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Who we are

You enjoy creating and innovating. You never stop striving for better. You take responsibility and you get results. You love being part of a team. Above all, you want your work to matter: Welcome to our world! At Sonova we create sense by bringing sound to life. Our innovative hearing care solutions help millions of people enjoy life’s unforgettable moments.

We offer exceptional career opportunities through market-leading brands from consumer to medical, products and services that keep pushing hearing care forward, and a culture where you can quickly belong and perform at your best.

If you want the freedom to explore, opportunities to grow, and make positive change on people lives through your work, this is the place for you.

Join Sonova. Create sense.

Singapore, Singapore

Director Basic Solution

Location: Singapore

 

The Role

 

This Director Basic Solution will act as Site Leader for the Singapore R&D center, being accountable for the strategic, operational, and people leadership of a regional R&D organization focused on basic hearing devices and value engineering for the Asia Pacific market. 

 

This role ensures delivery of cost-effective, high-quality, and market-relevant hearing solutions, while acting as a key interface between global R&D, regional business units, operations, and external partners across Asia-Pacific. In addition, the role is responsible for building and developing a high-performing team, bringing together diverse capabilities to drive successful collaboration and winning in the Asia-Pacific market. The position will manage a team of 10-12 direct reports (20-40 indirect reports).

 

Key responsibilities

 

The individual in this role will be responsible for driving the overall performance and strategic direction of the Singapore R&D site, ensuring alignment with global priorities and regional business needs, in details:

 

  • Lead the Singapore R&D site, fostering an inclusive, high-performance culture and strong talent development, while representing the site in global forums.
  • Align regional plans with the global R&D strategy for Asia-Pacific and manage the R&D portfolio for basic hearing devices and value platforms, ensuring market fit, cost efficiency, and scalability.
  • Drive value engineering initiatives and lifecycle cost reduction, working closely with Operations and cross-functional teams to ensure manufacturability and competitiveness.
  • Define and monitor key performance metrics related to cost, complexity, speed, and quality.
  • Partner with marketing and regional teams to understand customer, regulatory, and competitive needs in APAC, and adapt global platforms to local market requirements.
  • Collaborate with global R&D centers to ensure alignment on architectures, platforms, and technology roadmaps, while supporting cross-site projects and compliance with global standards.
  • Build and manage relationships with external partners, including universities, research institutes, suppliers, and technology partners, to drive innovation, capability development, and cost advantages.

 

What We Are Looking For

 

Education & Qualifications

  • A solid technical educational background, with a degree in science or engineering or an equivalent technical qualification.
  • Additional knowledge of the hearing industry and/or formal leadership training would be considered an advantage.

Professional Experience

  • Proven leadership experience in an R&D environment, ideally within international and multi-site organizations.
  • Strong experience in strategic planning aligned with business needs.
  • Exposure to MedTech R&D or related technical domains is highly desirable.

Leadership Competencies

  • Ability to inspire a shared vision and lead teams towards common goals.
  • Drives improvement and efficiency through initiatives and structured approaches.
  • Engages and influences stakeholders effectively.
  • Demonstrates decisiveness and transparency in leadership.
  • Fosters team ownership and promotes a collaborative leadership style.
  • Acts as a role model and champions company culture.

Personal & Social Competencies

  • Resilient and able to perform effectively under pressure and uncertainty.
  • Proactive problem solver with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
  • Analytical and strategic mindset with a pragmatic, impact-oriented approach.
  • Continuous learner with high self-awareness and ethical standards.
  • Strong collaboration and networking skills.
  • Clear communicator and empathetic listener, able to work across diverse teams and cultures.

Professional Competencies

  • Strong capabilities in strategic planning and process improvement.
  • Solid risk management skills and ability to navigate change effectively.
  • Good understanding of relevant technical domains and medical device regulations.

Languages & IT Skills

  • Proficiency in English.
  • Additional languages such as Mandarin, Tamil, or German are considered a plus.
  • Familiarity with standard IT and project management tools, such as MS Office, Jira, Confluence, and planning tools.

Sonova is an equal opportunity employer.

We team up. We grow talent. We collaborate with people of diverse backgrounds to win with the best team in the market place. We guarantee every person equal treatment in regard to employment and opportunity for employment, regardless of a candidate’s ethnic or national origin, religion, sexual orientation or marital status, gender, genetic identity, age, disability or any other legally protected status.

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