Associate Director, Business Systems
Arla Foods
Arla Foods Ingredients is performing strongly and has significant growth ambitions. As our business expands across markets, technologies and geographies, we need to scale without adding unnecessary complexity or becoming dependent on individual solutions.
Therefore, we are looking for a senior leader to establish and lead the AFI Business System. This will be our common framework for governing, operating and continuously improving critical processes through clear ownership, shared standards, performance management, capability building and digital enablement. To succeed in this highly visible role, you will bring together people, processes, performance management and technology to strengthen execution across Arla Foods Ingredient.
You will lead a lean team and work with senior stakeholders across Commercial, Supply Chain, R&D, Finance, IT and Business Processes. With a clear enterprise mandate, you will help AFI move from locally driven improvements towards sustainable and globally consistent ways of working by setting standards and resolve cross-functional trade-offs.
How you will make an impact
As Head of AFI Business System, you will own the Business System architecture, governance and continuous-improvement agenda across three critical end-to-end processes
- Commitment-to-Delivery, from customer contracting to product delivered to the customer.
- Idea-to-Market, from market insight or innovation to a market-ready product and scalable technology.
- Partnership-to-Distribution, from whey sourcing to quality-released finished product available for distribution.
Your key responsibilities will be to
- Recruit, develop and lead a lean central Business System team, while establishing effective engagement and clear end to end process ownership within the line organisation.
- Define standards and governance for processes in AFI.
- Build and drive a phased Business System roadmap, determine priorities, and ensure consistent follow-through across functions and units.
- Define Business System KPIs and embed them into the monthly performance cadence, covering adoption, growth enablement and cost efficiency.
- Identify and scale digital and AI opportunities in process discovery, decision support, automation and continuous improvement.
- Track adoption, business impact and sustained implementation.
You will work closely with the CFO as primary sponsor and governance anchor and the other leadership team members in Finance and Digital, as well as the Executive Leadership Team, functional leaders, process owners and Performance Management stakeholders.
What will make you successful
You bring strong senior-level experience from an established Business System environment and have led cross-functional process optimisation from an end-to-end perspective. You combine strategic thinking with a pragmatic approach to execution and can translate enterprise direction into operational practices that work across functions, sites and geographies. You are skilled at translating strategy, standards, and governance principles into clear operational practices and at embedding meaningful KPIs into established performance routines to ensure sustainable delivery and continuous improvement. Experience embedding digital solutions and AI enablement into operating-model improvements will be important, as will your ability to operate effectively across functions, business units and geographies.
As a leader, you communicate complex topics with clarity and build a compelling storyline around why change matters. You are comfortable navigating in a matrix organisation and demonstrate strong stakeholder management skills, effectively engaging and influencing stakeholders across functions to create role clarity, align priorities and resolve competing demands without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy.
Your approach is pragmatic and impact-focused, and you know how to combine a clear enterprise direction with genuine engagement from the line organisation. You will also bring the leadership maturity to build a new capability, develop people and create commitment among senior stakeholders.
What do we offer?
This is an opportunity to build a strategically important capability with global reach and a clear mandate to shape how Arla Foods Ingredients works at scale. You will have the opportunity to establish the team, governance, ownership model and performance framework, while making digitalisation and AI an integral part of the Business System from the outset.
You will join a collaborative, purpose-driven organisation where you can influence across functions and work with senior leaders on improvements that support sustainable performance and growth. We are committed to professional development, and you will be surrounded by colleagues who will support you while expecting you to bring ambition, clarity and practical leadership to a major transformation agenda.
Would you like to join us?
If you are ready to build a Business System that creates clarity, strengthens execution and enables scalable growth, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Please apply as soon as possible, as applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.
For additional information, please contact Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant Jenny Clafton via email [email protected].
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Shape the Future of Dairy
Arla is a global leader in the dairy industry, committed to enabling good food choices that make life better, providing people with nourishment, while taking care at every step to ensure Arla is a choice they can feel good about. If you are looking to shape the future with an ambitious global cooperative that truly cares about your growth, where everyone feels valued and empowered, and collaboration is the core of culture, Arla is a choice you can feel good about.
_JENCL
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