Head Research and Development

To lead and drive the company's research and development strategy across industrial enzymes, probiotics, microbial fermentation, specialty biotechnology and related products for animal nutrition, leather processing, water and wastewater treatment, textiles, pulp and paper, detergents, and other industrial applications.

Job Responsibilities include

1. R&D Strategy: Develop and implement R&D strategies aligned with business objectives and commercial growth.
2. Product Development: Lead the development of new enzyme, probiotic, microbial and specialty biotechnology products.
3. Enzyme Technology: Optimise enzyme production, activity, stability, formulation and application performance.
4. Probiotic Development: Lead microbial strain selection, evaluation, probiotic formulation, viable and spore-count optimisation and product stability.
5. Fermentation Optimisation: Optimise fermentation media, process parameters, productivity, yields, biomass and sporulation.
6. Scale-Up: Transfer successful laboratory processes to pilot and commercial production, ensuring reproducibility and consistency.
7. Process Troubleshooting: Identify root causes of fermentation failures, contamination, low yields, inconsistent counts and product-quality issues.
8. Downstream Processing: Improve harvesting, concentration, drying, stabilisation and formulation processes for enzyme and probiotic products.
9. Quality and Validation: Establish analytical methods, testing protocols, product specifications and stability studies.
10. Cost Optimisation: Reduce raw-material consumption, manufacturing costs, process losses and production inefficiencies.
11. Application Research: Support customer trials, product validation, technical investigations and performance improvement.
12. Team Management: Lead, mentor and manage R&D scientists, microbiologists and laboratory personnel.
13. Documentation and Compliance: Maintain experimental records, SOPs, technical reports and relevant regulatory and biosafety documentation.
14. Cross-Functional Coordination: Work closely with Production, QA, QC, Regulatory and Business Development teams to commercialise new products.
15. Innovation and Commercialisation: Identify new technologies, protect intellectual property and convert research outcomes into commercially viable products.
16. ISO and FAMI-QS Audits: Lead R&D-related preparations and actively face internal and external audits for ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and FAMI-QS, ensuring compliance with applicable requirements.

Preferred candidate profile

• Master's or PhD in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biochemical Engineering, Fermentation Technology or a related discipline.
• 15 years of relevant industrial biotechnology experience.
• Demonstrated experience in enzyme technology, probiotics and microbial fermentation.
• Proven track record in process optimisation, commercial scale-up and product development.
• Strong technical troubleshooting, analytical and team leadership skills.