r&d director, vice president

Since 1987 SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP has created industry-leading technology for the handling and processing of eggs in both raw, fluid and powder form. Today the company has become the world’s leading manufacturer of egg handling and processing equipment.

The journey towards excellence and helping customers turn eggs into valuable business is ongoing and on behalf of SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP Randstad is now searching for a new Group R&D Director, Vice President to take over from the present R&D Director who will move on to other assignments in the company.
Are you the one who can take on the interesting challenge of taking over a pole position and add continued innovation and cutting-edge product development to the company?

SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP is a leading company within not only egg handling and processing equipment but also equipment for egg inoculation and harvesting for vaccines, enzymes for enhanced functional egg products, spray drying of other applications, in-ovo vaccination and automation and robotics.
Present in more than 12 countries around the world and with an even wider network, the company has more than 600 highly specialized and ambitious employees and holds many years of experience in providing excellent engineering and after sales services to customers within food manufacturing, farming, pharmaceutical companies, ingredients and more. The company is characterized by an optimized and focused approach to the development of new products and solutions and applies state of the art technology to deliver state of the art machinery.
SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP is part of the Thornico Group – an international group of companies counting a broad portfolio of companies within the food industry, real estate, sportswear, packaging and tech companies.

About the position

In this important role with report to the company CEO and as a member of the top management and being part of the overall strategic work for the company, you will hold global overall R&D responsibility for all group R&D entities and employees in Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and the US. You will bring a successful track record as a R&D Director from a similar field of technology and will be passionate about implementing best of class R&D strategies to the Sanovo Group universe.

You will be in charge of the group R&D strategic work and of providing an innovative and inspiring work environment at top industry level. You will be the leader of a group of 55 highly qualified and specialized technicians and engineers.

You will be leveraging hands-on experience when it comes to outlining and implementing effective R&D strategies, research and development within mechanical construction, software design, and robot and automation solutions.

You will also be responsible for the delivery of knowhow about use and development of state of the art technologies within Vision systems, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Cloud solutions, Scada systems, collection of machine data and analysis.

Your field of responsibility also covers the overall responsibility of all global technical documentation, drawing and construction programs as well as the compliance with all product legislation, the building of prototypes and finishing of zero point series including documentation and preparation for production.

Your principal work tasks will be:
- Creating and driving innovative strategies for the R&D department
- Professional responsibility of all development projects cross-cutting the group business lines
- Actively participating in the further development of procedures and processes as well as compliance with the current quality management system (at present ISO 9001:2015)
- Ensuring completion and compliance with product liabilities and regulations for development of new machines and equipment in Denmark and abroad
- Organizational development and management of staff
- Elaboration of yearly prioritized activity plans
- Establishing of KPIs and follow up on goal achievements
- Global budget responsibility, budgeting and follow ups, including investments
- Ad hoc participation in customer meetings and occational participation in fairs

In this role you will have 60 travel days per year. Proficiency in both written and spoken English is a requirement.

Your profile

The right candidate needs to have a strong, in-depth knowledge of the classic R&D tools and thrive in handling many specific assignments concurrently, at high speed and with high frequency. At the same time, it is necessary to embrace looking ahead and being proactive in securing that R&D methods and solutions are up to speed with both the technological development and to shifting market conditions. The ability to foster an innovative spirit and environment will be crucial.

At the managerial level, the candidate needs to be a visible leader being present in the workplace and mastering creating close work relations with his/her staff and peers. The tone of voice will preferably be straightforward and honest combined with persistence and stamina.

Your background will most likely hold following additional characteristics:
- Strategic thinking
- Technical insight and curiosity
- Proven leadership skills
- Global awareness and international experience
- Team player/builder and a driver of value-added results
- Excellent internal and external communication and interpersonal skills
- Demonstrated ability to influence others and interact effectively with all levels of the organization
- Proven track-record of success in creating innovative teams and solutions
- Ability to energize and develop all levels of the organization
- Analytic, structured and able to plan ahead and prioritize
- Transparent and trustworthy

Application and contact info

Randstad is responsible for the recruitment process. If you have any questions regarding this position, please contact Head of Transition, MSc. Organizational Psychology, Malene Gude at email [email protected] or phone: +45 25 97 42 33 or Senior HR Partner, Heine Blok on phone: +45 92 92 18 05. All applications will be treated in strict confidence and will be handled on an ongoing basis. The application must be in English.

About Randstad

At Randstad, we support people and organizations in realizing their true potential. We do this by combining the power of today’s technology with our passion for people. We call it Human Forward.

Randstad DK is part of the international Randstad Group, which is the global leader in HR services. With more than 4,700 offices in 38 countries, we are providing work to more than 650,000 people every day.

In Denmark, we are among the leading temp and recruitment agencies with branches in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Kolding. A position we have achieved due to our expertise in matching qualified candidates with the right job opportunities.