China Technical Lead

Job description

Welcome to Haleon. We’re a purpose-driven, world-class consumer company putting everyday health in the hands of millions. In just three years since our launch, we’ve grown, evolved and are now entering an exciting new chapter – one filled with bold ambitions and enormous opportunity. Our trusted portfolio of brands – including Sensodyne®, Panadol®, Advil®, Voltaren®, Theraflu®, Otrivin®, and Centrum® – lead in resilient and growing categories. What sets us apart is our unique blend of deep human understanding and trusted science. Now it’s time to fully realise the full potential of our business and our people. We do this through our Win as One strategy. It puts our purpose – to deliver better everyday health with humanity – at the heart of everything we do. It unites us, inspires us, and challenges us to be better every day, driven by our agile, performance-focused culture. About the role The Regional Technical Lead – China is accountable for end‑to‑end technical lifecycle strategy, execution and technical performance across formulation and packaging for the China Operating Unit to enable growth, margin, cash and stewardship. The role is mission‑critical in ensuring technical readiness, compliant supply, robust innovation delivery, and sustainable cost competitiveness in one of Haleon’s most complex and regulated markets. This role acts as the single regional technical integrator, connecting Category strategy, Innovation, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Packaging, Site Technical, and external manufacturing partners (CMOs/CDMOs). It ensures that technical decisions are aligned to business strategy, regulatory requirements (eg trusted ingredients, spec management), and long‑term supply resilience, including sourcing decisions while enabling speed to market and margin delivery. Key responsibilities 1. End‑to‑End Technical Lifecycle Ownership Own and execute the regional technical lifecycle plan for China, covering formulation and packaging across innovation (technical execution), product maintenance, technical transfers, and simplification initiatives. Ensure technical readiness, aligning design, manufacturing capability, validation, and supply robustness with category and regional priorities. Accountable for technical execution of complex projects, including innovation launches, value engineering, product maintenance, waste reduction, and process optimization initiatives. Build highly capable and performing Regional and Site Technical Teams ensuring local subject matter expertise, interdependent with global Technical, leveraging global SMEs. 2. Technical Strategy & Category Enablement Partner with Category, R&D, Marketing, and Commercial teams to translate category strategy into executable regional technical roadmaps. Lead product, technology, and competitor benchmarking, driving formulation and packaging simplification in line with Design‑to‑Value principles. Ensure alignment between Innovation leaders and Category Technical Readiness Leads for disciplined innovation execution and lifecycle management. Develop and maintain a documented China Technical, clearly aligned to: China Business Strategy Portfolio and category priorities Supply risk and POS outlook Use the strategy to prioritize work, guide stakeholder alignment, and unlock value at pace. 3. Product Introduction Technical Leadership (Technical Readiness) Lead regional technical execution for NPIs and geo‑expansion projects, ensuring on‑time, in‑full delivery with scalable and compliant post‑launch supply. Own technical readiness governance deliverables across innovation stages, ensuring readiness for capital investment, sourcing decisions, and manufacturing scale‑up. Champion Design‑to‑Value and Design‑for‑Manufacture to deliver robust, cost‑effective formulations and packaging solutions. 4. Product Lifecycle Management & Technical Stewardship Oversee technical maintenance activities, including formulation robustness, process optimization (e.g., BCT, ingredient harmonisation), validation, and technical transfers. Lead PLM initiatives focused on complexity reduction (accountable for formulation simplification), margin improvement, and portfolio synergies, ensuring regulatory and quality compliance throughout the product lifecycle. Drive technical risk management, including troubleshooting, CAPA effectiveness, and continuous improvement embedded in Quality‑by‑Design principles. 5. Packaging & Sustainability Leadership Provide regional technical leadership for packaging development, qualification, and validation across internal sites and CMOs. Drive packaging transformation and sustainability initiatives, including simplification (accountable for pack simplification), efficiency improvements, and delivery of environmental targets. Lead packaging value engineering programs with Procurement, sites and suppliers to deliver cost, resilience, and performance improvements. 6. Network, CMO & Site Technical Integration Ensure strong matrix leadership of Site Technical teams, enabling capability build while keeping sites focused on execution excellence. Provide technical oversight for CMO/CDMO networks, supporting tiering, technical readiness, and risk mitigation. Act as the regional escalation point for complex technical issues, ensuring timely resolution and prevention of recurrence. 7. Financial & Capital Accountability Execute key projects including selection, equipment installations and commissioning independent. Accountable for Capex and technical project costs within the region, ensuring value delivery, disciplined investment decisions, and alignment with regional ABP and LRP priorities. Deliver sustainable technical savings through value engineering, simplification, and manufacturing transformation programs. 8. Enterprise‑Level Stakeholder Leadership Actively build, maintain, and leverage trusted relationships with China Commercial GMs, R&D, Quality, Supply Chain, and Global QSC leaders through regular 1:1 engagement, not transactional communication. Participate and co own the Commercial Category strategy. Proactively seek stakeholder feedback on collaboration effectiveness and course‑correct behaviours to improve enterprise outcomes. Serve as a credible thought partner to Commercial and GMs, shaping decisions rather than reacting to them. Ensure active participant of Seamless Technical Community interdependent with global technical, quality and engineering; enabling and maintaining global standards. Qualifications and skills Education : Degree in Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Operations Management, or related field; advanced degree preferred. Experiences and Skills Technical & Functional Expertise Deep expertise in formulation and/or packaging science , manufacturing technologies, and validation within regulated consumer healthcare or FMCG environments. Strong understanding of end‑to‑end product lifecycle management , from innovation to mature product optimization and transfers. Proven experience leading complex technical programs across multiple sites and external manufacturing partners. Ability to lead core technological change project E2E. Leadership & Influence Demonstrated ability to lead through matrix structures , influencing across Quality, R&D, Commercial, Procurement, Manufacturing and more importantly Commercial and Category Organization. Strong capability in cross‑functional decision making , balancing speed, compliance, cost, and supply resilience. Track record of building high‑performing technical teams , coaching talent, and embedding a culture of continuous improvement. Influencing Through Insight, Not Escalation Lead complex initiatives through clear business narratives that articulate WHY, HOW, and VALUE , not only delivery targets. Translate technical choices into commercial and P&L impact (OEE, productivity, margin, POS, supply continuity). Influence global and regional stakeholders with holistic, fact‑based recommendations , especially in cross‑market or global projects Business & Strategic Acumen Ability to translate category and regional strategy into executable technical roadmaps . Strong commercial mindset, with experience delivering margin improvement, cost savings, and capital productivity through technical interventions. Comfortable operating in high‑complexity, high‑growth markets with strong regulatory oversight, such as China. Preferred : Master’s degree, with few technical documents published. Operational Experience Candidate who is mobile nationally and internationally and ready to take higher responsibilities in supply chain and regional technical teams. Job Posting End Date 2026-08-15 Equal Opportunities Haleon are committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands every day. It guides us in creating an inclusive culture, where different backgrounds and views are valued and respected – all in support of understanding and best serving the needs of our consumers and unleashing the full potential of our people. It’s important to us that Haleon is a place where all our employees feel they truly belong. During the application process, we may ask you to share some personal information, which is entirely voluntary. This information ensures we meet certain regulatory and reporting obligations and supports the development, refinement, and execution of our inclusion and belonging programmes that are open to all Haleon employees. The personal information you provide will be kept confidential, used only for legitimate business purposes, and will never be used in making any employment decisions, including hiring decisions. Adjustment or Accommodations Request If you require a reasonable adjustment or accommodation or other assistance to apply for a job at Haleon at any stage of the application process, please let your recruiter know by providing them with a description of specific adjustments you are requesting. We’ll provide all reasonable adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process and treat all information you provide us in confidence. Note to candidates The Haleon recruitment team will contact you using a Haleon email account (@haleon.com). If you are not sure whether the email you received is from Haleon, please get in touch.