Teamlead R&D Botanicals

The people and work culture at Doehler have been part of our success story in the past and will continue to drive our performance in the future. Our headquarters are in Germany and we have close to 10 000 employees located in more than 70 countries around the world. Our culture stems from our fundamentals, which defines our values, who we are and what we stand for.

This framework enables us to be agile and to deliver outstanding customer solutions. We are passionate about everything to do with the future of nutrition. The blend of expertise, innovation and our cutting-edge technology appeal to the entrepreneurial mindset of our employees. That is why remarkable people join and stay with Doehler.

We are looking for an experienced R&D Manager to take technical ownership of the development, optimization and industrialization of botanical extracts and natural ingredients.

The R&D Manager will work closely with the Product Manager, Operations, Quality/Regulatory, Procurement and Sales teams and will be responsible for translating product concepts and customer requirements into technically robust, scalable and commercially viable products and processes.

A key requirement of this position is a high level of technical maturity and independent decision-making. The R&D Manager must be capable of investigating complex technical challenges, interpreting data, determining root causes and driving solutions.

• Lead and take accountability for technical feasibility assessments of new products, raw materials and customer requirements.
• Determine appropriate extraction technologies, solvents, extraction ratios, processing conditions and downstream processing requirements.
• Assess technical risks and recommend whether concepts should proceed to development.
• Provide scientifically justified recommendations based on analytical data, literature, trials and manufacturing experience.
• Own the development of extraction and manufacturing processes for botanical ingredients.
• Optimise extraction parameters including solvent systems, temperature, time, plant-to-solvent ratios, filtration, concentration and drying conditions.
• Evaluate extraction yield, native extract yield, DER, active-marker recovery and overall process efficiency.
• Develop processes that are technically sound, reproducible and suitable for commercial manufacture.

• Plan, coordinate and oversee laboratory and pilot-scale trials.
• Establish clear trial objectives, protocols, sampling plans and acceptance criteria.
• Ensure results are appropriately analysed, documented and translated into clear recommendations.
• Determine next steps following trials.

• Lead technical scale-up from laboratory/pilot development to full manufacturing.
• Work closely with Operations during first production and validation batches.
• Identify differences between laboratory and factory performance and resolve scale-up challenges.
• Establish appropriate critical process parameters and manufacturing controls.
• Ensure processes transferred to Operations are robust, repeatable and clearly documented.

• Continuously evaluate existing manufacturing processes for opportunities to improve yield, quality, consistency, throughput and cost.
• Investigate poor yields, unexpected analytical results and process deviations.
• Lead structured root-cause investigations and recommend corrective actions.
• Support cost-reduction initiatives where technical/process changes are required.

• Take responsibility for the technical development of product specifications in collaboration with the Product Manager and Quality team.
• Define appropriate analytical parameters, methods and acceptance criteria.
• Interpret analytical data including active markers, contaminants, residual solvents, microbiology, pesticides and relevant physical parameters.
• Ensure specifications are technically achievable and appropriate for the intended product and manufacturing process.

• Provide technical input into raw-material qualification and supplier assessment together with Procurement/Sourcing and Quality.
• Define appropriate testing requirements for botanical raw materials based on botanical identity, product requirements and manufacturing risk.
• Oversee the testing and technical assessment of pre-shipment samples to ensure incoming botanical material is suitable for…