Innovation Director - Preservation (Food & Personal care)

At Corbion, we exist to champion preservation in all its forms, preserving food and food production, health, and our planet.

Our safety and preservation solutions are essential to global FMCG manufacturers and consumers alike. We strive to control potentially deadly pathogens, safeguard quality, and enhance sensory attributes that shape the consumer’s experience.

Role Overview: As the Innovation Director Preservation, you will design and drive the vision and strategy for our Preservation Innovation platform in alignment with Corbion's overall Innovation Center (IC) strategy. You will ensure a healthy, balanced and robust innovation pipeline, collaborating with key stakeholders across business, marketing, finance and operations. This role involves managing resources in a matrix structure.

Key Responsibilities

1. Platform Strategy Development:
   • Design, and implement the Preservation Innovation strategy in collaboration with business, marketing, and other stakeholders, and drive its execution.
   • Ensure alignment and harmony among various innovation platforms.
2. Execution of Innovation Roadmap:
   • Translate the Innovation Center strategy into a detailed platform roadmap.
   • Execute plans on time, within budget, and to agreed-upon quality levels with key stakeholders.
3. Resource Management:
   • Manage the support provided by the IC department,  ensure proper allocation of internal and external resources.
   • Drive the direction and Maintain a balanced portfolio within the platform and across the broader Innovation pipeline.
4. Inclusive Work Environment:
   • Foster an inclusive and engaging work environment for the team.
5. Pipeline Health and Success:
   • Ensure the health, continuity and evolution of the platform pipeline according to assigned KPIs.
   • Maximize profitability of existing solutions and launch new ones while leveraging synergies across platforms.
6. Relationship Building and Reporting:
   • Build trusted relationships internally and externally; and report portfolio progress against budget, resources, deliverables, and timelines.
   • Lead discussions to resolve issues, bottlenecks, and make decisions.
7. Project Opportunity Translation:
   • Translate new solutions and improvements into project opportunities aligned with Corbion's market presence and segments.
8. Budget Planning:
   • Plan the platform’s overall budget to deliver growth and business success, aligning with the Platform Strategy, Roadmap, and KPIs.

About You

Our ideal candidate is a knowledgeable and business-savvy professional with strong interaction and influence capabilities across departments and business units. You are accountable forportfolio delivery within budget and strategic scope and can lead effectively in a matrix organization.

Qualifications

• MSc in Microbiology, Food Science or a related field; preferably combined with an MBA.
• 15+ years of working-experience in business-driven innovation, including 5+ years in strategic roles.
• Proven ability to translate market and business insights into profitable business opportunities.
• Strong partnership skills with marketing, business, and other stakeholders.
• Excellent analytical and decision-making skills.
• Demonstrated drive for success and accountability.

About Corbion 
 

Corbion is the global market leader in lactic acid and its derivatives, and a leading supplier of emulsifiers, functional enzyme blends, minerals, vitamins, and algae ingredients. We use our unique expertise in fermentation and other processes to deliver sustainable solutions for the preservation of food and food production, health, and our planet. For over 100 years, we have been uncompromising in our commitment to safety, quality, innovation and performance. Drawing on our deep application and product knowledge, we work side-by-side with customers to make our cutting-edge technologies work for them. Our solutions help differentiate products in markets such as food, home & personal care, animal nutrition, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and bioplastics. In 2023, Corbion generated annual sales of €1,443.8 million and had a workforce of 2,727 FTE. Corbion is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. For more information: www.corbion.com

Corbion does not accept unsolicited resumes from individual recruiters or third party recruiting agencies in response to job postings. No fee will be paid to third parties who submit unsolicited candidates directly to our hiring managers. All candidates must be submitted by approved Corbion vendors who have been expressly requested to make a submission by our Talent Acquisition team for a specific job opening. No placement fees will be paid to any firm unless such a request has been made by the Corbion Talent Acquisition team and such candidate was submitted to the Corbion Talent Acquisition Team.