EVP – Operations Transformation — Implantable-Devices Division

The mandate

An implantable-devices division operates a manufacturing network across two sites with varied coating preparation, cleaning, packaging materials, environmental handling and external surface-treatment processes across multiple product configurations.

The company has increased inspection and protected priority customer supply, but the operating response is becoming difficult to sustain. Additional inspection can detect some visible conditions without proving the process is controlled. Investigations are running by site and function, terminology differs, and teams debate whether common trends reflect a shared cause. Backorders are rising as quarantined inventory and longer release cycles consume capacity.

The EVP – Operations Transformation will lead the end-to-end recovery across manufacturing, engineering, supplier quality, planning and connected quality interfaces. The mandate is to establish a defensible process-control strategy and restore supply—not to impose an operations conclusion on medical or independent quality authorities. The EVP must decide where production should stop, which additional controls are temporary and what evidence is required before capacity and inventory are released.

Approximately 600 employees and material partners sit within the immediate perimeter across Germany and international suppliers. The role is on site in Munich, reports to the Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor and is an urgent replacement. Direct presence at both sites and the external processor will be required during investigation and recovery.

Why this seat is open

The previous operations leader resigned following an agreed review of delivery and cross-site governance. No finding of misconduct has been made. Interim leaders have contained the immediate issue, but the board wants one executive with multi-site implant remediation experience to carry root cause, sustainable control and supply recovery together.

What you will own

• Establish one investigation and operating plan across coating, cleaning, environment, handling, packaging, external processing, inspection and complaint evidence.
• Lead approximately 600 employees and partners across manufacturing, engineering, supplier quality, planning, maintenance and operational excellence interfaces.
• Govern quarantine, inspection, rework, release and production decisions with medical and quality leaders, keeping temporary containment distinct from validated control.
• Map process and material variation by site, line, configuration, supplier lot and time to isolate common and product-specific contributors.
• Restore customer supply through clinically and commercially prioritised allocation, realistic yield and release planning and transparent backorder communication.
• Reset external processor and material-supplier controls, including specification, notification, validation, traceability, audit and recovery.
• Direct necessary equipment, automation and facility investment within a multi-year operations perimeter above EUR 350 million.
• Build a cross-site operating system and leadership bench that detects weak signals and closes recurring causes before emergency inspection becomes normal work.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Stabilise quarantine and supply, reconcile all particulate evidence and place one owner on each hypothesis and test. Visit both plants and the external processor, verify temporary controls and stop any activity that obscures source evidence. Agree release, escalation and customer-priority rules with quality and medical leadership.
• Months 4–9: Confirm or narrow causes, validate permanent process and supplier controls and execute a sequenced production recovery. Remove temporary inspection only where capability evidence supports it. Reduce aged investigations and align site methods, terminology and trending without forcing products into inappropriate common limits.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate sustained particulate and process performance, restored service and stable release cycle. Complete equipment and supplier actions, retire emergency governance and establish normal cross-site review. Confirm succession for plant, engineering and supplier-quality roles and publish the next operations improvement priorities.

What the board will measure

• Containment and lot decisions traceable to technical, medical and quality evidence, with no uncontrolled release or unnecessary broad quarantine.
• Sustained reduction in particulate observations and complaints after permanent controls, distinguished from improvement caused only by additional screening.
• Validated capability across coating, cleaning, packaging and external processing, including site and configuration differences.
• Backorder and customer-supply recovery based on realistic yield and release, without hidden inventory or unapproved quality risk.
• Closure of root causes and repeat investigations across sites and suppliers, accompanied by timely escalation of new signals.
• Operations investment and staffing returned from emergency activity to sustainable process control within the approved perimeter.

The person

You are an EVP or SVP of operations, global manufacturing leader, network head or senior plant executive with 22–28 years in implantables, sterile medical devices, pharmaceuticals or another high-risk regulated product. You have led a multi-factor contamination, particulate or process remediation across more than one site. You have controlled at least EUR 300 million of operations spend and led at least 400 employees.

You understand that inspection is not process capability. You can work with material science, surface treatment, cleaning, environment, packaging and supplier evidence and know how variation propagates into a finished implant. You have made quarantine and restart recommendations while respecting independent quality and medical decision rights.

Direct implant or sterile-device experience is strongly preferred. Candidates from pharmaceuticals or other regulated sectors must demonstrate comparable particulate and patient-risk complexity. You have restored supply without allowing backorder pressure to dictate release and can show how temporary containment was removed only after validated control.

The position is on site in Munich with frequent travel to plants and suppliers. International candidates may qualify with credible relocation and relevant European experience. The leader must be present in the investigation, but capable of building a system that does not depend permanently on executive intervention.

Compensation and terms

The base range is EUR 285,000–390,000, supplemented by annual incentive and long-term participation. Measures will prioritise patient protection, root-cause closure, sustainable process control, supply recovery and leadership depth. This is a permanent urgent replacement. Relocation and substantiated forfeited awards may be addressed within final terms.

Confidentiality

The company, products, complaint data, sites and suppliers are confidential. Identifying information will be disclosed only after fit and confidentiality protections are established. Candidates must not contact manufacturers, notified bodies or industry peers to infer the organisation.

Each response must contain no more than 49 words.