Technology & Innovation Lead, Plant Equipment
Takeda · Zürich · CHF 177,400–CHF 243,980 (stated in the posting)
Job Description
About the role
The Technology & Innovation Lead, Plant Equipment is the global engineering technology authority for plant equipment, clean and black utilities, HVAC/R and clean-room systems. The role owns the global technology strategy, engineering standards and innovation roadmap, from technology scouting and opportunity prioritization through piloting, engineering and GxP readiness, and scalable deployment. Working with site and global partners, the role translates manufacturing, facility and infrastructure requirements into engineering solutions and influences consequential technical and investment decisions across the asset lifecycle, enabling safe, compliant, reliable, sustainable and future-ready manufacturing.
How you will contribute
- Set, own and govern the global technology vision, strategy and multi-year execution roadmap for plant equipment, clean and black utilities, HVAC/R and clean-room systems, aligning priorities with manufacturing-network, asset-management, sustainability and innovation strategies to improve network performance.
- Govern evaluation and lifecycle improvement of installed plant equipment, utilities, HVAC/R and clean-room systems to increase reliability, operability, capacity, lifecycle value, energy efficiency and sustainability; define expected benefits and oversee realization with sites, pro-jects and partner functions.
- Build strategic alignment across Global Engineering, sites, major projects and GSQ partner functions by integrating manufacturing and facility requirements, installed-base constraints and local needs, resolving cross-functional trade-offs and enabling adoption of global strategies, standards and technologies.
- Lead external technology scouting, benchmarking and industry engagement for plant equipment, utility, HVAC/R and clean-room technologies; assess technical maturity, regulatory relevance, lifecycle value and scalability, and translate selected opportunities into value cases, pilots and deployable initiatives.
- Own engineering readiness and scalable implementation of priority plant-equipment and infrastructure technologies from technical evaluation and pilot definition through standardization, concept and project integration, deployment requirements and handover to site or project execution teams.
- Interpret evolving global regulatory guidance, engineering expectations and sustainability requirements and govern their translation into equipment and system strategies, global standards, future platform decisions and implementation requirements.
- Act as the global engineering technology authority for plant equipment, clean and black utilities, HVAC/R and clean-room systems, providing authoritative technical direction for complex manufacturing and lifecycle challenges and governing the technical basis for significant CAPEX decisions, feasibility studies, concept design, scope definition, value engineering, technical-risk assessment and supplier or equipment selection.
- Develop, own and govern global engineering standards, guidelines, reusable design principles and selection criteria for plant equipment, clean and black utilities, HVAC/R and clean-room systems, including decision rights and exception pathways, to ensure consistent interpretation and lifecycle application across the network.
- Establish and lead the global Plant Equipment Community of Practice and SME capability model to harmonize technologies and system solutions, strengthen site expertise, share and apply best practices, and sustain knowledge continuity and succession.
Technical/Functional (Line) Expertise
- Recognized authority in plant equipment, clean and black utilities, HVAC/R and clean-room design, operation and lifecycle management, with hands-on knowledge of critical utilities - Clean Steam, Water for Injection (WFI), Purified Water (PW) and process compressed air/vacuum - and black utilities such as plant steam, boilers, industrial heat pumps, wastewater, cooling/chilled water, water treatment, specialty gases, electrical generation/distribution and related facility equipment.
- In-depth regulatory, quality and engineering expertise in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, with strong understanding of equipment reliability, lifecycle management, energy/sustainability and the interfaces between site operations, CAPEX delivery and design engineering.
- Strong working knowledge of cGMP, FDA/EMA requirements, system validation and modern digital/connected manufacturing concepts relevant to regulated plant equipment.
- Creates global strategies, standards, decision frameworks and scalable implementation models for a broad and business-critical technology domain.
- Applies advanced analytical and conceptual judgment to ambiguous, high-impact problems for which established solutions may not exist.
Leadership
- Balances diverse manufacturing platforms, site configurations, maturity levels, regulatory environments, suppliers and project contexts across the global network.
- Resolves interdependencies and competing requirements across process intent, engineering feasibility, quality, EHS, cost, capacity, sustainability and implementation risk.
- Excellent stakeholder, communication and change-management skills; able to influence across global functions, site engineering teams and external partners.
- Provides functional leadership to the Plant Equipment Communities of Practice, site SMEs, internal and external engineers, project teams and suppliers; direct reports are not required for the role to deliver enterprise impact.
- Builds technical capability, accountability and knowledge continuity across the domain and holds contributors accountable for collaboration and application of agreed standards.
- Strong focus on delivering results with a service excellence, dependability first mindset.
- Hands-on mentality, strong sense of ownership and accountability.
Decision-making and Autonomy
- Operates with a high degree of autonomy within the assigned domain and makes or governs complex technical decisions within established enterprise governance.
- Establishes technical decision frameworks, interprets global engineering standards and gov-erns domain-level exceptions within delegated authority.
- Escalates matters with broader modality or enterprise implications with a clear recommendation and decision rationale.
Interaction
- Shapes technology direction, global engineering standards and significant technical and investment decisions across GSQ sites and major projects.
Innovation
- Determines which emerging technologies warrant enterprise investment and defines the evidence required for adoption and scale-up decisions.
- Converts external intelligence and internal needs into prioritized opportunities, value cases, pilots, standards and scalable deployment roadmaps.
- Defines risk-based plans and success measures and ensures that innovation progresses beyond proof of concept into repeatable network application.
- Leads dialogue on industry trends with industry peers and represents the organization at relevant forums, such as ISPE and PDA.
Skills and qualifications
- Technical, scientific or engineering degree with more than 12 years of relevant experience in biopharmaceutical engineering or a comparable regulated manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated technical authority in Drug Substance process equipment, supported by sustained impact across development, scale-up, commercial manufacturing, asset lifecycle management, and relevant external industry networks.
- Proven experience creating technology strategies, global standards, value cases, pilots and scalable multi-site deployment models.
- Strong knowledge of applicable cGMP requirements and relevant ICH, FDA/EMA, ISPE and PDA guidance.
- Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders, lead global matrix networks and make high-impact decisions under ambiguity.
- Fluent written and spoken English.
- Domestic and international travel to Takeda sites, vendors and service providers is expected, up to 30%.
Locations
Zurich, SwitzerlandLexington, MABase Salary Range:
CHF177,400.00 - CHF243,980.00
The estimated salary range reflects an anticipated range for this position. The actual base salary offered may depend on a variety of factors, including the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, specific and unique skills, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.
For information about our benefits, please click here.