LS9 seeks a highly motivated Senior/Principal Process Engineer to lead the effort of integration of an industrial fermentation process with a variety of first and second generation feedstocks as primary carbon source. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in microbial fermentation process development at various scales, strong knowledge of different industrial feedstocks and their impacts on microorganism metabolism and fermentation performance. Working experience with cellulosic feedstocks is highly desirable. Ability to supervise Junior Process Development engineers yet maintains high level of involvement in daily laboratory work. This position also has the responsibility for coordination of all technical activities on the project. Plans, schedules, conducts, and coordinates assigned R&D and process development work; monitors and reports work progress; track and forecast project cost to meet the requirements of industry partners and government agency. 

Key Responsibilities:

Lead a multifunctional project team; set clear project goals, timing; determine resources; conferring with management.Maintains project schedule by monitoring project progress; coordinating activities; resolving problems.Provide monthly project status report, cost tracking and forecast.Design, execute and analyze experiments necessary to understand the impact of different feedstock handling, treatment and feed on the microorganism performance. Experiments will be conducted at a variety of scales, ranging from small shake flasks to bench scale fermenters.Evaluate various industrial applicable carbon source feedstocks. Plan and analyze, as needed, relevant experiments that provide insight into the metabolism and physiology of the organism, to support strain development /optimization efforts. Analyze, summarize, and present experimental results to others in the company to expedite the development of our integrated biochemical production process in a collaborative team environment.Keep abreast of current literature and the state of the art in fermentation science and their potential application to LS9's internal projects.Solve problems by leveraging both internal and external resources as well as the literature.

Qualifications:

MS/PhD in Chemical or Biochemical Engineering/Microbiology or related scientific field with 10+ years of industry experience in development of fermentation processes and working with various feedstocks.Strong expertise in feedstock handling, fermentation, and microbiology methods. Understanding of analytical methods is necessary. Working knowledge of molecular biology and biochemistry principles are a plus.Prior experience working with cellulosic feedstock is a plus.Prior project management experience is a plus.Ability to work in a fast paced and team oriented environment.Excellent verbal/written communication skills are required.