Director Application Development

Hartmann Young has been exclusively retained by a global ingredients-led manufacturing business to support a confidential senior R&D leadership hire.

The company operates across Food & Beverage, Nutrition, Home Care, and Personal Care, with a strong focus on application-led innovation.

We are seeking an Application Development Director to lead global application teams based in Germany and Chicago. This is a key leadership role with responsibility for shaping application strategy, driving innovation, and delivering customer-focused solutions across core industrial market segments.

The Opportunity

You will lead and evolve the global application development function, defining strategy across innovation, customer solutions, and application discovery. Working closely with R&D, commercial, and marketing leadership, you will ensure strong alignment between market needs and technical execution in a highly international, matrix environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop application teams in Germany and Chicago (c.20 people)
• Define and execute the global application development strategy
• Drive application-based innovation, model systems, and new use cases
• Partner with customers, sales, and product management on tailored solutions
• Ensure operational excellence across application labs and projects

Required Experience

• Master’s or Ph.D. in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related
• 10+ years’ experience in application development or technical leadership
• Proven experience in Food & Beverage, Nutrition, Home Care, or Personal Care
• International team leadership within a matrix organisation
• Strong strategic, commercial, and stakeholder management capability