Director Regulatory Affairs

Christeyns is a privately owned detergents and chemicals group, with activities in several markets worldwide, completely focused on a B-2-B environment.  Our head office is located in Ghent, Belgium. The Group employs about 1100 people across 30 countries. Over the last 15 years, Christeyns has enjoyed rapid growth of around 15% per year and now has a consolidated turnover of around 400 million Euros.

Christeyns stands for premium detergents and disinfectants, reliable equipment, and flexible customised service. Our portfolio includes hygiene solutions for professional textile care, food processing & retail, the professional cleaning industry, and the medical and life sciences sectors.

Rapid company growth and an increasingly challenging regulatory environment in Europe raises the need to strengthen our Regulatory Affairs Department. Christeyns is looking for a (M/F/D) Director Regulatory Affairs (Ghent based).

 Job description:
  • First and foremost, you will focus on developing and implementing the regulatory affairs strategy across our different activities in our key markets.
  • You will lead and coordinate regulatory compliance projects for detergents, biocidal and medical device products sold under the Christeyns brand to help maintain our excellent reputation. To this end, you will work closely with regulatory colleagues and consultants in our subsidiaries in 30 countries.
  • You will provide support to the manufacturing sites and sales offices in case of inspection issues. In addition, you will develop and implement a set of procedures and systems for improvement of regulatory compliance.
  • You will support and coach our regulatory team in the preparation, submission, defence and updating of regulatory dossiers, mainly with European authorities.
  • Your creative spirit and excellent understanding of what is feasible within the legal framework will help our innovation teams reach their full potential.
  • You will liaise with business development and commercial teams and ensure that regulatory efforts are appropriate and sufficient to support business growth and minimise business risks.
  • You will maintain contact and share relevant information with stakeholders, internally and externally, including liaising with European and national authorities.
  • You will anticipate new or changing regulations and coordinate with internal stakeholders to develop strategies to address changes in product, operations, or testing requirements. You will ensure that emerging regulatory issues are flagged to senior management in a timely manner.
  • You will assess the competitive environment of Christeyns from a regulatory perspective and assess the risk to our key assets in terms of compliance at every stage of the lifecycle. You will launch review processes and closely monitor the impact on the business and provide critical regulatory assessment as part of due diligence business development activities.
  • You will manage a corporate regulatory team of about 8 people, mainly based in our Ghent and Lisbon office. You will report directly to our Chief Science & Technology Officer.
 About you:
  • You have a master’s degree (or equivalent level qualification) combined with a solid regulatory background.
  • At least 10 years of experience of which minimum 5 years in regulatory affairs (or you are able to exhibit a similar level of proven and recurring success working in regulatory affairs at an expert level), with excellent knowledge of European Chemicals legislation, registration, and submission processes.
  • You are an enthusiastic people manager with a positive and pragmatic attitude and are able to demonstrate a proven track record of effectively leading and guiding teams to achieve goals, displaying a skillset and knowledge, that would be equivalent to 5 years + of team leadership experience.
  • You have the ability to negotiate and concisely express clear positions to stakeholders at all levels.
  • You have experience of directly working with national regulatory agencies and leading agency meetings face to face.
  • You have a solid knowledge of English, written and verbally.
  • You are able to travel throughout Europe with overnight stays as required.
We offer you:
  • A strong, stable, and growing company with a highly respected position in the market.
  • A strategic role, enabling you to be part of the future growth and success of the company.
  • An excellent remuneration package, in line with the responsibility of this position.

Does this sound like you? Then don’t hesitate and fill in the form below.