Innovation Manager Europe
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- Spain
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- Hybrid
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Innovation Manager Europe
Job description
Nippon Sanso is one of the leading companies in the industrial and medical gases business in Europe. Serving over 150,000 customers and 350,000 patients across 14 countries, we offer a comprehensive range of gas-based solutions tailored to sectors including healthcare, food, electronics, manufacturing, chemicals, electronics, and energy among many others.
The Innovation Manager Europe will be based in our headquarters in Madrid, reporting to Innovation Program Director, and is responsible for strengthening the European innovation and Development pipeline by identifying, evaluating, and accelerating new technologies, business models, partnerships, and application opportunities that create measurable business value. The role acts as a central connector between European business units, R&D teams, global innovation and R&D functions, customers, universities, research institutes, start-ups, accelerators, incubators, and external technology ecosystems.
Key responsibilities
- Lead Front End Innovation activities across Europe by collecting, structuring, and evaluating early-stage ideas, unmet customer needs, technology trends, and emerging business opportunities.
- Establish and maintain a structured scouting process for technologies, start-ups, universities, research institutes, industrial partners, and innovation ecosystems relevant to European strategic focus areas.
- Monitor start-up landscapes and emerging ventures in priority domains such as sustainability, industrial transformation, electronics, healthcare, food and beverage, water, aquaculture, automation, digitalization, and advanced manufacturing.
- Build relationships with accelerators, incubators, venture networks, technology hubs, public funding bodies, and innovation platforms to identify collaboration opportunities and strengthen the external innovation pipeline.
- Screen and assess external opportunities using clear criteria such as strategic fit, market potential, technology maturity, scalability, intellectual property position, partnership potential, investment need, and expected business impact.
- Translate promising ideas into clear opportunity briefs, pre-studies, feasibility proposals, business hypotheses, and pilot project recommendations.
- Collaborate with R&D, business units, segment experts, sales, marketing, operations, engineering, sustainability, digitalization, and government affairs to validate opportunities and define the right path forward.
- Support the European innovation and development roadmap by identifying gaps, white spaces, technology trends, and potential partnerships aligned with medium-term strategic priorities.
- Coordinate innovation workshops, ideation sessions, start-up challenge formats, technology scouting campaigns, and cross-functional evaluation meetings.
- Maintain an innovation funnel and reporting dashboard covering scouted opportunities, start-up contacts, ecosystem interactions, active evaluations, pre-studies, and recommended next steps.
- Support the design and continuous improvement of innovation governance, including stage-gate criteria, prioritization logic, decision templates, and handover processes to project owners.
- Contribute to technology replication and adoption by identifying solutions from other regions, partners, or markets that can be adapted and scaled in Europe.
- Represent the European innovation function in selected external events, conferences, accelerator demo days, start-up meetings, university engagements, and internal innovation forums.
Job requirements
Background
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, chemistry, industrial technology, business administration, innovation management, entrepreneurship, or a related field; an advanced degree or MBA is a plus.
- At least 8 years’ experience in innovation management, business development, R&D, strategy, technology scouting, corporate venturing, start-up collaboration, or industrial partnerships.
- Previous experience in an international, matrix-based organization with exposure to cross-functional and cross-regional collaboration.
- Good understanding of industrial markets, technology-driven business models, and customer-centric solution development; experience in industrial gases, chemicals, energy, electronics, healthcare, food and beverage, water, or manufacturing would be a plus.
- Experience with accelerator or incubator ecosystems, start-up evaluation, partnership models, and open innovation approaches is highly desirable.
- Fluent English is required; additional European languages are an advantage.
Required Skills:
- Innovation mindset: Ability to think beyond existing products and technologies, with a strong focus on customer value, business impact, adoption, and scalable solutions.
- Strategic scouting capability: Strong ability to identify relevant trends, technologies, start-ups, research groups, and ecosystem players and assess their strategic relevance.
- Analytical judgment: Ability to evaluate opportunities using structured criteria, synthesize complex information, and prepare clear recommendations for management decisions.
- Business acumen: Understanding of market attractiveness, value propositions, business models, investment logic, and commercialization pathways.
- Technical curiosity: Ability to engage with technical experts, understand emerging technologies at a sufficient level, and translate technical potential into business opportunities.
- Stakeholder management: Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to connect business units, R&D teams, regional experts, customers, external partners, and senior stakeholders.
- Project shaping: Capability to structure ambiguous ideas into opportunity briefs, pre-study proposals, pilot scopes, milestones, risks, and expected outcomes.
- Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to prepare concise management summaries, presentations, and decision papers.
Others:
Regular
travel across Europe is required (25%)
Why join Nippon Sanso?
At Nippon Sanso, we’re a reliable partner for key
industries, combining global expertise with a local touch to make a real
difference. Guided by our commitment to sustainability, we drive innovation
through cutting-edge technology and a strong R&D network. Here, you’ll have
the autonomy to own your career, with the chance to work on projects that
impact communities and shape a carbon-neutral future.
Discover a place where you’ll play a key role in solutions that power major industries and make a difference in everyday life. At Nippon Sanso, our technologies support countless essential processes — often behind the scenes — that keep food fresh, enhance electronic chip production, purify water, and provide critical respiratory treatments. With a solid, diversified presence across Europe, we’re a reliable and stable company dedicated to constant innovation and to creating a healthier, more sustainable future.
What we offer
- Remuneration and Benefits 💰: We offer a range of bonuses, long-term incentives, competitive salaries, which we review each year to remain competitive in the market. In addition, we have a wide range of benefits as a company, you can choose what suits you best: childcare, transport card, pension plan, sports package, health insurance, etc.
- Worklife balance 🏖: We have 29 days off a year! Plus, the 24th and 31st of December.
- Flexible schedule 🕓: You'll have the freedom to adjust your work hours to accommodate your personal needs and responsibilities.
- Home Office Policy 💻: With our hybrid work plan, you can enjoy working from the comfort of your home.
- Diversity and inclusion 😊: Be part of an inclusive, diverse culture, where everyone’s contribution is respected. A place where individual talent is recognised and nurtured.
- Sustainability 🍀: We enable a carbon neutral world. Nippon Gases spearheads the efforts to achieving zero CO2 emissions by helping industries in transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.
- Safety first 🦺: We create a safe environment where our employees can thrive. In the past two decades, we have been honored 17 times as the safest company in Europe by the Industrial Gases Association (EIGA).
About Us
Nippon Gases is one of the leading companies in the industrial and medical gases business in Europe. We service more than 150,000 customers and have a diversified involvement in broad industries such as healthcare, food, manufacturing, metallurgy, chemical products, electronics and energy. We aim to create social value through innovative gas solutions that increase industrial productivity, enhance human well-being and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Making life better through gas technology.
What can you expect from us?
We are an industrial company in which safety and integrity come first, as it could not be otherwise. We bet on the talent of each of our employees, creating opportunities for development and learning, as well as offering an environment of personal conciliation. Our employees are the key to achieve high customer satisfaction and be, day by day, your choice. We have a high commitment to society and respect for the environment. These values make us a great company with solid and continuous financial results.
Equal Opportunity Employment Policy
Nippon Gases is a company committed to equality and promotes an inclusive work environment free of any type of discrimination and harassment. We believe that the diversity of talent strengthens and increases our success. We have equality policies that guarantee employability and increase opportunities for all candidates.