SENIOR CHEMIST (QC)

About the role

The senior QC Chemist is responsible for ensuring the scientific correctness, reliability, and continuity of routine Quality Control laboratory operations, including analytical testing, instrument performance, and method integrity supporting day-to-day plant operations. The role serves as the technical owner of analytical methods and measurement science, ensuring that laboratory results are chemically valid, logically consistent, and fit for decision-making. In addition to routine QC support, the senior QC Chemist provides laboratory-based analytical and experimental expertise to support process troubleshooting and process improvement initiatives, operating within the governance and approval framework defined by the QC Laboratory Manager.

Key responsibilities

• Maintain analytical method validity across all QC laboratory test methods and ensure that methods remain fit for purpose in accordance with approved standards and site requirements
• Design, verify, and refine sample preparation procedures to ensure accurate representation of the sample matrix and analytical target
• Evaluate and manage analytical interferences, matrix effects, sensitivity limitations, method robustness, and abnormal analytical behaviour, including instrument drift, bias, noise, reproducibility issues, and unexpected result patterns
• Provide technical expertise in laboratory instrumentation and analytical techniques, including XRF, XRD, ICP, UV-Visible spectroscopy, and wet chemical analysis
• Diagnose measurement system issues that cannot be resolved through standard SOP-based actions and establish scientifically sound verification approaches when new or unexpected instrument behaviour is observed
• Support the Assistant Chemist in defining appropriate instrument validation strategies, performance verification approaches, and analytical control mechanisms
• Design and execute laboratory-scale experiments and analytical studies to support process troubleshooting, process optimization initiatives, raw material evaluation, and product quality improvement activities
• Provide scientific interpretation of laboratory results and communicate findings to the QC Manager, Production, and Capex or Operational Excellence teams
• Lead analytical investigations related to out-of-specification results, customer complaint support activities, and process anomalies where laboratory measurements are a contributing factor
• Support the development of laboratory technical capability by providing guidance and training to laboratory personnel on analytical fundamentals, instrument behaviour, and method understanding

About you

• Bachelor's degree in chemistry or a related scientific discipline
• Minimum 5 years industrial experience in analytical laboratories, preferably within chemical manufacturing environments involving complex inorganic systems
• Experience supporting routine Quality Control operations, analytical troubleshooting, and laboratory-based technical studies
• Strong analytical chemistry fundamentals, with clear understanding of how laboratory instruments generate signals, including sample-instrument interaction, matrix effects, analytical interferences, sensitivity, accuracy, precision, and long-term measurement drift
• Practical experience with laboratory instrumentation and analytical techniques relevant to inorganic chemical processing, including spectroscopy-based methods (XRF, XRD, ICP-OES, UV-vis) and wet chemical analysis
• Competence in analytical method validation, sample preparation design, and interpretation of analytical results with understanding of inorganic chemical processes, including crystallization, precipitation, and solid-liquid system characterization
• Capability to design and execute laboratory-scale experiments and analytical studies to support process troubleshooting and improvement initiatives
• Ability to translate analytical and experimental data into clear technical insight that can be communicated effectively to Operations, Technical and Management teams
• Awareness of chemical hazards, laboratory risks, and safety handling practices associated with inorganic chemicals, laboratory equipment, and analytical operations