Hair Care R&D Manager

Ash. Ind. Nederland BV Are you the kind of person that is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious, solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious? Are you always solving? Then we’d like to meet you and bet you’d like to meet us! Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Hair Care R&D Manager to join the Personal Care organization at Zwijndrecht, The Netherlands. Ashland Zwijndrecht serves as the Hair Care Center of Excellence for EMEA, offering specialized R&D, formulation, testing, and application expertise in the field of hair care. In addition, the site houses a central EMEA R&D laboratory and possesses unique expertise in cellulose and polysaccharide technology thanks to the combination of production and innovation at a single location. The Hair Care R&D Manager is responsible for leading the Hair Care R&D team in Zwijndrecht and executing the Hair Care R&D strategy, ensuring the successful delivery of innovation and development initiatives that support the Personal Care Hair Care business. This position will lead and prioritize Hair Care R&D projects, drive innovation through collaboration with Marketing and Central R&D and develop a high-performing team in Zwijndrecht to support the growth of the EMEA Personal Care business. The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to , the following: Serve as a key member of the Global Hair Care R&D team and share responsibility for division-wide business priorities. Oversee and supervise R&D development and innovation efforts within the Hair Care segment. Direct the development of new products and the improvement of existing products. Support all efforts that the Hair Care pipeline is healthy and robust and brings meaningful innovations to the Market. Provide leadership and direction to a team of 5 researchers in Zwijndrecht. Lead cross-functional teams responsible for developing hair care technologies that will fill gaps in the current portfolio and satisfy the needs of the marketplace.  Ensure the team develop the current strong competencies further to fit with the long-term strategy and the market needs. Support the selection and development of talent and succession within the organization to ensure an effective, sustainable model and talent pipeline. Responsible, along with the commercial management team, for identifying new product opportunities in hair care business segments. Partner with global teams in Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Regulatory to bring new products from development to commercialization. Collaborate and develop strong relationships with human resources, finance, and other center-led functions to ensure effective partnerships and alignment. Contributes to competitive portfolio analysis and creation of differentiated portfolio strategies. Care for competitive hair care technology benchmarking. Work closely with central R&D functions as applied research and process development to drive development of new chemistries and products Sustain and develop the relation and collaboration with the regional technical service teams further. Develop the product pipeline in close collaboration with the regional marketing and tech. service teams, foster development of regional launch packages. Support major hair care launches with customer presentation and training In order to be qualified for this role you must possess the following: Ph.D. in chemistry, chemical engineering, biology, physics, or related scientific/technical discipline required. 10+ years of relevant experience including technology development and implementation; leading and developing teams and driving innovation in a heavily regulated industry; preferably in EPA and/or REACH governed end-markets.    Strong Hair Care background with experience working in the ingredients and formulation