Director, R&D Operational Excellence & Modularization
In the VELUX Group, we offer you a world of opportunities and the chance to create a bright future. From the forefront of the sustainable indoor living industry, we enable those who live, work and play under the roof to transform their spaces and live a healthier everyday life with more daylight and fresh air.
The VELUX Group is an international, family-owned business with strong financial roots and each year we are able to create a real impact by reinvesting in society, our employees, and the planet through our foundations.
Alongside the rest of our values, “courage” and “mutual respect” define our actions every day and how we wish to contribute to the world.
Are you passionate about optimizing R&D engineering processes to enhance efficiency, quality, and speed-to-market? Do you excel at implementing modular development to streamline cycles, boost reusability, and reduce complexity across product lines?
In this role, you will play a pivotal part in transforming R&D and engineering practices by implementing systems engineering frameworks, modular development principles, and cutting-edge tools to streamline operations and enhance product innovation.
Reporting to the Senior Director, Technology and Modularization, you will be the driving force behind a strategic and structured approach to product development, ensuring alignment with business priorities and organizational goals.
Your challenges
As a leader in Operational Excellence and Modularization, you will:
- Ensure tools and frameworks, including structured use of the Stage-Gate model, are optimized to enhance project delivery and decision-making.
- Align portfolio setting and project intake with strategic roadmaps and modularization principles to maximize development efficiency and manage complexity effectively.
- Develop and apply modularization principles cross-functionally to improve innovation efficiency and simplify product offerings.
- Optimize product development processes and engineering practices using systems engineering frameworks to ensure efficiency, quality, and speed-to-market.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement, leveraging Communities of Practice (CoPs) and cross-functional collaboration to drive excellence across all R&D functions.
Key responsibilities
- Own and improve the Stage-Gate project management framework, governance structure, and underlying project management templates to reflect best practices and insights from R&D projects.
- Establish and continuously improve our R&D excellence, i.e. methodology, and tools to support scalable growth.
- Drive the integration of modular design principles into product development processes to enable scalability, reduce complexity, and enhance component reuse.
- Collaborate with product category and module teams to develop and maintain modular roadmaps and master plans.
- Lead change management initiatives to ensure seamless adoption of optimized processes and modularization principles, tracking success metrics and ensuring alignment with organizational priorities.
- Maintain an overview of patents, ensuring strategic alignment of IP with product development and business goals.
You will lead a team of 8-10 professionals, providing direction, mentorship, and support to drive excellence in engineering processes and modular development.
Your qualifications
To excel in this role, you have a passion for advancing R&D capabilities and possess a transformation mindset to challenge the status quo. You have a proven ability to align technical expertise with business strategies while fostering collaboration across teams.
Furthermore, you will bring:
- A strong technical background with a degree in engineering or a related field, ideally complemented by an MBA.
- Proven expertise in modularization, process optimization, and implementing systems engineering frameworks.
- Demonstrated ability to lead change management initiatives, ensuring smooth transitions in engineering practices and strategic alignment across teams.
- Advanced skills in driving cross-functional collaboration, managing complexity, and fostering innovation through sustainable design principles and modular development.
- A leadership style characterized by inclusivity, emotional intelligence, and a passion for empowering teams to achieve their full potential.
Your opportunities
By joining our team, you will become a key influencer and driver of operational excellence and modularization in a globally integrated organization. You will collaborate with executive leadership, business units, and external partners to align R&D strategies with business objectives, ensuring the delivery of impactful and scalable solutions.
In addition to a dynamic and supportive work environment, we offer opportunities for professional growth, cross-functional learning, and making a meaningful impact on the future of product development.
Application and contact
Learn more about the VELUX Group online at www.velux.com where you can read more about working at our company and what to expect from our recruitment process.
We are looking forward to receiving your application and resume as soon as possible. We will review applications and conduct interviews on an ongoing basis, so don’t wait to apply.
Please send your application and CV to Heidi Thorlund Wexø, het@steengerhardt.com
Steen Gerhardt Executive Services assists VELUX with this assignment.
All information is treated with complete confidentiality.
Equal Opportunity Employer
VELUX is fully committed to the concept and practice of equal opportunity in all aspects of employment. To further our goal of equal employment opportunity for all employees and prospective employees, it is the policy of VELUX to recruit, hire, train, and promote persons in all job titles without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, protected veteran status, national origin, sexual orientation, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
All employment decisions shall be consistent with the principle of equal employment opportunity and only job-related qualifications will be required.
