Company description

Octarine (www.octarinebio.com) is a synthetic biology company developing high-value pharmaceutical and consumer ingredients to improve the health and well-being of people world-wide. Through our advanced enzymatic modification platforms, and using the power of metabolic engineering, we develop cell factories that can efficiently produce therapeutic molecules via fermentation and biocatalysis, expanding on the impressive repertoire that nature already provides with novel chemical modifications unachievable with traditional methods.

Job description

We’re looking for an experienced bioprocessing engineer to lead a diverse team of research scientists in designing, optimizing and scaling bioprocesses for several high-value natural and novel molecules from Octarine’s portfolio. The candidate will utilize a range of bioprocessing methods, particularly biocatalysis (both in vitro and whole-cell bioconversion) and fed-batch fermentation to deliver high-purity molecules to Octarine’s partners for further technical and commercial development.

This specific opportunity will include shaping the company’s current R&D architecture by establishing integrated fermentation & DSP workflows, expanding the company’s core competencies by introducing new technologies, and identifying and resolving bioprocess bottlenecks.

This is a leadership position where we expect the candidate to spend ~50% of their time coordinating the research activities of their team, and ~50% of their time in the lab performing experiments. The position is ideally suited for a senior-level research scientist looking to manage a research team while still being involved in day-to-day research. You will be serving as the intersection between the company’s R&D groups, company management, and external collaborators and will be experienced in project management, communication, and reporting.

Professional requirements 

• Experience managing multidisciplinary R&D projects, and scaling the manufacturing of bioproducts from the bench to commercial scale

• PhD in biotechnology, microbiology, bioprocess engineering or other relevant scientific disciplines

• Proven expertise in bioprocess engineering and optimization demonstrated in industry or through peer-reviewed scientific publications and/or patents

• Thorough understanding of process development from lab-scale to commercial-scale, and from USP to DSP

• Practical hands-on experience with microbial fermentation and biocatalysis

Additional skills

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to collaborate across teams and organizations

• Excellent planning skills, managing experimental work to fixed deadlines

• Adaptable and self-motivated, excited to build teams and infrastructure at a fast-growing company

Octarine is a young synthetic biology platform looking to expand rapidly to become a world-leader in the field. This is an exciting opportunity to take a key leadership position in an ambitious and fast-paced company and play an active role in our growth.

Start date is flexible but targeting March 2022