Director of Commercial Engineering & Technical Services

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Job description

Overview - The Company

Our client is a leader in bioengineering. They develop commercial biobased processes to make widely used chemicals that enable better, more sustainable everyday products. That enables our partners and leading brands to offer better food packaging, auto parts, clothing, tires, carpets, and more. We have commercialized processes for bio-BDO (for plastics), for biobased butylene glycol (for cosmetics), and chiral pure R13BDO for human nutrition. We are working on polyamide intermediates (nylon) and on butadiene (tires); and we are helping numerous companies with their bioprocesses.

The Job

We are seeking to hire a highly motivated chemical industry professional to join the Specialty Products group. The Director, Commercial Engineering & Technical Services, will lead commercial plant design and engineering activities and provide technical licensing support in the field of biobased chemical processes. Successful candidates will be able to leverage their experience and expertise to build and lead a team consisting of internal process technology and engineering experts, external engineering contractors, and consultants to develop technical proposals and Process Design Packages (PDPs) for our licensed processes, and project leadership for capital projects. The role will also coordinate and deliver ongoing Technical Services to existing licensee's plants. Strong project management and communication skills are a must as this position will interact internally with multiple functions and externally with engineering contractors as well as current and prospective business partners and licensees. Candidates who can demonstrate previous high performance contributing to and leading the development of Process Design Packages (FEL-2) and new capital construction projects for both petrochemical and industrial fermentation processes are desired.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

· Lead activities and project execution at 3rd party engineering contractors to develop Process Design Packages. Guide and mentor project teams consisting of process development engineers, engineering contractors, and consultants. Serve as the process engineering lead in the contractor's office.

· Define and coordinate workflows to review and approve engineering documents in a timely manner. Implement best practices for document versioning and cataloging of inbound and outbound engineering files.

· Provide ongoing technical support to the commercial licensing team, including technical proposals, to secure new licenses.

· Manage existing licensee relationships and coordinate follow up with regards to Technical Services.

· Participate with process development team in the analysis and interpretation of experimental data, technical literature, and process simulations. Translate this information into equipment and process specifications and provide recommendations for further development, intellectual property opportunities, and cost minimization projects.

· Provide commercial and operational perspective to projects in the process development phase. Ensure that early-stage process technologies are being developed with the commercial end in mind (constructability, safety, capital cost, etc).

· Mentor, coach, and manage junior level personnel.

· Ability to travel to current and prospective partner sites, engineering contractor offices, and manufacturing facilities (typically less than 25%, with periods of higher frequency).

Qualifications & Experience

· Degree in Chemical Engineering, or related field, and a minimum of 10 years of relevant industry experience. Candidates with Master's or PhD degrees and similar relevant industry experience will be viewed favorably.

· Expert knowledge and understanding of chemical engineering principles and their application to chemical plant design, knowledgeable in several areas outside of immediate area of expertise.

· A demonstrated track record of managing project teams to deliver technology proposals and the engineering deliverables of a Process Design Package (FEL-2 package). In addition to leading these activities, must also have the ability to perform as an individual contributor for developing these engineering deliverables.

· Formal project management training and demonstrated success leading engineering design and new capital projects for petrochemical and/or industrial fermentation processes.

· Demonstrated plant operations and petrochemical or bioprocess EPC experience preferred.

· Proven ability to communicate the technical requirements of equipment and processes.

· Strong knowledge in the field of environmental, health and safety (EH&S) regulations, standards, and practices and their impact on chemical process design and operations.

· Ability to elicit cooperation from, and influence a wide variety of individuals, including upper management, internal department heads, and third-party contractors/plant personnel.

· Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and strong computer skills (Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint, etc).

· Team player committed to success and getting the job done well

· Desire to learn new things, positive attitude, and enthusiasm

For the successful candidate we offer a competitive base salary, annual bonus, Long Term Equity position in the company, health / dental insurance, 4 weeks vacation, and much more. If you are qualified and interested, please apply today!