Head of Ingredients R&D and Business Partnering

Head of Ingredients R&D and Business Partnering

Hybrid working 

Tirlán

Tirlán, is a world-class food and nutrition co-operative, with a diverse portfolio of quality ingredients, leading consumer and agri brands.

Tirlán owns leading brands such as Avonmore, Kilmeaden Cheese, Millac, Solmiko, Truly Grass Fed, Premier Milk, Wexford, mymilkman.ie and GAIN Animal Nutrition.

We nurture a talented team across Ireland, the US, MEA and China, delivering annual revenues of over €3 billion, approx 2,000 people to manage our network of 11 processing plants and 52 agri branches. Our purpose is to nourish the world, while safeguarding our environment for future generations

Role Profile

Reporting to the Director R&D, the Head of Ingredients R&D and Business Partnering is a key strategic leadership role within the R&D function accountable for setting and delivering the ingredients R&D agenda in close partnership with the leadership of the Ingredients Category. The role ensures that scientific excellence, innovation, and technical capability are tightly aligned with commercial priorities, customer needs, and long-term business strategy. This role leads a multidisciplinary team while acting as a trusted strategic advisor to the Ingredients Category, translating market and commercial ambition into actionable, value-creating R&D programmes.

Responsibilities

People & Team Leadership

• Act as a visible and influential member of the R&D Leadership Team, contributing actively to enterprise-wide R&D strategy, capability building, operating model evolution and cultural leadership.

• Lead, inspire and develop a diverse and multidisciplinary team, creating a high performing culture grounded in scientific excellence, collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Build strong leadership capability across the team through coaching, mentoring and targeted development.
• Drive succession planning and talent pipelines to ensure future capability, continuity and organisational resilience.
• Champion employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, and wellbeing while ensuring clear accountability, performance management and career development pathways across the team.
• Align resources, funding and capabilities across Ingredients R&D portfolio to maximise return on investment and portfolio value.
• Ensure disciplined portfolio management, including pipeline health, risk management, and delivery against strategic milestones.
• Optimise the deployment of internal and external capabilities, partners and platforms to accelerate innovation outcomes.

Technical & Scientific Leadership

• Provide authoritative technical leadership across a broad and complex ingredients portfolio, ensuring scientific integrity and technical excellence underpin NPD, Applications and Technical Solutions.

• Stay at the forefront of emerging ingredient technologies and processing methods through ongoing horizon scanning and close collaboration between Operations, Quality, Commercial, Sales and Marketing teams.

• Ensure strong governance, quality and compliance across all R&D Ingredient programmes.

Strategic Category Business Partnering

• Build and sustain deep, trusted partnerships with Ingredients Category leadership, acting as the R&D interface for Ingredients Innovation strategy, Applications and Technical Solutions.
• Ensure clear alignment between the Ingredient Category priorities and the Ingredients R&D team.
• Facilitate transparent prioritisation and decision-making across NPD, Applications and Technical Solutions.

• Influence strategic investment decisions by integrating technical feasibility, manufacturing capability, regulatory considerations, market opportunity and financial return.
• Challenge assumptions constructively to ensure the organisation invests in innovation programmes that create measurable business value.
• Anticipate and shape future capability needs by monitoring and integrating emerging developments in ingredient science, processing technologies and nutrition ensuring Tirlán remains competitive and fit for the future.

Innovation Leadership with Market & Customer Focus

• Co-lead the development and evolution of the Ingredient Category Innovation Strategy, ensuring it is informed by:
• Customer needs
• Market and technology trends
• Competitive landscapes
• Manufacturing feasibility and scalability
• Commercial viability and return on investment
• Drive a customer-centric innovation mindset within R&D, ensuring NPD, Applications and Technical Solutions are relevant, differentiated and scalable and adding value.
• Represent Tirlán with customers, partners, industry bodies and the external innovation ecosystem as required.

Core Competencies

• Strategic Agility
• Commercial Acumen
• Enterprise Perspective
• Influencing Skills
• Managing Innovation
• Developing Direct Reports and Others
• Decision Quality
• Dealing with Ambiguity

Requirements

Essential

• Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in food science, dairy science, chemistry or a related technical discipline
• Proven experience leading a multidisciplinary R&D team, typically across multiple technical disciplines.
• Demonstrated effectiveness as a senior leadership team member, contributing beyond own remit to enterprise strategy, culture and capability development.
• Ability to define and evolve innovation strategy aligned to business growth, portfolio priorities and value creation.
• Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to connect R&D investment, innovation choices and technical trade‑offs to market opportunity, customer value and financial return.
• Experience acting as a trusted advisor, influencing senior decision‑makers and guiding choices that balance risk, feasibility and reward.
• Track record of accelerating innovation outcomes through effective use of internal capabilities and external partnerships.
• Confident executive decision‑maker, able to make and stand behind complex calls with incomplete information.
• Executive‑level presence, credibility and judgement, able to operate comfortably with senior leaders, customers and external partners.
• Ongoing engagement with industry, scientific or innovation networks to maintain external perspective and credibility.

We offer

• Hybrid working (flex Fridays)
• Free parking incl. EV charging – where applicable
• Work/life balance and collaborative work culture
• Career progression opportunities

Closing Date: 8th May 2026

About us

Through our expertise in research and development, customer insights, food safety and state-of-the-art manufacturing we bring innovative food and nutrition solutions to a global market.  Our new and vibrant headquarters in Kilkenny City operates as a collaboration hub where multi-functional teams come together in a hybrid work environment. 

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
We believe in the value of difference. We know that different perspectives, life experience and backgrounds can drive innovation and deliver growth.

We welcome people from all walks of life without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, or disability status. 

Join our Talent Pool

Considering a new career in Tirlán but this isn’t the role for you? Join our talent community and sign up for job notifications at www.tirlan.com/careers

Tirlán is a Values Based Organisation