Innovation Director

What will you do?
As Innovation Director, you play a key role in the strategic development of our organization. You leverage innovation as a driver for sustainable growth, competitive strength, and value creation. You are responsible for translating external market trends and technological developments into feasible innovations in products, processes, and business models within the plastic processing manufacturing industry (PVC, PE & PP).

With a sharp eye for opportunities and risks, you build a future-oriented innovation agenda that is firmly anchored in our business strategy. You inspire and lead international teams, create external partnerships, and foster a culture where innovation is not only conceived but also realized.

Your impact:

• Analyze market trends, customer needs, and technological developments to identify new opportunities, with specific focus on material innovation, product design, and process optimization within plastic processing and industrial applications.
• Develop a clear, future-oriented innovation strategy that contributes to business objectives in growth, automation, and sustainability. You secure this strategy through a concrete multi-year plan, including priorities, KPIs, and business cases.
• Lead the departments of Product Management, Product Development, and CEST & Sustainability. You stimulate ownership, entrepreneurship, and multidisciplinary collaboration – across countries and departments. You create alignment and acceleration.
• Foster an organization-wide mindset where creativity, experimentation, and continuous improvement are central. You initiate innovation programs, facilitate inspiration sessions, and ensure that ideas are actually implemented.
• Build strategic partnerships, bring in ‘outside-in’ perspectives through customers, networks, trade fairs, events, publications, and collaborations. Be an inspiring representative of the organization in the innovation landscape and actively introduce new technologies and methodologies.
• Lead (international) innovation projects from idea to implementation. You ensure clear governance, measurable impact, and integration into operations. You steer towards business value: improvement of product quality, operational efficiency, and sustainable impact.