Vice President Service Unit Europe (m/f/d)

HELM is in a major transformation journey aiming for ambitious goals to position itself in the 21st century and create solution for tomorrow, today. Our strategy is based on four pilars: sustainability (PBT, Co2 footprint, Biodiversity protection and equality), strategic partnership and eco system development, digitalization of our processes and business models & AI readiness and people (diversity and inclusion, personal development, team building).

In this context, HELM is seeking a strategic and results-driven Vice President (m/f/d) to lead our Service Unit Europe. This role supports our European business operations across multiple sectors —including our Business Units Chemicals, Energy Materials and CropSolutions as well as corporate functions and subsidiaries such as Helaxa, LevertonHelm, MiderHelm, and HELMKraeft.

The position oversees a leadership area comprising approximately 100 employees in 11 european countries, including 3–4 direct reports across key service domains. This position could be filled in Hamburg, Germany and will directly report to the Executive Vice President Global Services.

Your responsibilities:

• In this role you will be responsible for delivering reliable and efficient services to our Business Units in Europe, while closely collaborating with other Service and Corporate Functions to enhance HELM’s overall performance.
• You will ensure the smooth execution of daily operations in Finance, HR, HSEQ, Chemical Compliance, and office management, in accordance with the defined service catalogue.
• You will guarantee compliance with applicable regulations and HELM Group Principles across all relevant European entities, without being tasked with creating country-specific principles.
• Furthermore, you are driving continuous cost improvement through digitalization of processes, organizational optimization, and renegotiation of service provider contracts—always aligned with service reliability and business needs.
• Here, you will act as a solution provider to support business strategies and initiatives, including legal entity creation or closure, integration of participations, and development of new services or business models.
• You will oversee legal entity management, ensuring proper governance through board nominations, resolutions, SLA compliance, and maintenance of the legal entity database.
• Moreover, you contribute to the design, update, and implementation of the global service roadmap, identifying opportunities to globalize region-specific tasks or functions for cost efficiency.
• You will negotiate the regional budget and service catalogue with relevant European leadership and ensure their effective implementation.

Your profile:

• A master’s degree in business administration or finance is required; CPA certification is considered a plus.
• Moreover, you bring at least 4 years of experience in a comparable leadership role with similar scope and complexity. Ideally, you have gained experiences in leading different service units or shared service center within a company matrix organisation.
• You demonstrate strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with a clear understanding of how strategy, processes, and organizational structures interconnect.
• Possesses technical expertise in project and process management, accounting, legal entity governance, and a basic understanding of HSEQ and HR topics would be also a must for this function.
• You are proficient in SAP S/4HANA, Salesforce, and Office 365and you are fluent in English; additional European languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, or German are highly desirable.
• You have a solid finance background and either the potential to grow into broader responsibilities or are seeking a final impactful assignment.

• Above all, embodies an empathetic and people-focused leadership style, with the ability to motivate, retain, and develop employees across diverse teams and cultures would be important for us.