Business Development Automation Lead

The Business Development Automation Lead develops and implements an institution-wide strategy for commercial automation and AI within the Wageningen Food Views programme. The role focuses on designing architecture and workflows to generate data-driven market insights, enabling marketing, sales, and customer interaction to be accelerated and scaled. This position combines technical expertise with business development and contributes to innovation and process improvement at WSER level.

Your tasks and responsibilities as Business Development Automation Lead:

• Developing and shaping commercial automation and AI strategy
  Defining the vision and frameworks for commercial automation and AI, and translating these into architecture, standards, and scalable workflows within the WFV portfolio.
• Designing and delivering AI-driven commercial solutions
  Building new product templates and automated content and marketing processes, including AI-driven workflows for customer segmentation, market communication, and sales support.
• Leading innovation, improvement, and implementation projects
  Initiating, coordinating, and implementing improvement and innovation proposals within the commercial and portfolio domain; leading multidisciplinary teams and mentoring less experienced colleagues.
• Advising management on digital commercialisation
  Providing solicited and unsolicited advice to the Management Team and stakeholders on digital transformation, commercial innovation, technology choices, and the use of AI in customer-facing processes.
• Ensuring quality, compliance, and continuous improvement of commercial processes
  Monitoring and optimising commercial workflows and KPIs, safeguarding data quality and ethical AI use, and representing WSER in relevant external networks and partnerships.

Your team
You will work closely with business and proposition developers in the core team of Wageningen Food Views. In addition, you will collaborate extensively with the WSER data management team and various WSER researchers. You will report to one of the three Institute Managers of WSER.

You are / you have:

• Architecture and workflow design at scale
  The ability to design robust, scalable automation and AI-driven workflows, including defining standards and architectural choices.
• Strong analytical and data-driven mindset
  The ability to translate complex user data and information into practical, effective solutions, using insights for segmentation, optimisation, and decision-making.
• Technical expertise in AI and automation
  Experience with AI models (LLMs, image generation, data analysis), workflow tools (Make.com, Zapier, n8n), API integrations, data management (JSON, CSV, APIs), and template/content development (CMS, dashboards, reporting).
• Strong communication skills and ability to bridge disciplines
  Able to work across commercial teams, researchers, and IT and data experts, and to clearly explain complex AI concepts to non-technical colleagues.
• Leadership, coaching, and collaboration skills
  Experience coordinating projects, mentoring less experienced colleagues, and working effectively in multidisciplinary teams.
• Vision, innovative mindset, and results orientation
  Able to identify technological opportunities, translate them into commercial strategies, and ensure speed, quality, and reliability in delivery.
• Organisational skills, proactivity, and customer focus
  Able to independently initiate and complete projects, understand customer needs, and translate them into smart, value-adding solutions; able to navigate governance structures effectively.

In addition, you have:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (HBO or WO) in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Digital Marketing, Computer Science, or Business Administration with a digital specialisation.
• Additional certifications in marketing automation, AI tools, or workflow integration are an advantage.
• 4–6 years of experience in commercial automation, AI applications, and digital transformation.
• Experience in a research, knowledge, or B2B innovation environment is an advantage.
• Demonstrable experience with the strategic implementation of marketing and sales automation, such as digital content creation or commercial workflows.
• Experience with AI models (LLMs, image generation), workflow tools (Make.com, Zapier), and CRM platforms (HubSpot).
• Experience with project coordination and collaboration with stakeholders at tactical and strategic levels; experience with agile or iterative working methods is an advantage.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed year-end bonus of 8,3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. We offer, depending on your experience, a competitive gross salary of between €4.045,- and €63228,- for a full-time working week of 36 hours, in accordance with the CLA Wageningen Research (scale 11). Additionally, For this role a contract for 32 hours can be discussed. As for your contract, we initially offer a one-year contract that can be extended - if possible within (company) organizational circumstances - on good performance. Of course, we are happy to have a conversation with you if you have any questions about this.

Wageningen University & Research offers plenty of opportunities for growth and development, with a strong internal recruitment policy and excellent training programmes.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment. For 20 consecutive years, we have been voted the "best university" in the Netherlands! A place to be proud of.

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.

Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.

Because we expect you to work and live in the Netherlands our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family. If you come with a partner, we offer a Dual Career group program organized by our Welcome Center. This program helps your partner to get familiar with the Dutch culture, labour market and assists your partner to find a job.

Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, our Welcome Center can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example housing, opening a bank account or schooling. Finally, certain categories of international staff may be eligible for a tax exemption on a part of their salary during the first five years in the Netherlands.