Director Global Packaging Development

La Prairie Switzerland; Zürich; On-site; CHF 250,000 - 330,000; Full time

Job summary

La Prairie Switzerland in Zürich seeks a Director Global Packaging Development to lead a multidisciplinary team and drive packaging innovation from development to industrialization, ensuring quality and scalability for luxury products.

The role includes owning the department budget, coordinating with Marketing, Quality, and Supply Chain, and steering strategic packaging initiatives with external partners to strengthen market position.

Qualifications

• Must have extensive experience in luxury packaging development.
• Minimum 5 years leading a packaging team.
• Fluent in English; German knowledge is beneficial.
• Packaging engineer or comparable education is required.

Responsibilities

• Lead the packaging department and sub-teams to deliver packaging solutions on time, in quality, and with data.
• Steer the department budget and collaborate with VP R&D and Marketing.

Skills

Leadership

Budget management

Packaging development

Regulatory knowledge

English fluency

Education

Packaging engineer or related education

Tools

SAP

SOPs

Job description

As a Director Global Packaging Development you will lead and develop a multi-disciplinary department, overseeing sub-teams and ensuring strong collaboration, performance, and delivery against business objectives. Own and steer the department budget while providing technical expertise in luxury packaging and filling processes. Drive the feasibility and successful industrialization of new products and processes, ensuring technical excellence, scalability, and alignment with quality and business requirements.

Role Purpose/Mission:

• Leads the packaging department, including sub-packaging teams of experts, ensures capabilities and capacity of the teams in the department
• Steers and tracks the packaging budget Support the Vice President of R&D with all topics linked with packaging.
• Is a technical expert for luxury packaging material, luxury packaging technologies and filling processes and is working together with internal and external network to realize development, optimization (legal, regulatory, quality, strategy, costs, market position), filling and packing of luxury finished goods.
• Keeps up to date about new technologies, industrial trends and packaging of luxury competitors and proposes regularly new luxury packaging ideas for future products for La Prairie to VP R&D and Marketing.
• Ensures that the sub-teams:
  • Deliver effective packaging, process development and industrialization of a product on time in full and in quality including relevant data (SAP, SOPs, tests, regulatory requirements, specifications, range boards, tools)
  • Assess the feasibility of packaging and production improvements proactively (optimization, efficiency, new technologies)
  • Ensure the compliance of the packaging portfolio (data management)
  • Work on long-term ideas and initiative to be able to fill the product pipeline making proactively proposals to Marketing
  • Select and releases suppliers based technical requirements, capabilities and procurement strategy
  • Steer change of packaging within the Supply Chain

Main Accountabilities:

• Leadership skills
• Business understandings
• In the technical expertise field, should be able to guide the team with the following:
  • Consultant and support to internal and external network (Marketing, Quality, Supply Chain, Suppliers)
  • Development, validation and approval of moulds/tools inclusive lifecycle management for existing packaging & tools
  • Handling of quality issues and improvements (implementation, supplier handling)
  • Supports optimization projects
  • Assesses technical capabilities (timing, quality, cooperation in development, production) and develops suppliers
• Should be able to guide the team with following activities for packaging and process development:
  • Development and Pilot tool contracts
  • Transparent documentation (SAP, Forms, SOPs) and communication of results, milestones to interfaces / stakeholders
  • Finds solution for packaging issues (quality, production, transport)
• Report & communication of the results:
  • Manage interfaces within Supply Chain and Marketing related to packaging or quality projects
  • Ensure regular reporting according to agreement
  • Risk assessment of packagings, filling activities and find ways to reduce risks of supply
  • Define packaging strategy to update portfolio

Key Interfaces:

Internal:

• GQM
• GPM
• Supply Planning
• Marketing

External:

• Suppliers
• 3PMs

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Packaging engineer or comparable Education
• Min. 15 years experience in luxury packaging development
• Min 5 years experience leading a team
• Organizational skills
• Fluent in English, good german language knowledge is beneficial