BH01 Biomanufacturing / Bioprocessing Lead

Green Bioactives Ltd (green-bioactives.com) is an Edinburgh-headquartered cutting-edge plant biotechnology company developing a plant cell-based biomanufacturing platform to produce high-value biomolecules for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, food, and agriculture industries. Our proprietary technology-driven platform facilitates the discovery and generation of plant natural products in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable fashion. Our vision is to become the world’s leading supplier of safe, natural, and sustainable plant biomolecules, employing production processes that help protect and sustain our environment.

What we are looking for

Green Bioactives Ltd is seeking to recruit a senior biomanufacturing/bioprocessing professional who has excellent organization, planning, prioritization, and communication skills to lead the design, establishment, and operation of our large-scale plant cell culture-based biomanufacturing operation including the recruitment and management of a team of biomanufacturing and downstream processing scientists. The position provides an exciting opportunity to contribute significantly to the growth of Green Bioactives’ business by effectively developing, communicating, and realizing the company’s business goals around the scaling of the company’s biomanufacturing capabilities to meet our growing customer needs.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

• Design, establish, operate and improve the company’s large-scale plant cell culture-based biomanufacturing operations.
• Managing the upscaling of production to ensure that our bioprocessing-related deliverables adhere to budget, timelines, and customer requirements.
• Lead downstream process development for the purification of new natural products derived from large-scale plant cell cultures.
• Recruit, train, motivate, and retain a team of highly skilled biomanufacturing scientists.
• Work collaboratively across the company, with both senior management and upstream research scientists, to generate and deliver on the company’s biomanufacturing performance targets, to proactively address and solve biomanufacturing-related problems, and to remove constraints otherwise compromising ongoing biomanufacturing performance.
• Contribute to business development efforts and customer meetings in a professional manner to ensure smooth project progression and timely delivery on customer product development goals/KPIs.
• Develop forward planning technical work schedules for the biomanufacturing team to deliver on customer product development projects in a timely manner and to specifications.
• Lead techno-economic assessment modeling of biomanufacturing costs (COGs) and the identification and implementation of bioprocess improvements related to downstream cost reductions.
• Participate in company fundraising efforts by providing forecasts and operation cost estimates as needed.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives within the biomanufacturing function to address recurring deviations, capitalize on process yield improvement opportunities, and drive other initiatives to improve process quality, safety, and waste elimination/recycling to ensure high levels of natural product supply reliability in an environmentally sustainable manner.
• Ensure a safe working environment for staff and create and review risk assessments and process COSSH for biomanufacturing projects.
• Ensure that all biomanufacturing-related processes and operations comply with all current regulations.
• Ensure that the work of the biomanufacturing team complies with QC/QA standards and Data Integrity and Good Documentation Practices (GDP) and that they are all undertaken in accordance with applicable SOPs.
• Maintain documentation for bioprocessing equipment and biomanufacturing processes to ensure continuous improvement e.g. SOP, BMRs.
• Maintain mandatory biomanufacturing safety documentation for relevant bioprocess equipment/processes/ waste disposal.

Qualifications and Key Skills

Essential Criteria

• Relevant degree (MSc, Ph.D. or EngD) in Biochemical Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, Biotechnology, or similar bioprocessing-related engineering subject.
• Experience in a similar role, preferably within a life sciences R&D/production environment.
• Industry-relevant experience in the development of downstream processes including purification, filtration, and analysis for biological compounds, e.g. vitamins, proteins, secondary metabolites, etc.
• Industry-relevant experience in scale-up from lab bench to >1,000 litre in bioreactor/fermentor systems.
• Experience in leadership, coaching, and development of operational and technical teams with high-potential individuals in organizations undergoing significant growth and change.
• Experience in managing staff, supporting continuous professional development, and mitigating / managing staff conflict.
• Experience of working with suppliers to source, install and troubleshoot bioprocessing equipment operation including mechanical and system faults resolution.
• Experienced with structured problem solving, identifying and resolving problems effectively and urgently; gathering and analyzing information skillfully; developing alternative solutions; working very well in cross-functional teams for problem-solving.
• Experience employing mathematics/statistics to assist in bioprocess scale-up (e.g. design of experiment) as well as deploying numerical/analytical techniques at scale to support large-volume bioreactor operations.
• Experience designing, establishing, and managing advanced biobased product manufacturing to high QA/QC requirements.
• Experience managing operational health and safety in a dynamic and changing environment.
• Excellent customer relationship management, time management, and oral/written communication skills.
• Continuous improvement mindset and improvement deployment capability within and across teams.

Additional information

• Job title: TBD
• Reports to: CEO.
• Job location: Edinburgh.
• Job type: Full-time.
• Hours of work: Core working hours are between 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. 40 hours per week including a 1-hour lunch break per day.
• Salary: £80,000 per year depending upon experience.
• Benefits: 28 days holiday (inclusive of 8 public holidays), pension scheme, EMI share options.
• Right to work in the UK: Preferable but not essential.
• Reference: Upon request.

At Green Bioactives we value and encourage diversity and are committed to promoting equality of opportunity and eliminating discrimination. We are committed to offering support and making reasonable adjustments to allow full participation in the recruitment process. Please let us know of any requirements you have and we will consider any reasonable adjustments.

Application Instructions

If you are excited about plant biotechnology and meet the above criteria, we would be happy to hear from you. Please apply here.

For more information and initial contact:  ian.grant@edenscott.com