Group HR Director
Zwijndrecht
Royal Van Leeuwen Buizen
Are you a next‑generation HR leader ready to step into a Group HR Director role?
We are looking for a proven, forward‑looking HR leader who can guide the Royal Van Leeuwen Buizen into its next phase—strengthening global HR practices while ensuring they truly land with people. Someone who can embed and internalise key initiatives, yet stays close to the human heart of a down‑to‑earth, entrepreneurial family business.
Organisation
Royal Van Leeuwen (RVL) is an international distribution company specializing in steel pipes, and pipe and tube applications. The company with 2.250 employees, and its head office in Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, was founded in 1924 and is active in virtually all industrial sectors. The company has 70 branches spread across 32 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and North America. Royal Van Leeuwen is a proud and successful family-owned company with a deeply rooted commitment to future generations and sustainability. Its culture is defined by strong customer focus, a down‑to‑earth mindset, genuine attention to people, a commercial spirit, and a continuous drive to improve and innovate.
Role
Royal Van Leeuwen has made significant steps in strengthening its HR function, resulting in a clear people strategy with key pillars such as leadership & culture, talent, learning & development, reward, HR digitalisation, and employee engagement. The global implementation of Workday provides a solid and scalable foundation.
With this strong base now established, RVL is seeking a proven, forward-looking Group HR Director who can guide the organization into its next phase—ensuring that core HR initiatives are not only embedded and consistently implemented but truly internalised across the global organization. At the same time, the dynamic nature of the business requires continuous innovation: developing new initiatives that enable the organization and its people to keep growing, evolving, and staying engaged. This role therefore combines disciplined execution with strategic foresight, ensuring HR remains a driving force for organizational and people development in a rapidly changing environment.
The Group HR Director reports directly to the Chairman and CEO and will actively participate as a key member in the Extended Leadership Team of Royal Van Leeuwen. The HR team at the headquarters consists of a Global Compensation & Benefits Manager and a Global Manager Talent & Development. The Regional HR Managers (10 FTE), located across the various countries and regions, have a functional reporting line into this role. All HR professionals—both at HQ and in the countries—form part of a global HR community for which the Group HR Director is responsible. Furthermore, the Group HR Director works closely with the business leaders in each country to ensure strong alignment between global HR initiatives and local business needs.
Profile
You are a next‑generation HR leader with solid experience and the drive to take the next step into a Group HR Director role. You feel at home in an ambitious, down‑to‑earth family business, aligns naturally with Van Leeuwen’s values, and brings a genuinely international mindset.
Moreover you have the following qualifications:
- A minimum of 10 to 15 years of (international) all-round HR experience and preferably 5 years in the role of Corporate HR Director/highest HR level in company.
- Business acumen and ability to manage, organize and prioritize, leading effectively through the dynamics of change. Experience in an Industrial (Manufacturing/Distribution) business environment looks essential.
- The ability to think at a strategic and conceptual level about people and organizational matters as they relate to the overall business strategy.
- Hands‑on and practical, with the ability to initiate and delegate effectively while also stepping in to get things done when needed.
- Able to work with or on behalf of Management Board and/or Regional Management to implement organizational changes, reorganize and/or push continuous organizational development.
- Communicates and engages at all levels whilst developing talent. Build and maintain strong relationships while actively supporting collaboration and integration of diverse perspectives to create successful teams.
- Experience and working knowledge of employment laws, unions, works-councils and understanding of their impact on the business.
- Be positive with a forward-looking mindset and ‘can-do’ attitude.
- Personal credibility: an open responsible personality, who is reliable and trustworthy and shows loyalty, honesty and a proven strong sense of ethics in all decisions and actions.
- Flexible and able to work in a fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment characterized by consistent change and improvement.
- Master’s degree, ideally in HR-related studies or Business studies.
- Ideally from the Rotterdam area. Due to the international character of the company, there will be some travelling within Europe required for this role.
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Neem contact met ons op.
Marjolein Hes
Vroom Executive
Anne Marie Bakker
Managing Partner