AI Product Lead (m/f/d)

We are the world market leader for reusable packaging containers (RPCs) for fresh food and are constantly optimizing our products.

We help make the food supply cycle for the population more sustainable.

With our RPCs, safety for food transport is improved, there is less waste of food and at the same time the lifespan of the products increases.

Through our products and the need for less packaging materials we reduce the carbon footprint.

„The future is circular“

About the role

IFCO already applies AI across the business, from machine learning to computer vision, and this role owns that AI product portfolio end-to-end.

The newest frontier is agentic AI, a fast‑moving and largely greenfield field, and the AI Product Lead takes the lead in shaping how IFCO prioritises, builds and scales agentic use cases alongside our established AI work, with strong executive sponsorship.

This is a deliberately hands‑on role – not a pure strategist position, and not a pure delivery manager position.

In the same week you might pressure‑test a sponsored use case against value criteria, sit in a standup with engineering, walk a stakeholder through evaluation results, and unblock an integration dependency.

You report to the Director Data & AI and own the AI portfolio across the business, spanning functions such as Finance, Operations, Sales and HR.

Location: Pullach near Munich (hybrid). Level: Senior Manager. Reports to: Director Data & AI, Global IT. Languages: fluent English essential, German strongly preferred.

Key responsibilities

• Stakeholder Management & Portfolio Strategy – Acts as the single point of contact for all AI matters, translating business priorities into a prioritised, sequenced AI roadmap and maintaining a value tracker from idea to realised value.
• Decides What Gets Built – Pressure‑tests every proposed use case against explicit value, feasibility and risk criteria before scoping, says no clearly and early regardless of who proposes it, and keeps an auditable record of accepted, deferred and rejected use cases.
• Hands‑on Delivery Steering – Works week to week alongside AI Engineering – in standups, sprint reviews and demos – owning requirements engineering with clear, testable acceptance criteria and co‑owning evaluation design with engineering.
• Cross‑functional Execution & Blocker Removal – Resolves dependencies and removes organisational and technical blockers across SAP and application teams, the data platform, integration sequencing and external vendors to keep delivery moving.
• Technology & Vendor Strategy – Continuously scans the market and challenges IFCO’s stack against emerging alternatives, keeping a deliberate multi‑model, multi‑vendor posture (today: Databricks, Claude Enterprise, Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft Copilot Studio) and piloting new tools in R&D environments where there is a credible case.
• Value‑focused Delivery Mindset – Takes a pragmatic “ship to prove value” approach, bringing use cases into production quickly, validating outcomes, and scaling, iterating or retiring them based on evidence, while keeping a clear view of value versus cost.
• Cross‑functional Collaboration & Governance – Partners with governance, engineering and adoption teams to meet GDPR, EU AI Act and internal policy before go‑live, enable rollouts, and represent AI in transformation programmes such as S/4HANA, Salesforce and finance transformation.
• We expect
• Professional Experience – Several years in combining product, business and technology roles in enterprise IT or digital transformation, including end‑to‑end ownership of a portfolio, programme or workstream from strategy through live production and value realisation.
• Senior Stakeholder Engagement – Proven ability to work directly with senior stakeholders across Finance, Operations, HR or commercial leadership, driving technology‑enabled change with measurable outcomes.
• Outcome‑driven Decision Making – A track record of saying no to weak proposals and shipping the ones that survive, challenging ideas confidently and adjusting on evidence rather than defending initial views.
• AI & Technical Fluency – Current, practical understanding of LLM‑based applications, agentic patterns, RAG and evaluation methods, credible with engineers, plus familiarity with the enterprise AI vendor landscape (Anthropic, Microsoft, Azure AI Foundry, Databricks) and sound build‑versus‑buy judgement.
• AI Risk & Product Understanding – Working knowledge of AI‑specific risks (hallucination, bias, prompt injection, data leakage) and their mitigation, plus a grasp of how AI products differ from traditional software around evaluation, probabilistic outputs and value measurement.
• Product & Delivery Excellence – Strong product‑management fundamentals (discovery, prioritisation, OKRs, business cases, value tracking) and hands‑on agile delivery and requirements definition, without being bound by process dogma.
• Leadership & Growth Mindset – Communicates clearly and directly, thrives in ambiguity, and brings high curiosity, driving senior stakeholders forward on emerging technology in an international environment.
• Where the role sits

You own the AI portfolio end‑to‑end – deciding what gets built, setting priorities, and steering delivery alongside engineering until use cases are live and creating value.

Architecture and code stay with the engineering leads; your focus is on value and outcomes, not sprint mechanics or status tracking.

• We offer
• End‑to‑end ownership – Own IFCO’s AI product portfolio with executive sponsorship and direct exposure to the leadership team and business‑unit heads, and help shape our move into agentic AI.
• Room to grow and explore – Shape how AI product ownership works at IFCO, with R&D environments to pilot new technologies, support for external visibility, and longer‑term scope to take on people leadership.
• Make a difference where it matters – Play a key role in a sustainable, future‑proof industry in an international team with flat hierarchies and fast decisions.
• Work your way – Hybrid work and workation options, plus unlimited Linked In Learning and our Employee Support Program.
• Modern office, easy to reach – Open spaces and modern devices, a fitness centre, free beverages and a subsidised canteen (Bella & Bona), with underground parking and the S7 station at our door.

At IFCO, we believe that a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace makes us a more relevant, more competitive, and more resilient company.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, and experiences.

IFCO is an equal opportunity employer.

We are looking forward to receiving your application.

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