Scientist III

Location: Rockford, IL

Compensation: $ 50.00/hour

Function: R&D / Organic Chemistry / Process Development

Project: Fatty Acid Synthesis

Number of Openings: 2

Direct Reports: 0

Shift: Day

Relocation: Not approved

Employment Type: Contract / Project-Based

The Scientist III will play a critical role in the Fatty Acid Synthesis and Process Development project , developing, optimizing, scaling, and documenting synthetic and purification processes for priority lipid and fatty-acid-related raw materials used to support cell-culture media production.

The Scientist III will apply advanced expertise in organic synthesis, bio-organic chemistry, lipid chemistry, purification, process development, and analytical characterization to establish robust and reproducible processes that meet internal raw-material specifications and are suitable for scale-up and transfer to manufacturing operations.

The ideal candidate will hold a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Bio-Organic Chemistry, or a closely related discipline and have strong hands‑on experience with organic synthesis. Experience in bioanalytical characterization and analytical interpretation is highly desirable.

• Design, plan, and independently execute laboratory experiments for the synthesis and process development of fatty acids, glycerides, phospholipids, and related lipid molecules.
• Develop and optimize synthetic routes for priority materials, with emphasis on yield, purity, reproducibility, scalability, safety, and raw‑material availability.
• Perform multi‑step organic synthesis and reaction optimization to address challenging synthetic targets and process‑development needs.
• Develop and optimize purification strategies using normal‑phase and reverse‑phase chromatography, preparative HPLC, flash chromatography, crystallization, extraction, precipitation, and other appropriate techniques.
• Characterize starting materials, intermediates, impurities, and final products using HPLC, LC‑MS/MS or MS, NMR, FT‑IR, UV/VIS, ELSD/CAD , and other applicable analytical techniques.
• Interpret analytical data to monitor reactions, confirm identity, assess purity, investigate impurities, and troubleshoot process issues.
• Investigate impurity profiles and troubleshoot synthesis, purification, stability, and recovery issues that could prevent materials from meeting internal specifications.
• Conduct feasibility studies using lower‑purity or alternate‑source starting materials and establish process conditions necessary to achieve target product quality.
• Support scale‑up from laboratory development to gram and hundreds‑of‑gram quantities.
• Develop processes suitable for transfer from R&D to Rockford manufacturing operations.
• Partner with Analytical Development to establish or refine analytical methods for purity, identity, and process‑development decision‑making.
• Prepare materials for internal evaluation, packaging/formulation activities, process validation, and manufacturing transfer as required.
• Prepare experimental protocols, development reports, batch/process instructions, technical summaries, and documentation supporting testing, validation, and production.
• Maintain complete and accurate laboratory records, including experimental conditions, calculations, raw data, observations, deviations, results, and conclusions.
• Work cross‑functionally with R&D, Analytical Development, Operations, Quality, Procurement/Sourcing, and Project Management teams.
• Communicate technical results, project status, technical risks, recommendations, and mitigation strategies to project stakeholders.
• Follow departmental quality systems, chemical hygiene requirements, EHS procedures, and safe laboratory…