Strategic leadership of technical infrastructure and commercial services

The Department of Health Technology (DTU Health Tech) at DTU is looking for a senior leader to take on the newly established position as Head of Operations and Commercial . The role holds strategic and operational responsibility for a diverse portfolio of core facilities that deliver high-value infrastructure to both internal and external stakeholders.

This is a high-impact position at the intersection of science, technology, and business; supporting the department’s ambitions in research excellence, innovation, and societal collaboration.

The job
As Head of Operations and Commercial, you will report directly to the Head of Department and hold overall strategic and operational responsibility for DTU Health Tech’s core technical infrastructure. This is a department-level leadership role with responsibility for shaping long-term operational and commercial development across multiple units .

The facilities deliver critical services across the health technology value chain, including radiopharmaceutical production, biomedical imaging, biological experimentation, diagnostics, and dosimetry. These services support research, innovation, and collaboration with hospitals, healthcare providers, and industry. 

You will lead a team of senior facility heads, with overall responsibility for an organization of approximately 80 employees, including technical specialists, researchers, professors and other academic staff. Your role is to align and strengthen this portfolio through shared business models, digital strategy, and operational excellence .

You will be responsible for leading operations across the facilities, improving service delivery, aligning value propositions, developing pricing structures, and supporting long-term financial sustainability. This includes driving cross-facility initiatives that improve gross margins, increase digital maturity, and ensure infrastructure is aligned with DTU’s research priorities and commercial goals.

This position is central to building a scalable and coherent operational model that delivers high-value services to both academic and commercial stakeholders.

Key responsibilities include:

• Managing and developing a diverse portfolio of core facilities
• Leading senior facility managers and promoting collaboration across units
• Strengthening operational performance and digital maturity
• Developing and aligning commercial offerings, including pricing strategies
• Advising the department leadership team on infrastructure and strategic development
• Supporting long-term financial and organizational sustainability

We expect you to bring:

• Extensive leadership experience in technical operations within a scientific, healthcare, or high-tech environment
• A strong track record of leading senior professionals across disciplines, including technical managers and academic staff
• Proven ability to develop business models, pricing strategies, and customer-facing services
• Experience in driving digital transformation, operational efficiency, and structural coherence
• Strong financial understanding, including cost control and gross margin optimization
• Excellent stakeholder management skills across academic, commercial, and healthcare contexts
• A PhD and/or MBA is highly appreciated
• Excellent communication skills in English is required; Danish is an advantage.

We offer
We offer a strategic leadership role at one of Europe’s leading health technology departments. You will help shape the operational and commercial backbone of the department, and ensure it supports both scientific excellence and long-term business sustainability.

DTU Health Tech is a modern, international, and interdisciplinary environment where collaboration and impact are at the core of our mission. You will join a forward-looking leadership team with room to lead, develop, and influence at scale.

Salary and appointment terms
The appointment will be based on the collective agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) and in accordance with DTU’s internal salary frameworks. 

The position is full-time and located at DTU Lyngby and Risø campus.

Application and contact
Please submit your online application no later than Friday, 20 June 2025 (23:59 Danish time) . Open the “Apply now” link, fill out the form and attach your motivated application, CV and relevant certificates. 

If you would like additional information about the position, please contact the Head of Department, Jan Henrik Ardenkjær-Larsen, jhar@dtu.dk .  

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

All interested candidates irrespective of age, gender, disability, race, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply. As DTU works with research in critical technology, which is subject to special rules for security and export control, open-source background checks may be conducted on qualified candidates for the position.

DTU Health Tech
With a vision to improve health and quality of life through technology, DTU Health Tech engages in research, education, and innovation based on technical and natural science. We educate tomorrow’s health tech engineers and create the foundation for new and innovative services and technologies for the globally expanding healthcare sector with its demands for the most advanced technological solutions. DTU Health Tech’s expertise can be described through five overall research areas: Diagnostic Imaging, Digital Health, Personalised Therapy, Precision Diagnostics, and Sensory and Neural Technology. Our technologies and solutions are developed with the aim of benefiting people and creating value for society. The department has a scientific staff of about 210 persons, 140 PhD Students, and a technical/administrative support staff of about 100 persons of which a large majority contributes to our research infrastructure and related commercial activities.

Technology for people
DTU develops technology for people. With our international elite research and study programmes, we are helping to create a better world and to solve the global challenges formulated in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Hans Christian Ørsted founded DTU in 1829 with a clear mission to develop and create value using science and engineering to benefit society. That mission lives on today. DTU has 13,500 students and 6,000 employees. We work in an international atmosphere and have an inclusive, evolving, and informal working environment. DTU has campuses in all parts of Denmark and in Greenland, and we collaborate with the best universities around the world.