Research Team Leader, Packaging Solutions

at  VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd

WE ARE NOW LOOKING FOR RESEARCH TEAM LEADER TO LEAD OUR PACKAGING SOLUTIONS TEAM.

As a Team Leader, your key goals are to lead your team, ensure that we continue to build project portfolio that has relevant impact for our customers, and systematically develop technologies which can create sustainable growth for our customer. We expect that you take ownership of safety matters in laboratories and pilots.
In this position, your main responsibility is to ensure that your team will reach their targets while we improve safety culture and to build a balanced project portfolio. We aim to have a strategic combination of Business Finland, EU funded and often confidential commercial projects. You are keen on building your team further through recruitments and ensuring growth opportunities for existing team members. You inspire the whole team to act as thought leaders in their field and communicate their expertise to different audiences.
If you are eager to lead Packaging Solutions team do excellent research resulting in new projects, invention disclosures, patent applications and scientific articles, this is the position for you! One of your responsibilities is to make a long-term development plan for people and the needed infrastructure and to execute plans in a systematic manner by gradually improving teams’ know-how and competencies. Our Research Team Leaders are also active with customers and focus on building long-term strategic partnerships.
How does an average day for our Research Team Leader look like? “Optimally, I’d like to divide the work into three parts; 25% leadership activities, 50% research related activities including proposal preparations and project management when necessary, and 25% of time spent at customer interface” -Atte Virtanen, VP, Biomaterial Processing and Products-
Our international, 15+ member Packaging Solutions team works on novel material, technology, and product development using sustainable, cellulose-based, and recyclable material alternatives to fossil-derived plastics for various applications. We are leading the development and pilot upscaling of several cellulose-based material solutions to enable their industrial utilization while keeping circularity and resource efficiency in mind. Our team helps companies to reduce their fossil carbon dependency. We believe that it is important to have an economic viability with decoupling growth from material use by means of reuse and recycle. We work in a hybrid model, and every team can finetune their own best practices –we aim to meet face-to-face in our Espoo office three times a week.
Read more about our research here:
VTT pilot scales up production of | VTT News (vttresearch.com)
Case Stora Enso: A sustainable barrier film solution for food packaging | VTT (vttresearch.com)
Fold project developed a novel folding technology towards future industrial-scale deployment for lightweight design structures and protective packaging – News – Expand Fibre

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

• Minimum Master’s degree related to materials technology and some level of understanding in academia and industrial R&D
• You are able and motivated to work with your team by building new projects (commercial and also jointly funded projects) and capable to participate in development projects with your own technical know-how and skills
• Some leadership experience eg. project management and a genuine interest to act as Research Team Leader