CHRO – Integration and Culture — Sterile Manufacturing Network

The mandate

A medical-device group has acquired two sterile manufacturing sites to secure capacity and reduce dependence on a contract network. The sites bring capable operators, specialised processes and customer approvals, but they enter the group under pressure. Hospital backorders have increased, agency labour is high and supervisors are spending much of each shift resolving schedule, material and documentation exceptions. Local quality teams raise concerns through different channels, making it difficult to see whether an issue is isolated or recurring across the network.

The integration plan initially emphasised systems, procurement and reporting. It did not settle how site leaders, network functions and product businesses share authority for production, release, maintenance, deviation and customer commitments. Employees hear that quality is paramount while observing escalation rewards tied largely to output recovery. Experienced technicians have limited progression unless they enter management, and new supervisors are promoted without enough preparation for regulated people decisions.

The CHRO – Integration and Culture will lead the organisation, leadership and workforce system across the sterile network. The remit covers integration design, site and network accountabilities, leadership assessment, workforce planning, skills, employee relations, reward, technical careers and quality culture. It is not a communications campaign. The CHRO must change the conditions under which people make decisions on a difficult shift and give the board evidence that patient and hospital commitments are supported by capable, sustainable teams.

Approximately 550 employees and material partners sit within the immediate perimeter, with sites and labour markets across the wider European operating region. The role is based on site in Zurich, reports to the Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor and requires frequent plant presence. This is a planned new appointment created to make the people integration accountable at executive level.

Why this seat is open

The acquisitions were supported by regional HR and site teams. As operational recovery began, the board found that local staffing actions, network design and leadership selection were being handled separately. The new role brings those decisions together without displacing the site HR and people leaders who will deliver them. No incumbent has been removed.

What you will own

• Define decision rights among site, network and product leaders for schedule, release, staffing, maintenance, deviation escalation and hospital recovery commitments.
• Lead workforce planning across approximately 550 employees and partners, distinguishing structural skill gaps from absence, scheduling, material and management problems.
• Assess and appoint site and network leaders, including succession and transition where inherited roles no longer match the integrated accountability.
• Build qualification, cross-training and technical career systems for sterile operators, technicians, engineers and quality specialists with traceable proficiency evidence.
• Redesign supervisor selection and development around regulated decision-making, escalation, coaching, fatigue, attendance and respectful performance management.
• Align goals and reward so output, right-first-time quality, deviation learning, safety, service and workforce sustainability are considered together.
• Manage consultation, works representation, acquired terms, shift changes and any role consequences lawfully across the relevant jurisdictions.
• Establish quality-culture evidence through observed decisions, speaking-up, investigation participation and closure behaviour rather than awareness campaigns alone.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Spend full shifts at both acquired sites, map work and escalation, identify critical qualifications and assess leadership and attrition risk. Clarify interim decision rights and stabilise staffing on the lines most relevant to hospital backorders. Agree integration and consultation principles before announcing structural conclusions.
• Months 4–9: Implement site and network leadership choices, launch supervisor and technical-career pathways and establish a cross-site skills and succession view. Complete consultations for shift, role or reporting changes and align performance measures. Address agency dependence through targeted conversion, training, scheduling and process actions.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate improved qualified staffing, right-first-time output and escalation without worsening fatigue, safety or regretted attrition. Establish ready successors for critical site and quality roles, complete reward and grading choices and transfer the integration cadence into normal network leadership.

What the board will measure

• Hospital backorder recovery supported by qualified capacity and stable staffing, with no reliance on unrecorded overtime or unqualified deployment.
• Right-first-time production, deviation recurrence and quality escalation improving alongside—not in opposition to—output and service.
• Reduced agency dependence and vacancy time in critical roles, adjusted for the approved workforce and qualification plan.
• Supervisor readiness and effectiveness measured through team proficiency, attendance, escalation, safety and performance decisions.
• Retention and succession of critical technicians, engineers, quality specialists and site leaders across both acquired locations.
• Consultation, employee-relations and integration changes completed lawfully, with commitments and inherited terms tracked and honoured.

The person

You are a CHRO, manufacturing people leader, regional HR executive or integration leader with 22–28 years in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, sterile manufacturing or another regulated operations environment. You have integrated acquired plants while they were recovering service or quality performance. You have supported at least 500 employees across multiple sites and led a people team of at least 30.

You understand shift-level organisation. You can distinguish a headcount shortage from poor scheduling, training bottlenecks, absenteeism, maintenance instability or unclear priorities. You have redesigned supervisor and technical careers and can show changes in qualification, retention, quality and delivery rather than only programme participation.

Direct experience with works councils, collective arrangements or formal consultation in Europe is important. You have made difficult leadership and role decisions without presenting a predetermined structure as consultation. Medical-device experience is preferred; pharmaceuticals, food, aerospace or other sterile and highly regulated production may qualify where patient or safety consequences were material.

The role is on site in Zurich with regular travel to acquired plants. International candidates may be considered with a credible relocation plan and relevant European employee-relations experience. The CHRO must be trusted by operators and quality professionals while remaining willing to hold executives accountable for the workforce consequences of their production promises.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is expected to be CHF 340,000–470,000, with an annual incentive and long-term participation. Measures will combine qualified capacity, quality culture, leadership, retention, service recovery and lawful integration. This is a permanent newly established appointment. Relocation and verified forfeited awards may be considered.

Confidentiality

The group, acquired plants, products and affected individuals are confidential. Identifying information will be provided only after suitability and confidentiality obligations are established. Candidates must not contact employee representatives, suppliers or possible plant personnel to infer the client.

Each response must contain no more than 49 words.