Packaging Sustainability

Packaging Sustainability & Innovation Lead

We’re seeking a passionate and experienced sustainability professional to join our R&D Packaging team. In this pivotal role, you’ll lead the delivery of our packaging sustainability strategy — driving innovation, regulatory compliance, and design-for-recycling initiatives across global markets. You’ll play a key role in embedding sustainability into packaging development from concept to launch, ensuring our solutions are future-fit and environmentally responsible. Alongside this, you will also deliver NPD projects from a packaging perspective — attending and driving ideation workshops, mapping opportunities, and supporting the development and validation of packaging concepts to ensure sustainability is embedded from the outset.

Overview

Ornua is a leading dairy co-operative which sells premium dairy products globally on behalf of its Member Co-operatives, Ireland’s dairy processors and, in turn, Irish dairy farmers. Ornua has revenues of €3.4 billion and is supported by a global team of approximately 2,800 employees. The Group operates as a commercial organisation across 10 business units, including 12 production facilities located in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa. The commercial organisation is responsible for the marketing and sales of Ornua’s consumer brands including Ireland’s most successful food export: Kerrygold. Consumer markets are served by production facilities in Ireland, Germany and the UK and by in-market Sales & Marketing Teams in Asia, Germany, Ireland, MEA, Poland, Spain, rest of Europe and North and Latin America. It also manages the procurement of Irish and non-Irish dairy products, the sale of dairy ingredients to food manufacturing and foodservice customers globally, and the implementation of de-risking and trading strategies to manage market volatility. These activities are supported by production facilities and in-market teams in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa.

Role We’re seeking a passionate and experienced sustainability professional to join our R&D Packaging team. In this pivotal role, you’ll lead the delivery of our packaging sustainability strategy — driving innovation, regulatory compliance, and design-for-recycling initiatives across global markets. You’ll play a key role in embedding sustainability into packaging development from concept to launch, ensuring our solutions are future-fit and environmentally responsible. Alongside this, you will also deliver NPD projects from a packaging perspective — attending and driving ideation workshops, mapping opportunities, and supporting the development and validation of packaging concepts to ensure sustainability is embedded from the outset.

Key Responsibilities

Sustainability Leadership

- Design for Recycling: Develop and implement design-for-recycling guidelines, embedding them into packaging processes and cross-functional ways of working.
- Regulatory Compliance: Monitor and interpret EU, UK&I, and US packaging legislation, translating requirements into actionable business strategies and ensuring compliance.
- Roadmap Development: Support the Head of Global Packaging in maintaining and updating the packaging sustainability roadmap, ensuring alignment with legislation changes and business priorities.
- Option Mapping: Assess close-in, mid-term, and longer-term sustainability opportunities; conduct technical evaluations and make recommendations to enable business decisions.
- Material & Technical Assessment: Evaluate packaging materials and technologies (fibre-based, rigid & flexible, metal packaging materials, polymers and coatings) for recyclability, sustainability performance, and fit-for-purpose design.
- Impact Assessments & Continuous Improvement: Conduct sustainability impact assessments, including LCAs, recyclability testing, and downgauging opportunities. Identify opportunities to improve recyclability, reduce environmental impact, and drive efficiency in packaging design and material use.
- Data & Reporting: Track sustainability performance metrics, providing evidence-based insights for internal decision-making and external reporting.

New Product Development

- Ideation & Concepting: Attend and contribute to ideation workshops, translating opportunities into sustainable packaging solutions.
- Concept Development: Support the development and validation of new packaging components through testing, trials, and technical assessments.
- Project Delivery: Deliver packaging workstreams within NPD projects, ensuring timelines, quality, and sustainability objectives are met.

Stakeholder Management

Collaborate with internal Global and Local Units (Markets, ESG, Operations, Procurement, Commercial) and external partners to ensure packaging solutions are aligned with sustainability goals and business needs.

Requirements

- Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Packaging, Engineering, Sustainability, or a related field.
- Strong understanding of EU, UK&I, and US packaging regulations, with the ability to translate sustainability requirements into business actions.
- Proven experience in packaging sustainability, including design-for-recycling, impact assessments (LCA, recyclability testing, downgauging), and responsible material selection.
- Technical knowledge of fibre-based, metal rigid & flexible packaging, polymers & coatings.
- Ability to evaluate close-in, mid-term, and longer-term opportunities, combining technical feasibility with commercial insight.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and provide evidence-based recommendations.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with experience influencing cross-functional teams and external partners.
- Demonstrated experience in project management and delivering packaging initiatives, including NPD projects.

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