Senior Research and Development Specialist

As a Senior Research and Development Specialist, you’ll play a key role in accelerating regenerative agriculture and alternative revenue models on the farm, such as manure valorization and alternative proteins.

What is your role?

Accelerate the future of regenerative agriculture

Do you want to be at the forefront of innovation in the agricultural sector and make a direct impact on how we produce food and how dairy farmers can earn a sustainable income? You stay continuously up to date with developments in the sector, have a clear overview of ongoing and completed research, and know how to connect this knowledge in a smart way. You translate insights into innovative, scalable solutions that contribute to a future-proof and profitable dairy industry. From hypothesis to Minimum Viable Product, you make an impact where it truly matters.

Research Management

• You translate the strategic direction into concrete research agendas and develop integrated research programs within regenerative agriculture and alternatives, focusing on themes such as soil health, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, manure valorization, and alternative proteins.
• You initiate, design, and implement research projects, combining existing and new sources of knowledge and conducting your own research when the market does not yet offer a solution.
• You manage multiple research projects simultaneously and monitor progress, quality, budget, and results, continuously adjusting based on market insights and opportunities.

Management & Stakeholder Management

• You provide functional leadership to multidisciplinary project teams and foster collaboration, knowledge development, and results-oriented work within and outside the organization.
• You connect internal and external stakeholders, including dairy farmers, knowledge institutions, and market parties, and ensure that research results are successfully implemented in practice.
• You monitor capacity, progress, and alignment with stakeholders and translate market and sector developments into strategic insights and opportunities for the organization.

Research and Development

• Based on research findings, you develop a comprehensive proposition and service concept, including testing, MVP development, and coordination, leading to a validated final result.
• You ensure the smooth handover of successful MVPs to Business Development or the Director of Alternatives and Regenerative Agriculture, thereby ensuring further scaling up.
• You build and maintain strategic partnerships and develop roadmaps for the transition to regenerative and alternative dairy farming systems, identifying and removing barriers to adoption.

What is your experience?

You are a strategically strong and analytically driven professional with a passion for innovation in the agricultural sector. You combine scientific depth with a pragmatic mindset and know how to translate complex issues into practical solutions.

Furthermore:

• Academic level of work and thinking in agriculture, environmental sciences, or a related field.
• Extensive experience in agro(chemical) research and leading successful R&D projects.
• Experience with complex, multidisciplinary research projects under time, budget, and scope constraints.
• Demonstrated ability to translate market developments and academic insights into MVPs and concrete strategies for farmers.
• Strong skills in strategic research programming, research design, data-driven analysis, and data management.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills, with the ability to connect diverse stakeholders and clearly convey complex subject matter.
• Experience with stakeholder management, networking, compliance, and developing data-driven solutions such as decision support systems.

What you can expect from us

Working at Lely means contributing to sustainable progress within one of the most innovative organizations in the Netherlands. You help future-proof the agricultural sector, and we ensure that you have all the space, resources and support needed to do so.

• An international working environment with room for initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Excellent employment conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a solid pension scheme.
• Strong development opportunities. You are in charge of your growth and can choose from various training programs offered by our Lely Academy, ranging from personal development to role-specific education.
• Our modern Lely Campus offers extensive sports facilities, an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, an outdoor basketball and volleyball court, table tennis and table football. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training, and challenge colleagues during an active break.
• Enjoy fresh coffee and tea prepared by our in-house barista with milk directly from our own farm, and a healthy and affordable company restaurant.
• A free shuttle bus takes you to and from the metro station in Maassluis, so your workday begins and ends smoothly.
• Successes are celebrated, from anniversaries to Christmas parties. At Lely we know how to do that well.

About Lely

Lely is committed to a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable future in agriculture. Driven by the challenges faced by farmers and the needs of cows, the company develops high-quality robots and data systems that improve animal welfare, flexibility, and productivity on dairy farms. Its mission is to support sustainable food production.

Lely has been a global leader in the sale and service of automated systems for dairy farmers for more than 30 years. With the Lely Campus in Maassluis and a global network of dedicated Lely Centers offering customized sales and service, Lely is active in more than fifty countries.