Senior Fermentation Scientist

Regular Full Time Libertyville, IL, US

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

About Sumitomo Biorational Company:
Headquartered in Libertyville, Ill., Sumitomo Biorational Company is the Global Center of Excellence for Biorational Innovation, advancing integrated, science-driven solutions in agriculture, public health, forest health, and environmental markets. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Sumitomo Biorational operates through three divisions:
Agro Solutions, Environmental Health (MGK), and Public Health & Forest Health, leveraging decades of expertise to drive innovation and sustainability for customers worldwide.

Description of Job
:
Lead internal upstream process development efforts at the Sumitomo Biorational Company Biorational Research Center by conducting fermentation experiments in laboratory- and pilot-scale bioreactors. Evaluate the performance of microbial strain candidates by analysis and interpretation of fermentation data. Work with a team of fermentation scientists, downstream process engineers, formulations scientists, microbial engineers and analytical chemists to develop sustainable biorational solutions within the expanding field of Bio Agriculture.

• Design and implement upstream processes to optimize strain performance of bacterial and fungal microorganisms to produce microbial products, metabolites and proteins
• Mentor junior team members by training safe and proper use of fermentation and analytical equipment required to execute process development and improvement experiments
• Provide guidance to research associates and support their professional development
• Take primary responsibility for the operation and troubleshooting of pilot scale fermentation equipment
• Design scale up and scale down experiments to execute seamless technology transfer between Research and Manufacturing operations
• Build strong relationships with supporting research departments and deliver fermentations on time or ahead of schedule to biology, downstream processing, formulations, and product development teams
• Travel to manufacturing site to launch new fermentation processes and troubleshoot current commercial processes
• Maintain and further develop collaborative relationship with the pilot and production fermentation team at the manufacturing site
• Execute sophisticated process development experiments utilizing statistical tools to ensure process robustness
• Work alongside data scientists, IT, and engineering to build and maintain a digital system to organize and archive run data and electronic batch records
• Maintain and update laboratory data and documents including electronic lab notebook and SOPs
• Conduct all work in strict compliance with all applicable safety requirements, containment requirements, standards operating procedures and/or guidelines while maintaining a clean and orderly workspace
• Work both independently and with interdisciplinary research teams while maintaining a positive and collaborative environment

Required skills/experience:

• Expertise in culturing microorganisms, including filamentous fungi, to increase metabolite productivity using aseptic techniques Hands-on experience using lab-scale or pilot-scale SIP bioreactor systems for microbial cultivations and metabolite production, particularly with non-model bacterial and fungal organisms
• Experience training junior scientists in the use of fermentation equipment and execution of process development experiments
• High degree of competency in the Microsoft Office 365 suite and statistical analysis software
• Strong communication, presentation, and listening skills in cross-functional teams
• Willingness to foster a culture of diversity and inclusion.
• Able to lift up to 25 lbs

Education
:
Degree in Fermentation Science, Chemical/Biochemical/Biosystems Engineering, or closely related field with industrial fermentation experience (5 years with PhD, 8 years with MS, 12+ years with BS).

Travel: Limited travel will be required. (