Head of Research & Development

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.

The role of Head of R&D for pladis’ Netherlands region, based at their local office and manufacturing site in Zaandam, Netherlands. The role will be accountable for the Netherlands R&D team in delivering the R&D agenda for this region on time and in full as pladis seeks to accelerate recent growth performance. The position entails the role is primarily product development and commercialization focused, and therefore by association requires very strong formulation and processing competency in food manufacturing.

As the role involves stewardship of a product development team, candidates should have strong interpersonal and management skills in order to coach and develop.

• Innovation & Product Development Take a lead role in developing and executing the Netherlands R&D strategic pipeline on time in full, consisting of innovation, renovation and technical productivity project pipelines for Netherlands. Drive end‑to‑end product development from ideation through launch. Technology mapping for Zaandam site identifying opportunities and potential white space, aligned with consumer demands. Custodian for Verkade and Sultana brands and brand identity guardrails.
  
  Technical oversight of 3rd parties offering incremental technology capabilities to Zaandam in order to meet consumer needs. Member of the Zaandam NL LT.
• Technical Leadership Provide leadership and clear direction across formulation, ingredients, processing technology, and product performance. Champion scientific rigour, and continuous improvement. Lean Six Sigma fundamental understanding mandatory, high level qualifications desireable. Lead, coach and develop the Netherlands R&D team. Build a high‑performance and inclusive culture. Contribute as active member of UK & Europe R&D LT.

• Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Chemistry, Engineering or a related scientific discipline. Advanced degree desirable.
• Significant (typically 5+ years) FMCG R&D leadership experience, 10 years in FMCG food category, ideally baked snacks.
• Strong product development and commercialization track record.
• Languages:
  
  English fluent mandatory, Dutch / Turkish Desirable.
• High competency in Microsoft office systems.
• High competency in AI Assistants, Agents, & Competency tools.

Product Development Consumer‑led product design, baking and chocolate formulation, innovation pipeline delivery, process development, commercialization, technical leadership and continuous improvement.

• Delivery of innovation objectives
• Successful product launches
• Product quality and consumer satisfaction
• Development of technical capability

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…