Head of Research & Development, the Netherlands

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact

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The Challenge
We are seeking to recruit for the role of Head of R&D for pladis’ Netherlands region, based at their local office and manufacturing site in Zaandam, Netherlands. The role will be accountable for the Netherlands R&D team in delivering the R&D agenda for this region on time and in full as pladis seeks to accelerate recent growth performance. 

The position entails
The role is primarily product development and commercialization focused, and therefore by association requires very strong formulation and processing competency in food manufacturing. As the role involves stewardship of a product development team, candidates should have strong interpersonal and management skills in order to coach and develop.

Key responsabilities

Innovation & Product Development

• Take a lead role in developing and executing the Netherlands R&D strategic pipeline on time in full, consisting of innovation, renovation and technical productivity project pipelines for Netherlands.
• Drive end-to-end product development from ideation through launch.
• Technology mapping for Zaandam site identifying opportunities and potential white space, aligned with consumer demands.
• Custodian for Verkade and Sultana brands and brand identity guardrails.
• Technical oversight of 3rd parties offering incremental technology capabilities to Zaandam in order to meet consumer needs.
• Member of the Zaandam NL LT.

Technical Leadership

• Provide leadership and clear direction across formulation, ingredients, processing technology, and product performance.
• Champion scientific rigour, and continuous improvement.
• Lean Six Sigma fundamental understanding mandatory, high level qualifications desireable.
• Lead, coach and develop the Netherlands R&D team.
• Build a high-performance and inclusive culture.
• Contribute as active member of UK & Europe R&D LT.

What you will bring

• Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Chemistry, Engineering or a related scientific discipline.
• Advanced degree desirable.
• Significant (typically 5+ years) FMCG R&D leadership experience, 10 years in FMCG food category, ideally baked snacks.
• Strong product development and commercialization track record.             
• Languages: English fluent mandatory, Dutch / Turkish Desirable
• High competency in Microsoft office systems
• High competency in AI Assistants, Agents, & Competency tools.

Core Competency Alignment: Product Development

Consumer-led product design, baking and chocolate formulation, innovation pipeline delivery, process development, commercialization, technical leadership and continuous improvement.

Success Measures

• Delivery of innovation objectives
• Successful product launches
• Product quality and consumer satisfaction
• Development of technical capability

Who are we?

Koninklijke Verkade, founded in 1886, with amazing brands like Verkade en Sultana, is part of pladis since 2016. pladis is one of the world's leading snacking companies. We are the proud steward of over 300 years of family baking and confectionery experience. A worldwide community with 16.000 colleagues around the world. Each of us bring our experience in happiness. Each of us is unique, but we find each other as a family of bakers and chocolatiers, hardworking, with pride and purpose. After all these years we believe that biscuits and chocolate bring people together. We are pladis. We bake Happiness. Happiness with every bite.

pladis succeeds because of people like you. People who wake up in the morning excited to get to work. Who believe in themselves and their potential. Who want to grow as part of a global community of like-minded colleagues.

pladis colleagues care deeply about being the best. About winning, staying the course and never giving up. Whichever part of the world we’re in, whatever our role. Whether we’re baking, working in HR, finance, marketing or many other areas – we win as one pladis team.

And while we’re all unique, we share something in common. It’s the code by which we live and work. We call it our ‘Winning Traits & Behaviours’: Purpose Led, Agile, Collaborative, Positive and Resilient. Five aspects of pladis life that define who we are, how we interact and get things done.

If pladis sounds like the place where you can thrive and help write the next chapter in our growth story, then check out opportunities around the world and follow us for the latest information from our teams.

More information can be found at www.pladisglobal.com

Interested?
To apply for this job, please send your letter of application and resume to pladis Global via our website.

Diversity and inclusion is central to everything we do and is reflected across our business. pladis brings together brands and people from around the globe – and this diversity is our great strength. We’re an equal opportunities employer and believe in encouraging an inclusive environment where we celebrate diversity of thinking and respect everyone’s distinctive qualities and perspectives.

• All applications will be treated with confidentiality. Third Party or Recruitment Agencies are not welcomed.  
  
• We aim for an inclusive work environment and invite everyone to apply, regardless of background, age, gender, or preference. Our selection is based on competencies and potential.

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List. If you are a recruitment agency and wish to submit candidate to be considered for this vacancy, you must have agreed to, and signed, our terms of business.
We will not accept CVs from any other sources other than those currently on our PSL. We will not pay a fee for any candidate that has not been represented by a provider on our PSL.