HOW CAN YOU HELP US?

In a nutshell:

We are looking for a hands-on Business Unit Manager (Chemistry) to lead and transform our Food Testing laboratory in Heerenveen. This role is focused on operational excellence, cultural transformation, and business performance, and is well suited to candidates coming from food production, laboratory, or other highly regulated environments.

What team will you be part of?

You will join the Eurofins Food Testing Netherlands organisation, working closely with the Commercial Director and reporting into the leadership structure of the site.

The role is based at our site in Heerenveen, where multiple food testing business units operate together.

The site is currently undergoing a significant transition, including a move to a new laboratory setup and a strong focus on improving operational performance and team culture.

As Business Unit Manager (Chemistry), you will:

Take full ownership of the Business Unit P&L, driving performance, efficiency, and profitability
Lead day-to-day operations of the laboratory, ensuring high-quality delivery and turnaround times
Drive a cultural transformation, shifting the team towards a more proactive, accountable, and performance-driven way of working
Build structure through KPI management, data-driven decision making, and continuous improvement initiatives
Lead and develop a team of ~40 employees (indirect) through strong, visible, hands-on leadership
Ensure business continuity and customer satisfaction, maintaining strong relationships with key clients
Collaborate closely with the Commercial Director to align operational delivery with customer needs and growth ambitions
Support the transition to the new laboratory setup, ensuring stability while improving performance
Identify and implement opportunities to improve efficiency, processes, and overall site performance

Qualifications

Are you our kind of extraordinary?

You are a hands-on operational leader with strong business acumen and the ability to drive change in a complex environment.

Your profile includes:

Experience in operational leadership roles (e.g. Site Manager, Operations Manager, Business Unit Manager)
Proven experience with P&L responsibility and financial management
Strong background in regulated environments such as food production, laboratories, life sciences, or pharmaceuticals
Experience leading teams of 30–50+ employees
A hands-on leadership style with the ability to drive accountability and performance
Experience with change management / turnaround situations
Strong understanding of KPIs, processes, and operational efficiency
Ability to work in a fast-paced, performance-driven environment
Affinity with scientific or technical environments (chemistry/lab knowledge is a plus)

Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. Food, Life Sciences, Engineering, Business)

Languages:

Fluent Dutch (mandatory)
English proficiency

Location:

Based in Heerenveen, Netherlands (5 days onsite)

Additional Information

We support your development! Do you feel like you don’t match 100% of the requirements? Don’t hesitate to apply anyway! Eurofins companies are committed to supporting your career development.

We embrace diversity!  As an Equal Opportunity Employer, the Eurofins network of companies believes in strength and innovation through diversity. We prohibit discrimination against employees or applications based on gender identity and/or expression, race, nationality, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and everything else that makes employees of Eurofins companies unique.

Find out more on our Careers page: https://careers.eurofins.com/

Company description: Eurofins Scientific is an international network of independent life sciences companies, providing a unique range of analytical testing services to clients across multiple industries, to make life and our environment safer, healthier and more sustainable. From the food you eat, to the water you drink, to the medicines you rely on, Eurofins laboratories work with the biggest companies in the world to ensure the products they supply are safe, their ingredients are authentic and labelling is accurate.
The Eurofins network of companies believes that it is a global leader in food, environment, pharmaceutical and cosmetic product testing and in discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences and agroscience contract research services. It is also one of the market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, and in the support of clinical studies, as well as in biopharma contract development and manufacturing. It also has a rapidly developing presence in highly specialised and molecular clinical diagnostic testing and in-vitro diagnostic products.

In under 40 years, Eurofins has grown from one laboratory in Nantes, France to over 65,000 employees across a decentralised and entrepreneurial network of over 950 laboratories in over 1,000 independent companies across 59 countries. Eurofins companies offer a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods to evaluate the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of biological substances and products.

The Eurofins network generated EUR 7.296 billion revenues in FY 2025, and has been one of the fastest growing listed European companies for almost three decades.