Supervisory Board Member — Connected Industrial Product Stewardship
Germany·Technology & Digital Platforms·Industrial technology· Hamburg·Posted 13 August 2026
Applications close 15 December 2026
Industrial technology organisation in Germany
The problem this seat exists to solve
The director will oversee the commercial and strategic implications of products that remain digitally connected after sale. These offerings can deepen customer value, but they also create continuing obligations for support, security, compatibility and responsible product retirement. The board requires a view of those obligations that extends beyond the initial sales case.
The obligation continues after the sale
Review how lifecycle responsibilities are priced and funded. Ask whether customers understand support periods, update requirements and dependencies on external platforms. Examine decisions to retire products or change interfaces for their effect on customer operations, liability exposure and reputation.
Judgement grounded in industrial products
Candidates need senior experience in industrial technology commercial leadership, product businesses or technology-enabled services. They should understand enterprise customer procurement and the practical significance of long-lived assets. Experience with connected products, software-enabled equipment or lifecycle support is particularly relevant.
Applicants must demonstrate an ability to balance innovation with durable obligations, including an example of changing a commercial proposal because the support or delivery model was inadequate. Financial literacy and constructive independence are essential.
Board questions on lifecycle strategy
Challenge business cases that rely on data or service revenue without demonstrating customer acceptance and operational capability. Assess the consequences of interoperability choices, supplier dependence and installed-base fragmentation. Require management to explain how product commitments will remain deliverable as technology and customer needs evolve.
The director will help ensure that commercial incentives do not encourage promises unsupported by engineering or service capacity. Board oversight should include material exceptions, unresolved customer risks and the quality of the process for deciding when a product can no longer be responsibly maintained.
Technical assurance and collective authority
This seat brings industrial technology commercial experience into collective governance. The director should be able to connect product strategy, customer contracts and lifecycle costs, while recognising the limits of their technical expertise and requesting specialist assurance where needed.
The director will contribute to strategy, scrutinise significant investment and monitor lifecycle risks through board processes. Independence, conflicts and applicable eligibility will be reviewed. The role does not involve managing releases, designing security controls or directing product teams. Its success lies in ensuring that the board approves products and commercial commitments with a realistic understanding of the responsibilities that continue after revenue is recognised.
Terms
- Where the board sits
- Hamburg, Germany
- Applications close
- 15 December 2026
- Appointment
- Supervisory board appointment
- Compensation
- EUR 65,000–110,000 per year (indicative annual board fee)
- Time commitment in this market
- Typically 4–6 supervisory board meetings a year, with audit committees meeting more often and a heavier reading load than a unitary-board seat implies.
Before you apply — Germany
No nationality or residency test applies to a supervisory board member. The barriers are structural — co-determination, the seat cap and German-language board process — not legal.
- Residency test
- None.
- Nationality test
- None.
- Work authorisation
- A supervisory board member attending meetings does not require a residence permit. A management-board (Vorstand) appointment for a non-EU national does, and is a substantially heavier process.
- Tenure limit once appointed
- No statutory cap. The Code recommends that the supervisory board decide, and disclose, how many of its shareholder representatives it considers independent, and treats more than twelve years' service as an indicator to be addressed.
Also open in Germany
All seats in this market →Interim Chief Information Officer — Scale-up
Germany·Public-Interest & Regulated Services
State-linked public-interest and regulated services organisation
As Interim Chief Information Officer of a state-linked organisation in public-interest and regulated services, you would answer to the Group Chief Executive Officer and lead technology for 24 months, including the governance of AI decisions through evidence, override and retirement controls.
Interim Chief Supply Chain and Operations Officer — Operating Controls
Germany·Telecommunications & Technology
Venture-backed telecommunications and technology organisation
Some operating practices deserve to be scaled and others retired, and over 24 months someone has to make those calls and carry them through. In a venture-funded telecommunications and technology business, that work belongs to an interim chief officer for supply chain and operations, who reports to the Country Managing Director.
Interim Chief Audit Executive — Value Agenda
Germany·Banking & Financial Services
Mid-cap listed banking and financial services organisation
Treat, transfer or exit: every material exposure on the books of a mid-cap listed bank needs one of those labels within 12 months. Applying them falls to an Interim Chief Audit Executive accountable to the Group Chief Executive Officer.
Global ID Exchange
One account. Every market your record travels to.
Registering is free and you can apply straight away — one application a fortnight. Pass the free assessment and you are certified for a year, with one application a week. Foresight Infinity (US$250 a month) raises that to one application a day and carries your applications ahead of free members; Foresight Infinity Plus (US$500 a month) carries them first, the moment they arrive.