Head of New Product Development Europe

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
At pladis, we create products that bring happiness to millions of consumers every day through iconic brands and much-loved biscuits, crackers, chocolate, cakes and snacks. As part of our ambition to drive growth through innovation and renovation, we are seeking a dynamic and commercially-minded Head of New Product Development Europe to lead the end-to-end product development agenda across the European region.

This role is a critical leadership position within the European R&D organization, accountable for delivering a strong pipeline of breakthrough innovation, line extensions, and product renovations that delight consumers, strengthen our brands, and drive sustainable business growth.

Leading a team of product developers across multiple European locations, the role combines strategic leadership with hands-on technical expertise to oversee product ideation, development, scale-up, and successful market launch. The successful candidate will build strong partnerships across R&D, Marketing, Supply Chain, Procurement, Manufacturing, Quality and Commercial teams to ensure innovation projects are delivered effectively, on time and in full.

• Function: Research & Development (R&D)
• Location: Zaandam, The Netherlands
• Reports to: R&D Director Europe
• Travel Requirement: Approximately 20% across Europe
• Direct Reports: Approximately 6 Product Developers located across Netherlands, France & Romania
  

The position entails
To lead and develop the European Product Development team and drive the successful delivery of innovation and product renovation programmes across the pladis Europe portfolio.

The role is accountable for transforming consumer needs and, customer and business opportunities into commercially successful products through excellence in product design, development, scale-up and launch execution while embedding best-in-class product development capability across the region.

Your main responsabilities

Innovation & New Product Development Leadership

• Lead the creation and delivery of the European NPD pipeline across biscuits, cakes, snacks and adjacent categories.
• Translate business strategy, consumer insight and brand ambition into robust innovation programmes.
• Consolidate consumer demands and regional needs into scaled platforms for bigger and better launches, maximizing return on resources investment
• Oversee the development of new products from ideation through to commercial launch.
• Ensure innovation projects deliver differentiated consumer experiences while meeting financial, operational and technical requirements.
• Champion creativity and technical excellence throughout the product development process.
• Drive rapid prototyping and agile product development methodologies to accelerate speed to market.
• Identify emerging ingredient, technology, process and consumer trends to shape future innovation opportunities.
• Bring thought leadership to engagements with other functions and pladis regions in how we work most effectively.

Product Renovation & Portfolio Optimization

• Lead product renovation programmes aimed at improving quality, value, sustainability, nutrition, compliance and operational efficiency.
• Deliver formulation improvements and optimization initiatives that enhance consumer preference and brand competitiveness.
• Support productivity and cost optimization initiatives while protecting product quality and consumer experience.
• Ensure renovation projects align with regional and local category strategies.

Technical Product Development Excellence

• Provide technical leadership throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Ensure robust translation of benchtop concepts into scalable manufacturing solutions.
• Oversee product and process validation activities to ensure successful industrialization.
• Drive effective management of product specifications, quality standards and technical documentation.
• Apply strong scientific and product development principles to overcome technical challenges and de-risk projects.
• Ensure all developments meet regulatory, food safety, quality and legal requirements across European markets.

Scale-Up & Commercialization

• Lead factory trial planning, execution and scale-up activities across European manufacturing sites, with support from relevant local operations teams.
• Partner closely with Operations and Manufacturing teams to ensure seamless transfer from development to production.
• Ensure technical readiness for product launches and minimise post-launch performance issues.
• Establish clear stage-gate governance and technical decision-making throughout projects.
• Drive consistency and excellence in launch execution across all European markets.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing team of Product Developers across multiple European locations.
• Build strong technical capability within the team through structured development plans, coaching and mentoring.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Create succession plans and capability-building initiatives to strengthen organizational effectiveness.
• Promote knowledge sharing and technical best-practice adoption across sites and categories.
  

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as the primary Product Development leader within the European R&D organization.
• Build trusted partnerships with Marketing, Category, Consumer Insights, Operations, Procurement, Quality and Commercial teams.
• Influence senior stakeholders through data-driven recommendations and strong technical credibility.
• Ensure alignment between regional innovation priorities and local market requirements.
• Represent Product Development within regional governance forums and strategic planning processes.
• Continuous Improvement & Capability Building
• Drive standardization of product development processes, tools and ways of working across Europe.
• Embed robust project management and innovation governance practices.
• Introduce new technologies, ingredients and development methodologies that improve performance and speed.
• Champion external partnerships with suppliers, research institutions and technology providers where appropriate.
• Support the ongoing evolution of the European R&D capability agenda.
  

Core Competency Alignment

Product Development (Primary Discipline)

The role acts as the regional technical authority for Product Development and is expected to demonstrate advanced capability in:

• Product design and formulation
• Ingredient functionality and application
• Product architecture development
• Product optimization and troubleshooting
• Industrialization and scale-up
• Sensory-driven product development
• Consumer-centric innovation
• Manufacturing process understanding
• Risk management and technical decision making
• Cross-functional project leadership
• Innovation pipeline delivery
• Portfolio renovation strategy

The role is expected to operate as a recognized technical leader and coach within the Product Development discipline.

Success Measures

The Head of New Product Development Europe will be measured through:

• Delivery of innovation and renovation pipeline commitments.
• Successful launch rate of NPD projects.
• Achievement of project timing and budget targets.
• Product performance versus consumer and commercial objectives.
• Factory trial and scale-up success rates.
• Team engagement and capability development.
• Cross-functional stakeholder satisfaction.
• Contribution to business growth and portfolio performance.
• Continuous improvement and simplification achievements.

What you will bring

Essential

• Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Chemistry, Product Development or a related scientific discipline.
• Significant experience within FMCG bakery product development.
• Experience with sugar, fat, and/or salt reduction in bakery product development.
• Proven leadership experience managing technical teams.
• Extensive experience delivering both NPD and product renovation programmes.
• Strong understanding of commercialization and manufacturing scale-up processes.
• Demonstrable success leading complex cross-functional projects.
• Experience working with manufacturing operations in a factory environment.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing capabilities.
• Excellent project management and prioritization skills.
• Strong consumer and customer focus.
• Excellent communication and leadership capability.

Preferred

• Postgraduate qualification in Food Science, Product Development or related discipline.
• Experience working within international FMCG organisations.
• Experience in confectionery.
• Exposure to multiple European markets.
• Knowledge of sustainability and nutrition-led innovation strategies.

Leadership Expectations

This role will:

• Lead with curiosity, pace and accountability.
• Inspire innovation and technical excellence.
• Develop people and build organizational capability.
• Foster collaboration across cultures and functions.
• Balance consumer delight with commercial performance.
• Drive a culture of ownership, continuous improvement and delivery.

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.