Circularity & Sustainability Project Manager

The core mission is to give Royal Terberg Group a workable circularity agenda, then carry it into the businesses. In practice that means translating circular economy principles into concrete options for products, materials, production processes, services and value chains, and deciding which initiatives are worth prioritising in an engineering and manufacturing setting. You would set objectives and define how progress gets measured, so circularity becomes something the Group can track rather than a statement of intent. A second mission is project leadership across the sustainability roadmap. That covers project plans, governance, responsibilities and deliverables, coordination across legal entities, countries and corporate functions, and follow-up on risks, dependencies and agreed actions. The balance point is Group-wide consistency versus local maturity, since the 55 entities sit in different markets and are at different stages. Reporting and alignment complete the picture. You would contribute to Group-wide sustainability reporting, coordinate collection, validation and consolidation of data, support CSRD and ESRS compliance, and turn reporting outputs into management information. Alongside that, you would work with Finance, Legal, HR and Procurement to clarify who owns what, prepare decision papers and advise stakeholders, stepping in for the Group Sustainability Manager when needed.

The strongest learning curve here is circular economy applied to heavy, long-life industrial products. You would get to test principles against real vehicle design, maintenance and recovery cycles, which is a different problem from circularity in consumer goods or packaging. That experience is scarce and portable. You would also deepen your grip on CSRD and ESRS implementation in a decentralised group: how data ownership is assigned across entities, how controls and validation work when reporting sits far from the source, and how requirements become processes people actually follow. Coordinating this across 19 countries adds a governance dimension that a single-entity reporting role rarely offers. Finally, the role sits close to senior decision-making. Preparing recommendations and decision papers, representing the Group Sustainability Manager and influencing technical and operational leaders without formal authority are skills that transfer directly to a future head of sustainability position. Exposure to the electric and hydrogen vehicle programmes likely adds further material on low-carbon technology in a manufacturing context.

The profile is specific: roughly 7 to 15 years of experience, a master's degree in engineering, industrial engineering, sustainability, environmental sciences or a comparable technical field, and a track record that includes strategy, sustainability, operations or transformation consulting. Experience inside a manufacturing, automotive, mobility or industrial organisation matters, since the role requires understanding how products are designed, manufactured, used, maintained and recovered. Candidates with both consulting and industry experience are likely to be favoured. On the technical side, expect to need solid knowledge of circularity, sustainability strategy, ESG frameworks and reporting requirements, plus hands-on familiarity with CSRD and ESRS and with sustainability data processes. Analytical strength and professional fluency in English are required, and Dutch is an advantage given the Dutch headquarters and the local entity base. Occasional travel within Europe should be expected. The softer requirements carry as much weight. The role calls for someone who structures complex problems, communicates sustainability topics clearly to senior and technical audiences, and builds common direction while respecting local entrepreneurship. Ownership, follow-through and a bias toward measurable progress are named explicitly, so a candidate who can point to delivered outcomes rather than plans alone reads as a stronger fit.

Because the posting is explicit about the mix it wants, the most effective application maps your experience onto three axes: consulting or transformation work, industrial or manufacturing context, and circularity or ESG reporting delivery. Name the legal entities, countries or business units you coordinated across, the size of the project, and what changed as a result. Vague statements about passion for sustainability will not distinguish you here. On circularity, be concrete about products rather than principles. If you have worked on material reuse, remanufacturing, take-back, design for disassembly or service and maintenance models, describe the product and the outcome. On reporting, state which ESRS areas you handled and how you set up data ownership and controls, since the role explicitly covers validation, consolidation and data ownership across a decentralised group. The decentralised structure is the real test, so prepare to explain how you create alignment without formal authority. A short example of a business unit resisting a Group standard, and how you handled it, will land better than a list of frameworks. Mentioning Dutch language ability, if you have it, is worth a line. Expect questions on how you balance Group consistency with local autonomy, and be ready to discuss the occasional European travel.

Circularity is the centre of gravity. The role is expected to shape how products, materials, production processes, services and value chains move toward circular models, which in a vehicle manufacturer means questions of design for longevity and repair, material choice, recovery at end of life and service models that extend asset life. The Group already builds electric drivetrains and tests hydrogen, so circularity likely sits alongside rather than instead of that decarbonisation work. Reporting is the second pillar. CSRD and ESRS compliance, data collection, validation and consolidation across 55 entities, and the conversion of reporting outputs into management information are all named. That suggests a strong governance and data quality dimension, not only environmental metrics, with social and workforce topics covered through the HR and Finance interfaces. The role also touches sustainable manufacturing and value chain topics. Procurement engagement and the assessment of which topics need Group direction suggest that supplier-related expectations and production footprint may fall within scope. How far the remit extends into social impact or community topics is less clear from the posting and could vary with the Group's materiality work.

The central difficulty is structural. Royal Terberg Group is deliberately decentralised, with 55 legal entities across 19 countries and an entrepreneurial culture the posting says it wants to preserve. A Group-level circularity programme has to earn its place business by business, and any attempt to impose uniform standards risks the local ownership the family model depends on. Influencing without formal authority is named in the posting for a reason. Maturity varies widely. Businesses operate in different markets and sit at different stages on sustainability, so a single template will not fit. Deciding where a common approach adds value and where local expertise should lead is a judgement call that will be contested, and progress may be uneven across entities. Reporting adds a second pressure. CSRD and ESRS data has to be collected, validated and consolidated from sources far from the centre, which often means incomplete data, inconsistent methods and competing priorities at entity level. Combining that reporting discipline with project delivery and strategic advisory work means the role carries three modes at once, and the risk of reporting consuming all the available time is real.

Days likely split between analysis, coordination and persuasion. A morning might go to reviewing sustainability data submissions from a few entities, checking gaps against ESRS requirements and flagging where validation needs follow-up. That work connects to Finance and the businesses, since reporting consolidation depends on their inputs and timelines. Project work takes another block. That could mean refining a circularity initiative for one product line, drafting a project plan with governance and milestones, or preparing a decision paper for senior stakeholders on whether a topic should be handled at Group or local level. Meetings with Procurement, Legal or HR are plausible, as is a session with a business unit whose sustainability maturity differs from the rest. Variability comes from the travel and the regulatory calendar. Occasional trips within Europe to visit entities or attend workshops would break up the hybrid routine, and reporting deadlines would concentrate attention on data quality and consolidation. Some days will be advisory, sitting with the Group Sustainability Manager and shaping recommendations rather than executing tasks.

The most visible path is toward the Group Sustainability Manager role, which the posting names as a counterpart you would support and represent. That is unusually direct exposure for a project role, and strong delivery across circularity and reporting would position a holder well for it or for a comparable head of sustainability position. Beyond that, the breadth of the remit builds a generalist leadership profile. Working across Finance, Legal, HR and Procurement, and across 19 countries, gives visibility that narrow specialist roles do not. Successful circularity programmes that scale across businesses could become flagship work within the Group, which tends to translate into larger mandates. Skill growth is likely to come from three directions: circular economy applied to industrial products, CSRD and ESRS implementation at group scale, and change management in a decentralised ownership structure. Any single one of these is marketable; together they point toward senior sustainability leadership in manufacturing.

Inside the Group, the closest working relationship is likely with the Group Sustainability Manager, whom you would advise, support and occasionally represent. Corporate functions including Finance, Legal, HR and Procurement are named as regular interfaces, and each brings its own priorities and constraints. Finance in particular matters for reporting consolidation and data controls. The business units and legal entities are the other core group. Their managers hold operational knowledge, local market context and the autonomy the Group protects, so interactions there are less about instruction and more about negotiation, shared problem solving and building commitment. Technical and operational stakeholders in engineering and production will be central to any circularity work that touches product design or manufacturing processes. External contact is lighter but present. Regulators and standard setters shape the CSRD and ESRS requirements indirectly, auditors may review reported data, and value chain partners could enter the picture as circularity work extends to suppliers and recovery. Occasional travel within Europe would support these relationships.