Head of Digital Manufacturing

• Contract Type : Permanent Employment Contract (CDI)
• Positioning : Reporting to the Group CIO.

The role requires travelling across Cooper Consumer Health manufacturing sites and international locations to support the Digital Manufacturing strategy, transformation programs, and stakeholder engagement activities.

The Head of Digital Manufacturing is responsible for defining and executing Cooper Consumer Health’s Digital Manufacturing strategy across all manufacturing sites. The role acts as the point of contacts between Manufacturing, Engineering, Sites Supply Chain, Sites Quality and IT leads for all digital manufacturing initiatives.

The position is responsible for managing the 3 IT Site Managers across the manufacturing network and ensuring alignment between operational priorities, industrial technologies, and the Group’s digital strategy.

Purpose of the Role :

Define and lead the Digital Manufacturing vision, strategy, and roadmap to improve operational performance, industrial reliability, OT cybersecurity, data-driven decision making, and technology standardization across Cooper Consumer Health’s manufacturing sites.

The role is accountable for identifying, prioritizing, and delivering digital transformation initiatives aligned with CCH IT Policies that drive improvements in Safety, Sustainability, Production performance, Maintenance efficiency, and Supply Chain operations.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES :

Digital Manufacturing Strategy & Roadmap

• Define and maintain the Digital Manufacturing vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap aligned with business priorities and operational objectives.
• Identify, prioritize, and sequence high-value digital use cases across Safety, Health & Environment, Sustainability, Production, Maintenance, Site Supply Chain
• Build business cases and track value realization plans for digital manufacturing investments.
• Ensure solutions are harmonized across countries, standardized, scalable, fit-for-purpose, and secure across all manufacturing sites.
• Create stakeholder alignment and drive adoption of the Digital Manufacturing strategy and roadmap.
• Collaborate with IT Quality teams and Supply IT experts to support the local implementation of their project.

Manufacturing Systems & Process Modernization

• Lead the design, deployment, and lifecycle management of Digital Manufacturing platforms.
• Define technology standards, governance, and reference architectures for industrial systems.
• Drive initiatives related to manufacturing applications such as:
• Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
• Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
• Process Historians
• PLC / DCS integrations
• Industrial connectivity and shopfloor digitalization
• Ensure reliable data acquisition, connectivity, system performance, and availability across manufacturing sites.
• Identify and deploy technologies that improve operational reliability, throughput, quality, and plant performance.

Data & Analytics Governance

• Establish governance frameworks for manufacturing data, KPIs, and reporting.
• Lead the identification and prioritization of analytics use cases, including OEE improvement, Yield optimization, Predictive maintenance, Spare parts optimization, Energy efficiency, Sustainability reporting, Process safety monitoring, Compliance reporting
• Ensure data integrity, consistency, KPIs standardization and governance across manufacturing operations.
• Collaborate with enterprise Data & Analytics teams to maximize the value of manufacturing data.

OT Security & Cyber Resilience

• Define and execute the OT cybersecurity roadmap in partnership with the Group CISO.
• Ensure secure design and operation of manufacturing systems and industrial infrastructure.
• Contribute to the implementation of cybersecurity controls for MES, historians, PLCs, DCS, sensors, and IIoT platforms.
• Partner with IT Security, Engineering, and plant teams to implement defense-in-depth architectures, network segmentation, secure remote access, and OT monitoring capabilities.
• Ensure compliance with applicable industrial cybersecurity standards, regulatory requirements, and internal policies.

Stakeholder Management & Transformation

• Act as the trusted technology partner for Manufacturing, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Operations leadership teams.
• Establish and lead Digital Manufacturing governance forums.
• Ensure alignment between business priorities and technology investments.
• Lead organizational change management and user adoption activities across manufacturing sites.
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
• Manufacturing Budget : Support IT Sites manager on Budget construction, tracking and forecast.

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, coach, and develop the IT Site Managers across Cooper Consumer Health manufacturing sites.
• Establish common standards, processes, and ways of working across the Site IT organization.
• Build organizational capabilities and ensure the ongoing development of manufacturing IT competencies.
• Promote collaboration between manufacturing sites and Group IT teams.

PROFILE

Education

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Industrial Automation, Computer Science, or a related discipline.

Experience

• Minimum 10 years of experience in Manufacturing IT, Operational Technology (OT), Industrial Automation, or Digital Manufacturing environments.
• Minimum 5 years of experience leading digital transformation initiatives within manufacturing organizations.
• Experience with MES, Industrial IoT, Process Historians, Manufacturing Analytics, or equivalent industrial platforms.
• Experience within regulated industries such as Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Life Sciences, FMCG, or other highly regulated environments
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations and industrial processes.
• Deep knowledge of Operational Technology (OT) environments and OT/IT convergence.
• Experience with industrial architectures, MES platforms, industrial automation technologies, and manufacturing connectivity solutions.
• Knowledge of industrial cybersecurity principles and OT security frameworks.
• Experience with manufacturing data governance, industrial analytics, and digital manufacturing platforms.
• Strong knowledge of the ISA-95 framework and its application to the integration of ERP, MES, OT, and industrial systems is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with industrial communication standards and protocols such as OPC-UA, MQTT, or equivalent is considered an advantage.
• Strong strategic thinking and business acumen.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to translate business priorities into digital transformation programs.
• Strong program and portfolio management capabilities.
• Visionary leadership combined with a pragmatic and execution-oriented mindset.
• Strong influencing and change management skills.
• Ability to create alignment across business, engineering, operations, and technology functions.