Dairy R&D Director

Department
R&D
Nils Foss Allé 1
3400 Hillerød

Country
Denmark

Innovation has always been the foundation of FOSS’ success. A global outlook and a mission for more sustainable use of the world’s food resources are key to more than 300 passionate employees in R&D, located in two innovation hubs.

We have a legacy of developing innovative solutions that set the standards within food analysis across the globe. We build our solutions on strong technological platforms and deep insights into our customers’ businesses and processes, and we value strong collaboration with customers throughout the development phase.

For FOSS’ R&D management team, we are seeking a new R&D Director for our Dairy business unit. The unit is responsible for turnover, growth, profitability, and bringing new innovative analytical solutions to the market and ensuring the long-term vison within Dairy.

The Job
You will report to the SVP for R&D and be responsible for New Product Development (NPD) as well as all other R&D activities related to our Dairy segments. NPD projects involve hardware and software development, automation, digital integration, and artificial intelligence, so a strong technical curiosity is essential. You will execute the activities through the project managers who will report directly to you, so it is important that you find please in leading through others.

You will be based at FOSS’ Innovation Center in Hillerød, working closely with internal and external stakeholders, customers, partners, and FOSS’ Sales and Service organizations across the globe.

You will be involved in the setting up new NPD projects - from early business identification and concept development through customer trials to market implementation -and you will support the project manager and the entire project team through:

• Understanding customer needs to support projects in clear requirements and product specifications based on customer insights
• Supporting gate deliveries in an agile setup
• Stakeholder management and communication to support project progress
• Ensuring seamless product launch and market implementation

As R&D Program Director, you will work across the organization, bridging R&D, Sales & Marketing, and Service within the business unit. This means you must have a strong sense of stakeholder management, customer focus, and what benefits the overall FOSS business.

In addition to supporting new product development, your responsibilities include:

• Supporting product quality of existing solutions
• Adding new applications to existing solutions
• Ensure the wellbeing, motivation, and performance of your team

Finally, as part of R&D management, you will actively contribute to strengthening the entire R&D organization - by mentoring leaders, sharing best practices across teams, aligning development processes, and helping to build the competencies and structures needed to accelerate innovation and execution throughout R&D.

Who are you?
We expect that you join us with:

• 3+ years of experience in project and people management in complex organizational settings
• A strong technical or scientific background (e.g., Engineer, MSc, or equivalent)
• Solid business acumen and excellent communication skills
• Strong facilitation capabilities and a drive to nurture productive collaborations

You are curious, self-driven, and eager to understand our customers’ businesses to create impactful solutions. You thrive on solving complex problems and developing improvements with clear business outcomes. While you lead with authority, you understand that leadership is balance between conviction and self-insight, and that you are never done learning.

You are structured, dependable, and have a “get the job done” attitude. Your ability to build strong relationships and communicate effectively is key to your success.

Working at FOSS
We offer a demanding and rewarding position in an international and innovative company, a global leader in its field.

You will collaborate with highly skilled professionals across multiple disciplines and contribute to the development of advanced technologies that make a real difference for our customers.

Our culture is grounded in trust and teamwork. You will find a workplace where your ideas are welcomed, and where you can make a real impact. The role involves some travel to engage with subsidiaries and customers.

Are you interested?
Submit your application and relevant documents through the link below. Please note that only applications submitted via the link will be considered. We conduct interviews on an ongoing basis, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

FOSS is committed to maintaining an inclusive culture and a diverse workforce. You can help us sustain an unbiased recruitment process by not including photo or age in your application.

FOSS
Today, more than 8 billion people around the world are dependent on nutritional food. Tons of food being produced in a million different ways and under varying conditions, creating challenges all the way from field to fork. One of them, obviously, being the effects it has on climate change.

FOSS helps the world’s 100 biggest food companies and more than 40,000 others around the world navigate exactly that with intelligent, data-driven and innovative analytical solutions. We are making sustainability a better business and we’re doing so as global market leader in our field – improving food quality, minimizing food waste, ensuring food safety, and securing fair payment.

Join a pioneering and innovative company in the food and agriculture industry. A company on a mission, with offices all around the world and 1,700 talented colleagues from more than 32 different countries.