Just had a new role assigned to us, from a very interesting and exciting manufacturer in the Houston area. This company has just completed their Series D funding round and has an operating unit that is producing 10 tons/year of a water treatment chemical. How I’ve been describing the company is this – some startup companies are trying to invent the wheel, bringing a first-of-its-kind technology to market (a nobel, but very difficult and uncertain task)…this company is trying to reinvent/reimagine the manufacturing processes for chemicals that already exist and which are widely used. The benefit there is that if they can pull it off, large markets already exist for the products and the scalability happens much quicker.

Why Consider this Role?

• Some startup companies are pushing a rock up a hill in the technology development stage and some startup companies have proven a technology out and are building it up…this is that second kind of company and what they are building has gotten the attention of several high-profile venture capital firms who have staked a lot of money to this company.
• This company currently has 175 employees and is quickly growing – with a valuation of over $1B already, this is the kind of role that has the potential for massive advancement in a pretty quick fashion, as they continue to rapidly grow and expand over the next several years.
• If you care about the movement to make chemicals in a way that is more environmentally friendly, this is the front-lines of that effort. This company is making commonly-used chemicals but in a way that eliminates air and wastewater emissions.

Requirements:

• B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering or Biology
• Must have experience one of the following: fermentation, bioprocess development, or bioprocess scaleup/technology transfer.
• 7+ yrs of post-college manufacturing experience – good industry fits would be wine/beer manufacturing, bioplastics, or really any manufacturing environment that utilizes fermentation
• Willingness to travel up to 25%

What you will be doing:

• You will be doing development, design and/or troubleshooting of bioprocesses, including fermentation and downstream processing. Useful equipment/process knowledge would include: centrifugation, tangential flow filtration, homogenization, spray drying, etc).
• You will also be involved in analyzing fermentation performance which would involve things like calculating yield coefficients, oxygen transfer rate/uptake rate, doing heat & mass balances, determining kinetic parameters, etc
• You will find yourself in both lab as well as operating unit environments doing a mix of desk work and hands-on work; in this kind of a role, it is fast-paced and constantly changing

To submit a resume for this role, please visit the job page and click “Apply”