Head of Automation Systems to Toyota Material Handling Europe

Are you a technically grounded R&D leader who can turn a complex automation landscape into a clear direction? Do you enjoy building strong leadership teams, bringing people together and moving between factory-floor reality and long-term technology strategy?

Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) is now looking for a Head of Automation Systems to lead a strategically important growth and technology area.

The role

As Head of Automation Systems, you will lead a large multidisciplinary organisation through managers across Europe. Your task is to create a strong vertical with clear ownership, a common technology roadmap and the ability to deliver across products, systems and locations.

This is a role for a leader who is equally comfortable discussing technical choices with engineers and explaining direction and business impact to senior stakeholders. You will work closely with leaders in R&D, Product Management, Supply and other parts of the organisation. You will also play an important part in shaping how TMHE develops its automation capabilities for the future.

The role includes:

• Shape and implement the automation technology strategy and roadmap, and bring distributed automation resources together around common priorities and ways of working.
• Lead, support and develop managers and teams in Sweden and Italy, creating clear ownership and interfaces across R&D and the wider business.
• Stay close to the technology and factory environment, guide technical choices and explain their business impact to different stakeholders.
• Identify capability gaps, develop the organisation for future needs and represent TMHE’s automation direction internally and externally.
• Ensure strong systems engineering practices across robotics, software, controls, embedded systems and automation solutions.
• Ensure appropriate functional safety, cybersecurity, verification and validation practices across the automation portfolio.

The position is based at Toyota Material Handling Europe’s headquarters in Mjölby, Sweden. Regular on-site presence is required, and travel between Sweden and Italy as well as to other TMHE locations is part of the role. You report to the Senior Vice President, R&D.

Is this you?

To succeed in this role, you have at least 10 years of senior leadership experience from industrial automation, R&D, engineering or a closely related technical environment. 

You have led a multidisciplinary engineering or R&D organisation through multiple managers and can demonstrate how you have developed and implemented a technology strategy or roadmap. Your technical understanding allows you to engage credibly both at system and factory level, while maintaining a strategic perspective. 

We expect you to bring:

• Senior leadership experience from industrial automation, R&D, engineering or a closely related technical environment.
• Experience leading a multidisciplinary engineering or R&D organisation through multiple managers, with proven ability to develop and implement a technology strategy or roadmap.
• Strong technical understanding at both system/factory level and strategic level.
• A master’s degree in engineering, robotics, automation, mechatronics, computer science or another relevant technical discipline. 
• Fluent English; Swedish is preferred, or a genuine willingness to learn.
• Experience of bringing together distributed teams or functions is highly relevant.

A background from material handling, intralogistics, manufacturing automation, robotics, autonomous systems or adjacent industrial technology is advantageous, as is experience from a large international matrix organisation.

In this recruitment, great emphasis will be placed on personal qualities. We are looking for a clear, concise and accountable leader who builds trust and creates direction. You are collaborative, structured and pragmatic, with the ability to listen and secure alignment before moving into action. You communicate complex topics in a simple way, take ownership and challenge constructively. Humility, sound judgement and resilience will help you succeed in Toyota’s long-term and collaborative culture.

Further questions?

In this process, Toyota Material Handling Europe is working with Level Executive. To apply, please click the Apply button. If you have questions, please contact recruitment consultant Jenny Heffler jenny.heffler@levelrecruitment.se at Level Executive on +46 8 120 50 428.

Keywords: Automation, R&D Leadership, Engineering Leadership, Industrial Automation, Warehouse Automation, Technology Strategy, Systems Engineering, Systems Architecture, Robotics, Mobile Robotics, Autonomous Systems, Intralogistics, Functional Safety, Organisational Development, Mjölby.