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Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
Onsite
Innovation Engineering (IEN) partners with Business Units and Functions to accelerate innovation and enhance quality, aligning closely with product roadmaps and priorities. We offer enterprise platform assets and extensive hardware and software expertise to help teams overcome technical challenges, resource constraints, and tight deadlines — always with a strong focus on patient safety and quality.
About the role
The Leader of the E2E Project Operations Team operates within the Business Operations Office (BOO) for Innovation Engineering (IEN), in close collaboration with the IEN BOO Head and the BOO leadership team. This is a dual-role position, combining people leadership with IEN-wide operational excellence leadership.
In this capacity, the role serves as:
Execution leader for ensuring on-time, on-quality, and on-budget delivery of E2E project operations across the IEN organization
Transformation leader driving operational excellence, maximizing workforce impact, and minimizing unrewarded operational overhead (~30%)
The role is accountable for:
End-to-end project operational excellence across IEN
Optimization of project operations workflows, including simplification, automation, and AI-driven (agent-based) operations
Day-to-day leadership, performance management, and talent development of the E2E Project Operations team
As a director-level position, this role bridges strategic direction and operational execution—driving simplicity, agility, and measurable impact, while fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability.
Has mandate to drive operational excellence and standardization across IEN and contribute to enterprise- and I&D-level operating model evolution.
Responsibilities
E2E Project Operations: lead and coach a team of E2E PMOs, procurement, purchasing and shipment experts to elevate impact delivery and drive effectively and efficiently the full range of administrative and financial jobs-to-done in the execution of IEN activities, in close collaboration with IEN Business Partners
Process Ownership & Optimization: team up with Head of Business Operations and BOO Leadership Team and BOO individual contributors to improve, and simplify Lead2Cash and other core business processes, aligning tools, data, and workflows across teams and functions.
Operational Metrics & Insights: Deliver operational metrics and actionable insights to enable data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement.
Standardization & Automation: Drive standardization, automation, and continuous improvement of business operations, leveraging digital tools and best practices.
Process Improvement & Innovation: Continuously optimize processes, proactively identify opportunities for improvement, and champion the use of AI, automation, and smart tooling.
Strategy-to-Execution: Orchestrate operational excellence and cross-departmental synergies to enable effective execution of strategic initiatives.
Change Leadership: Lead organizational change initiatives, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and adaptability. Leads adoption of AI-powered operations (e.g., agent-based workflow automation) to structurally reduce operational overhead and improve scalability.
Resource & Financial Management: Manage and orchestrate resource allocation across to support E2E operations associated with IEN projects execution.
Performance Management: Develop and manage performance measurement and reporting for Team members, core activities and key transformation initiatives.
Stakeholder Management: bridging the IEN internal landscape with the BUs, building strong relationships with senior leadership, finance and IT.
Talent Development: Support talent development, succession planning, and knowledge transfer within the team; mentor and develop high-performing teams.
Culture & Values: Promote and uphold company values, diversity, and inclusion; foster a collaborative, high-performing environment.
Key jobs to be done
Execution excellence – ensure project operations are driven with consistent excellence, enabling on-time, on-quality, on-cost IEN project delivery
Align & accelerate the consolidation of future-ready IEN project operations in alignment with current and emerging Philips business needs by delivering, maintaining, and improving key Project Operations processes and minimizing complexity through simplification, standardization, automation, and AI augmentation.
Organizational change leadership - Establishing a culture of change and collaboration whilst driving AI-driven innovation in an agile way of working
Qualifications & Experience
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Engineering, Operations Management, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
10+ years of progressive experience in business operations, strategy, or program management within a technology, engineering, or innovation-driven environment.
Proven experience in enterprise innovation portfolio management is a strong plus
Proven track record in operational excellence, process design, and problem-solving – including lean business process simplification and operating‑rhythm improvements
Experience in leading BU-wide transformation to improve financial, improving cost clarity and predictability of financial workflows.
Strong digital and analytical mindset; proficiency with tools such as Excel, Power BI, Salesforce, or similar CRM/ERP systems.
Evidence of AI literacy and preferably demonstrated experience leading operational workflow automation and AI transformation ( e.g. creation & deployment of AI agents to improve operations effectiveness, quality, efficiency)
Experience in analysing complex enterprise processes & tools and driving lean enterprise optimizations
Experience leading or supporting planning, governance, and change initiatives.
Hands-on, proactive approach with the ability to break down complex problems into practical, actionable solutions.
Experience in scaling operations in fast-paced, international environments is a plus.
Project or program management certification desirable.
Superpowers and Critical Capabilities
Enterprise transformation leadership (both in the”what” dimension and “how” dimension)
Ability to understand the “big picture” – by analysing enterprise operational infrastructure and driving impact with strategic & tactical improvements
Strong business acumen with the ability to translate strategic priorities into executable program plans and measurable outcomes
Act as inspiring change agent to move team members and stakeholders towards higher standards of performance
Execution delivery
Ability to drive execution discipline across complex, cross-functional environments, ensuring consistent delivery against commitments.
Stakeholders management, content-driven conflicts and escalations
Excellent operations stakeholders mapping, operations stakeholder management. Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage and align stakeholders at multiple levels
Manage and resolve conflicts within IEN organization (including Finance) on key operational processes IEN senior leaders, cross-functional teams.
Strategic systems leadership – role is at the intersection of innovation, operations and transformation – conceptual thinking is critical.
Financial Acumen and Enterprise IT Knowledge
Possesses financial acumen and understanding of enterprise financial management, including project budgeting, forecasting, and the use of performance metrics to drive business outcomes.
Demonstrates strong understanding Enterprise IT systems, dependencies, information and financial flows
How we work together
This position requires working onsite in the office for a minimum of three days per week.
About Philips
We are a health technology company. We built our entire company around the belief that every human matters, and we won't stop until everybody everywhere has access to the quality healthcare that we all deserve. Do the work of your life to help the lives of others.
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Discover our rich and exciting history.
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If you’re interested in this role and have many, but not all, of the experiences needed, we encourage you to apply. You may still be the right candidate for this or other opportunities at Philips. Learn more about our culture of impact with care here.
