Head of Digital Manufacturing

The Head of Digital Manufacturing leads Henkel Adhesives Operations end-to-end digital transformation across manufacturing operations, aligned 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 including 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.

About this position

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, and 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 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, and 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 cases for functions present in manufacturing plants, for example: 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, such as IEC 62443, NIST, and 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 scientists, and OT security experts.
• Drive organizational change management for digital adoption across global and regional sites.
• Drive digital upskilling across the global, regional organization and local sites.

What makes you a good fit

• 10–15+ years of experience in manufacturing and operations. Strong manufacturing know-how 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.