GLOBAL CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION OFFICER - Advanced Lithium-Based Energy Systems / Battery & Cell industry

Role details

*Some batteries simply cannot fail. Lead the team that invents the next generation of them.*

GLOBAL CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION OFFICER -

*Advanced Lithium-Based Energy Systems / Battery & Cell industry*

*Confidential Executive Search – based Western Europe or North America*

Our client is a long-established global leader in advanced batteries, backed by a major international energy group. With several thousand employees in close to 20 countries, it powers applications where failure is not an option: aerospace, defense, space, rail, telecom and critical infrastructure.

The group is profitable, growing and pursuing major ambitions in high-value battery solutions, including energy storage for data centers and the grid.

It is now appointing a Chief Technology & Innovation Officer to shape what it builds over the next decade.

The role

Reporting to the Group CEO and serving on the Executive Committee, you will lead the group's global technology and innovation organization, whose resources are mostly split between France and the United States.

You will own the full technology chain, across every TRL, from early research to products qualified and produced at scale.

You will set the strategic vision, mobilize the resources behind it and see it through to execution.

The challenge is threefold: drive innovation and research, develop next-generation products in step with what the market needs, and accelerate their industrialization and launch in the group's markets worldwide.

In practice, you will define the technology roadmap across chemistries and platforms, and decide where to invest, where to partner and what to stop.

You will lead the R&D, cell engineering, materials and technical teams in France and the United States, and build the talent base the next decade will require.

You will take technologies from the lab through pilot lines to industrial production, at the safety, reliability and qualification levels that critical markets demand.

Working closely with the CEO, the Executive Committee, the business units, operations and sales, you will make sure every technology bet serves a market.

And you will be the group's technology voice with customers, partners, research institutions, the parent group and the board.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for a scientist first: a chemist or electrochemist who has gone beyond the lab and personally driven what comes once the prototype is proven, from scale-up to ramp-up and industrialization.

You know what it takes to make a new cell technology manufacturable, qualified and reliable at volume, and you have done it.

A PhD in chemistry or electrochemistry is highly desirable, though not mandatory.

Your career has been built on cells and batteries, ideally for critical, high-value applications such as aerospace, defense, space, rail, marine or medical. A background that also includes high-volume consumer or automotive production is welcome.

You have led international technical organizations across the full TRL range.

Experience in stationary energy storage (ESS / BESS) is a strong asset, as some platforms will scale toward data centers and the grid.

You follow the global battery landscape closely, across North America, Europe and Asia, and you turn that reading into a clear view of where the industry is heading.

You have the executive presence to translate complex technical choices into clear decisions for a CEO, a board and customers.

Location and travel

The position is based either in France or on the East Coast of the United States. International travel accounts for roughly 20 to 30% of the time.

What makes this role unique

Few companies combine a century of electrochemistry, leadership in the most demanding markets, a profitable growth trajectory and the backing of a global energy major. This role offers the room, the resources and the mandate to set the technology direction of the group.

Some leadership opportunities are about managing technology.

Others are about deciding what comes next.

Let's talk.

*This confidential search is conducted by Richard Lombart, The Executive Way. All inquiries are handled in strict confidence.*

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