The formulation scientist’s high-level responsibilities are development and stewardship of formulations from product conception and design to production and customer use. This specific role will be focused on the development of microbial based formulation in the crop protection market.

Bionema Ltd is a leading developer of biopesticides, biostimulants and biofertilizers, specialising in chemical-free, biological crop protection for safe and sustainable agriculture.

 

Role Purpose

The successful candidate will be involved in developing new product formulations for pest, disease, and plant health management with a focus on the development of microbial-based formulations involving specialist biopolymers and developing new microencapsulated formulations and delivery. Based at headquarter at Swansea University, the Formulation Scientist role is ideal for an accomplished formulation chemist with a background in new product development.

 

Determining composition type such as suspension concentrates, emulsions, dispersions, etc. to stabilize multiphase and multicomponent mixtures. This will entail materials selection with an emphasis on physical and chemical characterization and formulation robustness testing to ensure ease of manufacture and final use by the farmers/growers. 

 

Formulation Scientist will work with collaborators to characterize various aspects of performance, such as application, bio-efficacy, safety, toxicity, and scale-up of the design. 

 

This specific role will be focused on the development of microbial formulation and delivery in the crop protection market. The ideal candidate will be able to design experiments to assess product stability, application performance, and formulation robustness.  This will be done through a working knowledge of structure-property relationships and intelligent recipe design around surfactants, rheology modifiers, pigments, and other co-formulant ingredients.

 

Candidate will take the lead on projects aimed at the development and optimisation of formulations, including collaborative research with SMEs and Universities, liaison with third parties for full scale manufacture, and product launches.

 

Key responsibilities:

· Plan, organize, and conduct experiments to design and optimize active ingredient formulations, meeting biology, marketing, regulatory, production, and supply chain criteria.

· Evaluating formulation options and technical feasibility for optimal delivery and seed safety of microbial products.

· Creating scalable microbial formulation processes and specifications for product registration and manufacturing.

· Validate formulation robustness through rigorous physio-chemical characterization.

· Collaborate with engineering teams at pilot and production scale for introduction of newly developed products.

· Participate and communicate timely and effectively to technical and non-technical stakeholders on interdisciplinary project teams.

· Coordinate and carry out laboratory work to develop new or improved manufacturing processes in support of global supply chains.

· Steward local and global product portfolios and ensure product quality by designing and implementing new testing methods, in addition to supporting manufacturing and regulatory teams to ensure registrability and customer satisfaction of Bionema products.

· Define and implement innovative and creative solutions during product life-cycle development, and actively pursue opportunities for innovation and intellectual property independently and collaboratively.

· Lead and prioritize multiple projects concurrently and define challenging and ambiguous projects.

· Communicates effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

· Shows an aptitude to learn and apply new scientific disciplines, strategies, or technologies.

· Employs organisational skills for proper time-management and clear communication of results.

· Preparation and delivery of reports, SOPs, and technical presentations.

 

 Essential criteria:

· PhD in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related field with 2-3 years industry experience.

· Master’s degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related field with 4-5 years industry experience.

· Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related field with 8-10 years industry experience.

· Technical background in chemistry or chemical engineering. 

· Ability in experimental design and/or method development.

· Experience in one or more of the following areas is required:  colloid, material, surfactant, polymeric, rheological, crystallization, statistical, or biological sciences; experience working with or within regulatory, toxicological, manufacturing, or supply-chain areas.

· Experience in the formulation of biological/agrochemical products, and familiarity with technologies such as freeze-drying, SSF, SC, SE, WP, SSF, liquid, granulation, emulsion, encapsulation, etc.

· Comprehensive experience and knowledge in a laboratory setting.

· Strong analytical, communication, and leadership skills.

· A team–player in a fast-paced working environment.

· Good organisation and communication skills, with an attention to detail.

· A problem solving and scientifically curious nature.

 

Key words:

Microencapsulation, SSF, SC, WP, SE, Microbial formulation, Development, Process Development, Scale-up, Pesticide Guidelines, Technical Transfer, Manufacture, Biological, Test Methods, Solid Dosage Forms, Capsules, Liquids, Suspensions, Emulsions, Powders, colloid, material, surfactant, polymeric, rheological, crystallization, statistical, or biological sciences; experience working with or within regulatory, toxicological.

 

Salary and benefits:

This position will include a high-class competitive salary, share options, standard company benefits, and the opportunity to represent Bionema at conferences and industry network working events.

How to apply:

To apply for this position, please send your CV, completed Application Form and Covering Letter, and identifying how you meet the job criteria to info@bionema.com no later than this Friday at 12:00 for review.

 

Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK.

 

Successful candidates will be required to complete a basic disclosure check.