Head of Product Development & Innovation

L axå Special Vehicles develops and manufactures truck cabs and truck chassis on behalf of our owner, Scania. We are 185 employees, all contributing to meeting our commitments and ambitious goals in development, quality, and delivery within a safe working environment. Our vision is to be "A competent vehicle supplier that exceeds customer expectations."  

Read more at: www.laxasv.se , www.facebook.com/laxaspecialvehicles och LinkedIn    

Role Summary

At Laxå Specialvehicles, you will play a central role in developing customized vehicles and solutions for special transport operations. Working closely with Scania and our internal teams, you will help develop products, identify new opportunities, and transform ideas into well-designed solutions that work throughout the entire journey from development to finished product.  

You will join a competent team, a stable business, and an organization with a strong collaborative relationship with Scania. At the same time, there are significant opportunities to influence how we develop our products, manage projects, and collaborate across functions. We are looking for someone who enjoys exploring new solutions while understanding what is required to make them work in practice. If you want to combine technical curiosity and innovation with leadership and close customer collaboration, this could be your next career step.  

Job Responsibilities

As Head of Product Development & Innovation, you will have overall responsibility for leading and further developing Laxå's Product Development Department. You will set the direction and create the conditions for the team to develop customized cabs and chassis with the right functionality, quality, and delivery capability. At the same time, you will drive the development of our ways of working and ensure that good ideas can become sustainable and industrialized solutions.

An important part of the assignment is to deepen and further develop the partnership with Scania. By building strong relationships, understanding customer needs, and creating alignment around opportunities and priorities, you will contribute to developing both our offering and the way we work internally. You will serve as a key link between engineering, customers, employees, product development and production. 

You will lead a team consisting of Product Managers, Design Engineers and Prototype Builders. This role combines close and engaging leadership with a long-term focus on product development, competence development and the company's continued growth. 

Your responsibility will include:

• Leading and developing the team by creating engagement, building competence, and providing specialists with the conditions for success. 
• Driving technical development and innovation by encouraging curiosity, exploring opportunities, and contributing to solutions that meet customer needs and strengthen our products.
• Strengthening collaboration with Scania through trusted relationships, developing common ways of working, and identifying needs and opportunities within special vehicles and special transport applications.
• Developing project management and processes by creating clarity around objectives, priorities, responsibilities and decision-making structures to ensure efficient execution from concept to finished product.
• Connecting product development and production by ensuring that designs and prototypes can be translated into reliable and quality-assured manufacturing.
• Contributing to the company's strategic development as a member of the company’s management team by turning long-term ambitions into concrete initiatives and improvements. 

The position is based at LSV's facilities in Laxå. Some travel is required, and you will report directly to the Managing Director.

Who You Are

We are looking for someone who combines technical curiosity with confident and engaging leadership. You have a genuine interest in product development and enjoy understanding how things work, identifying new opportunities, and solving technical challenges. You thrive when combining creativity and innovative problem-solving with structure, collaboration and practical execution.

You also understand that outstanding development rarely happens in isolation. You build relationships, unite people around common goals and foster collaboration where different competencies contribute to stronger overall outcomes.

We believe you have:

• Experience leading a technical product development organization within the automotive industry.
• A strong understanding of all stages of product development, from customer needs and concepts through engineering, prototyping, project execution, and industrialization.
• Experience in project management and in developing processes, working methods and cross-functional collaboration.
• The ability to navigate effectively in an organization with many stakeholders.
• Experience creating engagement and direction for technical specialists, preferably also through other leaders.
• Experience working with customer-specific products, complex technical solutions, or development in close partnership with a larger industrial customer is considered highly valuable.

You are curious, solution-oriented, and able to identify opportunities where others may see limitations. You enjoy discussing technical solutions, asking questions, and challenging established ways of working, while remaining pragmatic and understanding what it takes to move from idea to successful implementation.

As a leader, you are humble, clear, and relationship-oriented. You listen, build trust, and create an environment where people feel comfortable thinking differently and sharing their ideas. At the same time, you can prioritize, make decisions, and establish the structure required to move development forward.

You possess a strategic mindset and understand the broader business perspective without losing touch with technology or everyday operations. Above all, you are motivated by developing people, products, and partnerships, and by creating something together that did not previously exist.

Application

Does this sound like the next step in your career? We welcome your application and look forward to hearing how you can contribute to the continued development of Laxå Special Vehicles.  

We are partnering with Consensus in this recruitment process. For more information, please contact:  

Nathalie Tyresgård: +46 73 221 98 43  

Lena Ahlin: +46 70 374 34 94  

Please submit your application via

Does this sound like the next step in your career? We welcome your application and look forward to hearing how you can contribute to the continued development of Laxå Special Vehicles.  

We are partnering with Consensus in this recruitment process. For more information, please contact:  

Nathalie Tyresgård: +46 73 221 98 43  

Lena Ahlin: +46 70 374 34 94  

Please submit your application via Head of Product Development & Innovation - Consensus - Consensus no later than 15 November. We look forward to receiving your application.   

no later than 15 November. We look forward to receiving your application.