Head of Digital Manufacturing

Henkel; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hours

Hybrid work

Remote days 30

Global growth

Wellbeing programs

Parental leave

Share plan

Pension fund

Disability insurance

Health insurance

Canteen

Job summary

Henkel is seeking a seasoned Head of Digital Manufacturing to lead end-to-end digital transformation across 120+ manufacturing sites. You will shape the global strategy, deploy manufacturing systems, and drive data governance, analytics, and OT security to improve productivity and reliability.

The role interfaces IT, OT, data, and operations, guiding cross-functional teams and stakeholder alignment to deliver measurable business value across Production, SHE, Maintenance, and Sustainability.

Qualifications

• 10-15+ years of experience in manufacturing and operations.
• 5+ years in industrial automation or digital transformation roles for manufacturing.
• Proven track record delivering digital transformation in large-scale, multi-site environments.
• Experience in MES or other industrial platform implementations.
• Leadership of cross-functional technical teams in global/matrix organizations.
• Strong strategic, communication, stakeholder engagement, and project management skills.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the digital manufacturing vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap aligned with business priorities.
• Identify, prioritize, and sequence high-value digital use cases across SHE, Sustainability, Production, Maintenance.
• Lead the design and deployment of core digital manufacturing platforms including IIoT, MES, historians, and PLC/DCS integration.
• Define reference architectures, governance, and data standards for OT and digital manufacturing solutions.
• Develop data governance and analytics strategies to support optimization and KPI integrity.
• Define and enforce OT security strategy and standards across manufacturing systems.

Skills

Manufacturing Ops

Industrial Automation

Digital Transformation

Leadership

Stakeholder Engagement

Tools

MES systems

PLC/DCS integration

OT security platforms

Job description

About this Position

The Head of Digital Manufacturing leads the Henkel Adhesives Operations end to end digital transformation across manufacturing operations, aligning with Industry 4.0 principles. The scope includes 120+ manufacturing sites. This role drives the global digital strategy, manufacturing systems deployment and systems integration, digital use case definition and implementation for operational functions i.e., Production, SHE, Maintenance, Sustainability, data governance, analytics, OT security and digital innovation to enhance productivity, reliability, and operational excellence. This position operates at the intersection of IT, OT, data, and operations, ensuring digital systems create tangible business value.

What you'll do

1. Digital manufacturing strategy and roadmap

• Define and own the digital manufacturing vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap aligned with business and operational priorities
• Identify, prioritize, and sequence high-value digital use cases across SHE, Sustainability, Production, Maintenance.
• Ensure solutions are scalable, fit for purpose standardized, and cyber-secure across sites and regions.
• Act as the primary interface between local, regional and global operations, IT/OT, and other Digital teams.
• Create buy-in and communicate the digital vision and roadmap to the various stakeholders

2. Manufacturing systems & process modernization

• Lead the design and deployment of core digital manufacturing platforms, including: Sensors and IIoT infrastructure, MES systems, process historians, PLC / DCS integration
• Define reference architectures, standards, and governance for OT and digital manufacturing solutions
• Ensure reliable data acquisition, connectivity, and system availability across plants.
• Identify and deploy new technologies to enhance reliability, throughput, and plant availability

3. Data & Analytics Governance

• Develop and implement data governance and analytics strategies to support manufacturing optimization
• Identify and prioritize analytics use case definition for functions present on manufacturing plants e.g., SHE: incident prevention, process safety monitoring, compliance reporting, Sustainability: energy efficiency, emissions monitoring, resource optimization, Production: OEE, yield, Maintenance: condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, spare parts optimization
• Ensure data integrity, cybersecurity, and consistency of KPIs across the organization.

4. OT Security & Cyber Resilience

• Define and enforce OT security strategy and standards for digital manufacturing systems in alignment with enterprise cybersecurity policies.
• Ensure secure design and operation of PLC, DCS, MES, historians, sensors, and IIoT platforms across all manufacturing sites.
• Partner with IT Security, OT Engineering, and plant teams to implement defense-in-depth architectures, network segmentation, and secure remote access.
• Ensure compliance with relevant industrial cybersecurity standards and regulations (e.g., IEC 62443, NIST, local regulatory requirements).
• Oversee OT security risk assessments, vulnerability management, and remediation plans for manufacturing systems.

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the primary bridge between Operations, IT, Engineering, Safety, Quality and Supply Chain teams.
• Work closely with plant leadership and corporate functions to ensure technology alignment with business priorities.

6. Leadership & Change Management

• Lead and grow a multi-disciplinary digital manufacturing team of data domain experts, data scientist, OT security experts
• Drive organizational change management for digital adoption across global/ regional sites
• Drive digital upskilling across the global, regional organization and across local sites

What makes you a good fit

• 10-15+ years of experience in manufacturing, operations. Strong know how of manufacturing is a must
• 5+ years in industrial automation or digital transformation roles for manufacturing environments.
• Proven track record in delivering digital transformation in large-scale, multi-site industrial environments.
• Experience in MES, or other industrial platform implementations.
• Leadership of cross-functional technical teams in global/matrix organizations.
• Strong strategic, communication, stakeholder engagement, and project management skills
• Strong ability to translate business goals into digital programs.
• Visionary leadership and capability to inspire digital adoption at all levels.

Some perks of joining Henkel

• Flexible work scheme with flexible hours, hybrid work model, and work from anywhere policy for up to 30 days per year
• Diverse national and international growth opportunities
• Global wellbeing standards with health and preventive care programs
• Gender-neutral parental leave for a minimum of 8 weeks
• Employee Share Plan with voluntary investment and Henkel matching shares
• Pension Fund
• Disability Insurance
• Health Insurance
• Canteen

At Henkel, we come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe the uniqueness of all our employees is the power in us. Become part of the team and bring your uniqueness to us! We welcome all applications across different genders, origins, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, disabilities, and generations.