Senior Chemist– Process & Product Development

Location: Nottingham, UK

Salary: Competitive, depending on experience

Company: Vateris

The Role

We are looking for a highly capable, hands-on Senior Chemist to develop and scale chemical processes and products from laboratory through to industrial production.

This is an applied industrial role combining process development, product innovation, analytical chemistry and scale-up. The work involves both routine optimisation and development of new processes, products and applications.

You will work across amine chemistry, crystallisation, electrodialysis, separation, purification and chemical modification, translating laboratory chemistry into reliable, scalable and commercially viable industrial processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, optimise and scale chemical processes from laboratory and pilot scale through to production.
• Design experiments to improve reaction conditions, crystallisation, product properties, purity, yield and process repeatability.
• Troubleshoot chemical and process problems using structured root-cause analysis.
• Develop and characterise new products, intermediate streams and adjacent chemical processes.
• Establish analytical methods, product specifications, SOPs and quality-control procedures.
• Collaborate with process engineers and production teams to implement new chemistry, process improvements and in-line/on-line analytics.
• Work with commercial teams to adapt products to customer requirements and identify new applications.

Candidate Profile

• Degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science or a related discipline.
• 5–10 years of relevant industrial experience in chemical process development, product development, specialty chemicals or advanced materials.
• Demonstrated experience developing chemical products and translating laboratory processes towards pilot or industrial production.
• Strong skills in experimental design, process optimisation, troubleshooting and analytical interpretation.
• Practical experience with chemical reactions, crystallisation, separation or purification processes.
• Experience in startups, scale-ups or industrial R&D environments is advantageous.
• Able to work independently and collaboratively with multidisciplinary technical and commercial teams.

Analytical experience: Hands-on experience with several of the following is beneficial: FTIR, NIR, XRD, SEM/EDS, BET, TGA/DSC, calorimetry, GC-MS and LC-MS.

What We Are Looking For

We are particularly interested in industrial chemists who can turn laboratory chemistry into reliable products and scalable manufacturing processes.

The ideal candidate combines hands-on experimentation, analytical problem-solving and industrial scale-up experience, with the ability to develop products that meet commercial requirements.

We value proven industrial achievements and practical technical capability over academic qualifications or university reputation.