in front of the business. 

• Own the "next-wave" thinking — where I+S must be in 3, 5, and 7 years, and the transformation moves required to get there. 

6. Change Management & Adoption Design 

• Own change management design for transformation initiatives — communications, training design, stakeholder alignment, and adoption instrumentation — working alongside business/functional owners in their execution. 

• Partner with RevOps on the handoff from transformation to run — where a change becomes a standing part of how the business operates. 

• Drive ownership, accountability, and a sense of urgency across all initiatives and stakeholders. 

From Diagnosis to Delivery: The Transformation Engine 

The six areas above are the capabilities; this role's distinctive job is to convert diagnosis into d elivery — the engine that turns strategy into transformation and transformation into P&L impact. 

• Portfolio owner, not order-taker . Owns the transformation portfolio and the ROI governance behind it — decides where I+S invests to change, and where it does not. 

• Redefines, does not run . Not a line or operational manager and not responsible for running the business — responsible for redefining where the business should go and driving the transformation to get there. 

• Commissioner, not operato r. Strategy commissions the change; RevOps operationalizes it; Data & AI supplies the evidence and models. A clean handoff, no overlap. 

• Evidence-led . Every initiative carries a business case, a value hypothesis, and a tracked outcome into the VCP. 

• PE-fluent . Speaks the language of exit value, EBITDA quality, and multiple expansion; every choice ties to the value-creation plan. 

• Boundary with the enterprise PMO . Owns the I+S transformation portfolio and its PMO orchestration; the enterprise PMO owns cross-divisional program standards and shared delivery infrastructure. 

Building Transformation Capability 

Transformation only sticks when the organization can absorb and sustain it. This role closes that gap through clarity, discipline, and support for functional leaders — not by owning execution. 

• Coach the sponsor . Supply BU SVPs and functional leaders with the frameworks, business cases, and playbooks that make them effective owners of change. 

• Discipline over ceremony . Stage gates, decision memos, and ROI tracking that drive decisions — not project theater. 

• Adoption is the measure, not launch . Success is value realized in the P&L and change embedded in how the business runs — never "initiatives launched." 

• Change management as a standing capability . Communications, training design, and post-launch tuning built for a continuous transformation agenda, not one-off rollouts. 

Success Measures — First 12–18 Months 

• Portfolio in place — one governed I+S transformation portfolio with clear priorities, sequencing, and stage-gate governance. 

• Bend the Curve delivered — measurable EBITDA and net-churn impact against baseline, traceable to specific initiatives. 

• Business cases that hold — hypotheses converted to budget and P&L outcomes with disciplined variance tracking. 

• PE confidence — board-ready decision memos, VCP updates, and value narratives that raise credibility with the sponsor. 

• Adoption and stickiness — transformation outputs embedded in how the business runs, not one-off launches. 

• Boundaries holding — no role confusion with RevOps, Data & AI, Pricing, or Sales. 

Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree (MBA, Economics, Operations Research, Statistics, Data Science, or related) strongly preferred. 

• 3-5 years in management consulting, corporate strategy, commercial excellence, or enterprise transformation, including 3+ years leading teams. 

• Demonstrated track record leading growth and transformation workstreams — pricing, GTM, segmentation, portfolio, private label, or revenue optimization. 

• Experience leading multiple large-scale ($1M+) initiatives, preferably spanning both growth and cost/operational programs. 

• Experience managing external advisors — management consultants, technology vendors, and analytics partners. 

• Private-equity portfolio-company or PE-backed environment experience strongly preferred. 

• Specialty chemicals distribution, ingredients, food & nutrition, personal care, or B2B distribution industry experience a plus but not required. 

Skills & Competencies:

• Strategic acumen — sets a defensible transformation agenda tied to enterprise value and multiple expansion. 

• Commercial acumen — translates market and customer data into growth strategies with clear P&L impact. 

• Financial acumen — translates strategy into FP&A, budget, and valuation models the CFO and PE-sponsor trust. 

• Business-case discipline — hypothesis-driven, evidence-led, stage-gated, and tracked to outcome. 

• Program leadership — structured orchestration of complex, cross-functional initiatives with multiple sponsors and dependencies. 

• Change management — sets targets, gains buy-in, establishes milestones, and holds sponsors accountable for results. 

• Stakeholder influence — drives outcomes through frameworks, evidence, and consensus rather than formal authority. 

• Communication — exceptional written and verbal skills; board-ready presentation, memo, and decision-document quality. 

• Technology fluency — comfort with enterprise systems, analytics platforms, and AI/ML-enabled workflows. 

• Adaptability — flexes across workstreams and operates autonomously in a fast-paced, PE-backed environment. 

• Boundary-spanning influence — partners with Sales, RevOps, Pricing, Data & AI, Product, and Marketing without owning them. 

Univar Solutions is a leading, global distributor of chemicals and ingredients essential to the safety, health, and wellbeing of our daily lives from life-saving medicines and vitamins to hand sanitizers and industrial materials used for cleaning, construction, and more.  Our global team of more than 9,500 employees support our vision to redefine distribution and be the most valued chemical and ingredient distributor on the planet!

We offer a Total Rewards package that includes market aligned pay and incentives as well as a diverse benefits offering to support our employees’ physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing .

Univar Solutions supports sustainable solutions for the world around us so that we can do our part to help keep our communities healthy, fed, clean, and safe! 

We are committed to a diverse workforce and a culture of inclusion. Together, we are building a culture that acknowledges the unique experiences, perspectives and expertise of individuals and provides the development and growth opportunities to empower us to redefine our industry. 

Univar Solutions is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or other protected classification. We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the hiring process, please contact us at View email address on careers.univarsolutions.com .  

Univar Solutions does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or staffing firms (collectively Recruiting Firms). Recruiting Firms must enter into a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Univar Solutions prior to submitting any information relating to a potential candidate. All searches must be initiated by Univar Solutions' Talent Acquisition team and candidates must be submitted via Applicant Tracking System (ATS) by approved vendors who have been expressly requested to make a submission for a specific job opening. No placement fees will be paid to any firm unless the aforementioned conditions have been met. Contacting our hiring managers directly is prohibited.