Description
We are looking for an experienced Dairy Customer Innovation Manager Europe
AAK is one of the leading producers of high value-adding vegetable oils and fats. AAK is organised in three business areas; Food Ingredients, Chocolate & Confectionery Fats and Technical Products & Feed.
To maintain our leading position within the world of vegetable oils, we are always looking for innovative, highly skilled, knowledgeable, committed and caring people to join AAK. We offer challenging international career opportunities at all levels within Production, Sales, Customer Innovation (CI) and support functions in more than 25 countries.
AAK’s work is very much built around our customers’ businesses and we firmly believe in long-term partnerships and strong relationships. Through our unique co-development approach, we work together with our customers and across their value chains to develop solutions that fulfil customer specific needs. At AAK, initiative, innovation, improvement and team work are in focus.
About the position
As one of our senior Customer Innovation Managers in the Dairy & Savoury team in Europe is retiring we are now looking for a skilled and experienced person with min 10 years of experience to fill this position.
As Dairy Customer Innovation Manager you work closely together with your Sales and Customer Innovation colleagues to identify and grow new opportunities in the European Dairy Industry. You will work primarily with customers within Dairy in Europe and also support your colleagues in other regions. Our core business is value-adding vegetable fats and oils and as Customer Innovation Manager we expect you to have a deep knowledge in the dairy industry products and good knowledge within fats and oils chemistry and functionality.
You will work with technical support and joint development projects together with customers and the Go to market teams and also act as a senior adviser to your Customer Innovation colleagues. You will be part of trouble shooting internally and externally and provide technical support in customer projects and act as a technical expert throughout the buying cycle, from idea generation, creating of solutions and all the way to technical implementation and launch.
Our CI Managers are leading technical projects and activities. Building strong relations with the Customers is important as you are a crucial part of growing and maintaining the business in alignment with our global and regional Co-Development strategy. The work will include both presentations to customers, partners and other stakeholders and hands-on application work in our pilots and with customers.
The focus area is Europe and you will also to some extent support new application developments and solutions, regional and global, and be part of market driven innovation projects. You will also support the corporate R&D team for testing of NPD prototypes, in cooperation with AAK’s pilot plants and labs.
The successful candidate will be part of the European Dairy & Savoury CI team and report to our Head of Customer Innovation Dairy & Savoury Europe, Malin Thors Rosenquist.
Who are you?
Experience:
You hold a degree in a dairy technology, food science or chemistry discipline and have proven track record from previous employment. You possess strong project management skills and have experience from working in a busy commercial environment, preferably from the Dairy industry, or in the food ingredients industry. A good understanding of oils & fats chemistry and functionality will be a major advantage.
Our business language is English and therefore a good command in written and spoken English is mandatory.
Personal Qualities:
You are characterized by being pro-active, customer-oriented, responsible and accountable, flexible, analytical and well organised. You are good at relation building internally and externally and at communicating on mutual levels and you have good understanding of cultural differences. You thrive in a hectic working environment and are adoptable to change. You are a true team player with a strong sense of urgency and a strategic thinking, always striving to improve and innovate and you are a self-motivator with a strong drive.
As this role has a European remit, there is an expectation that the successful candidate has the capacity to travel as required.
We promise you an exciting opportunity in a great and welcoming team with big chances for personal and professional development for the right candidate. The position should preferably be located in our Customer Innovation Centre in Karlshamn, Sweden (2 hours drive from Copenhagen airport) in close proximity to one of our major sites.
For further information about the position please contact Malin Thors Rosenquist, Head of Customer Innovation Dairy & Savoury Europe on +46 766 12 23 45 or
malin.thors@aak.com.
For more information about the recruitment process or the organisation, please contact HR Manager Malin Olsson on +46 454 82321 or
malin.olsson@aak.com
Apply here.
Please submit your application with relevant enclosures in English. We recommend you apply soonest possible, as applications are evaluated continuously, but not later than June 6, 2019.
We have already chosen our sourcing channels for this recruitment and kindly ask not to be contacted by any advertisement agents, recruitment agencies or manning companies.
AAK prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, religion, veteran status, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law in any aspect of the access to, admission, or treatment of students in its programs and activities, or in employment and application for employment.
