Head of Technology

Royal IHC is determined to play a leading role in making the maritime industry more efficient and sustainable. IHC Technology has  a responsibility to keep Royal IHC at a competitive and even advanced knowledge level. The focus is on innovation & research, technology development and knowledge support to the rest of the Royal IHC organization.   

In that sense the activities focus on various core knowledge fields that are of importance to Royal IHC. Included are, amongst others, soil behavior, hydraulic transportation, cutting technology, soil -  structure interaction, dynamic behavior of maritime equipment, alternative fuels & drive systems and material science. New knowledge fields are being developed like digitalization, AI and machine learning. All these activities are grouped under a number of R&D programs, each linked to Royal IHC’s Technology Innovation Structure. Besides these internal focused projects, a lot of activities are based on subsidy programs and/or commercial projects paid by external parties.

As the Head of Technology, you will have a challenging multi-disciplinary role. You will be managing a professional organization (20 fte), that supports Royal IHCs innovation processes and knowledge support requirements. At the same time your focus will be on keeping and extending both internal and external stakeholder (like the Triple Helix domain, subsidy networks and contacts in research and maritime technology environment) positions and dialogues .

Your role is to shape, stimulate and challenge the organization on innovation with a commercial impact.  This means that you have a good understanding of added value of innovation to Royal IHC’s business interests and you are able to develop and valorize business cases to underpin proposed R&D programs. Besides execution of R&D projects that are directly funded by Royal IHC, IHC Technology also partakes in subsidized and third party R&D projects. In your role as Head of Technology, you will be responsible to organize subsidy applications, acquisition of third party investigations and manage these projects.   You will  ensure that IHC Technology complies with corporate strategy and defined business plans, operates in accordance within allocated budget and realizes (strategic) objectives in all aspects.

Function requirements

As the new Head of Technology, you will be driven by working in a highly professional environment, combining line management capabilities with a specialistic content. In your role you get energized from coaching team members, act as a role model and achieving business driven innovation successes together. We are looking for a pro-active attitude, an ability to connect on different levels and in internal and external networks. You should be able to switch easily between high level corporate related topics and more unit directed priorities without too much focusing on details.

To be eligible for this role, we are looking for the following requirements:

• MSc or PhD degree in relevant technical fields such as mechanical engineering, naval architecture, mining, material science, civil engineering or physics.
• Minimal five to eight years relevant experience within the maritime industry.
• Experience of research or product development in a relevant environment and ability to manage a group of highly educated professionals.
• Knowledgeable in innovation and / or product management with a business attitude.
• Combine excellent leadership and managerial skills.
• Ability to manage IHC Technology within budget responsibility.
• Natural connector and networker to facilitate development of opportunities.
• The ability to work efficiently and smoothly in complex, (international) environments.
• Independent, pro-active, result driven.
• Flexible attitude, with customer- and service oriented skill set.
• Team player, peoples manager,  open and honest personality.
• Qualitative and creative mindset.
• Excellent communication skills in Dutch and English language (speaking and writing).