Chief Sustainability Engineer

Chief Sustainability Engineer – to lead sustainability transformation in R&D

Coloplast is a global leader in medical devices and healthcare solutions, dedicated to making life easier for people with intimate healthcare needs. Here's the challenge for you; We will never compromise on the quality of the solutions we offer our users. But we also have an obligation to reduce our environmental footprint. Our ambition is not only delivering superior user experience and clinical performance but also doing it in an environmentally sustainable manner. As an important step towards this objective, we are hiring a Chief Sustainability Engineer in R&D to lead the necessary transformation and help us deliver on our promise. 

As the Chief Sustainability Engineer, you will report to our Vice President of Product Design & Engineering and be part of a leadership team also counting Materials, Mechanical Engineering, Design, and Usability Engineering. This places you right at the creative heart of R&D and ensures your ability to influence the design of our products. 

Your role is not a formal people manager role but leadership is required to succeed. You do not have direct reports but you must lead this agenda through the organization, drawing on your experience in driving change based on an indirect mandate. As the change agent for one our most important and arguably most challenging change agendas in R&D, you will need to draw on your ability to collaborate across the organization to facilitate the establishment of a clear direction for how R&D will solve for sustainability in Coloplast. 

Vice President of Product Design & Engineering, Peter Herskind, says "This is leadership role that, in essence, is tasked with setting direction for all our employees in R&D who needs to solve for sustainability across diverse business areas such as Ostomy Care, Continence Care, and Wound & Skin Care. We all share the responsibility to solve for environmental sustainability. But we need someone to lead us in this effort." 

As Chief Sustainability Engineer you will be leading Coloplast R&D efforts in delivering on our ambitions within Environmental Sustainability. As part of this, you will be responsible for:

• Development and deployment of a sustainability strategy for our project portfolio. Your key stakeholders in this effort will be portfolio owners, Coloplast Global Sustainability team, and the Innovation Project Steering Committee. 
• Capability building in R&D, including but not limited to, process development, tools, guidelines, and training. You will lead this agenda both through leaders and specialists as well as in your own capacity and you will develop how our organization solves for sustainability as well as how our leadership is discussing and deciding on sustainability matters. 
• Setting direction for technology exploration, both internally and through external partnerships, aimed at solving for environmental sustainability. You will work closely with senior leaders and specialists to ensure clear objectives for technology exploration that aligns with future strategic needs. 
• Inspiring and challenging our organization to accelerate our transformation to become a more sustainable company. You will have an external perspective to ensure we are inspired by and learn from the best and you will network and build relations internally to secure your ability to act as change agent at organizational level. 

Peter adds: "Every second, about 50 people around the world pick up and use a Coloplast product. If you are motivated by solving for significant unmet societal needs in a purpose-driven organization, then this is a good place to be spending your time."

To be successful in this role, you should possess the following qualifications and attributes:

• Minimum MSc level university degree, preferably within natural sciences.
• Extensive knowledge of environmental sustainability, including technical, strategic, and regulatory aspects.
• Extensive industry experience, ideally from larger matrix organizations.
• Substantial experience leading and driving results through others.
• Proven track record of acting as a change agent with broad impact.
• Strong leadership skills, including the ability to lead without formal mandate.
• Excellent stakeholder management, negotiation, and collaboration skills.
• Strong communication skills, capable of conveying complex subject matter to diverse audiences.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• Ability to build and maintain an extensive professional network, nationally and internationally.
• A team player and a role model for younger talents in the organization.

If you are passionate about environmental sustainability, have a strong technical background, and the leadership skills to drive significant change, we invite you to join our team at Coloplast and be a part of our commitment to our users and society as a whole.

Interested? 

If you would like to know more about the position, please contact Vice President of Product Design & Engineering, Peter Herskind at We will take candidates into the recruitment process continuously, so do not hesitate to apply. This position will remain open until a suitable candidate has been found.

 

Pursuing an ambitious growth agenda, Coloplast develops and markets products and services that make life easier for people with intimate healthcare needs. Employing about people and with products available in more than 143 countries, we are one of the world´s leading medical device companies. We are constantly growing our business and always looking for new ways to move forward – we explore, learn and look for new ways of doing things.

Coloplast is committed to being an inclusive organization, where people bring their differences to work each day, fulfil their potential and have a strong sense of belonging because – and not despite – of their differences. We therefore encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of gender, age, race, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief or physical ability.

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