The Development & Application Director manages the Development & Application team of the BU Procelys and is responsible for running applications, product development and technical support to sales. Reporting to the Procelys General Manager, he/she is a member of the Leadership team of the Business Unit and manages a team of 20 persons (2 global managers, 3 lead scientists, 8 lab scientists, 4 technical supports and 3 innovation project managers) with the following responsibilities:

Organize and Manage the BU Technical Team

• Is responsible to develop a lean and efficient organization of the technical community of Procelys BU including people management and development, routines and interactions, KPIs and tools & processes.
• Manage
  • The global applications manager who runs three labs in Maisons-Alfort (France), Cedar Rapids (USA) and Laibin (China)
  • The global technical support manager with reports in all regions
  • The innovation team (3 project managers)

Develop the expertise level of the 4 regional Technical support managers supporting customers next to sales managers,

• Interact with stakeholders (R+I, Pilot, Production, Industrial Department, Quality Assurance and Quality control, Regulatory) to ensure Procelys interest are being heard and considered.

Develop expertise and resources to support Procelys business strategy

• Translate the business needs into a concrete development plan and ensure strong support to business (customers, sales & marketing team, R+I)
• Foster joint projects with customers   
• Scout internally to develop the resources efficiently, allocate and prioritize strongly
• Prepare annual budgets (Innovation projects, LAB Capex & Opex, External cooperation)
• Monitor and reports resource consumptions (LAB OPEX, R&D time consumed, external contract execution), deliverables quality (reports, results) and timelines

Ensure Procelys excellence and reputation support business strategy

• Organize and prioritize operationally BU technical resources in order to achieve our business goals in coordination with the Marketing Director and the Business Directors
• Ensure a technical support that brings a high-valued service for our customers,
• Maintain our expertise level in Strategic applications at desired level via internalization of the competence or via partnerships

Safety, Health, Ethics, Confidentiality, Regulatory and Consistency  

• Ensure that LAB’s are operating according to group safety, health and environmental standards and increase safety cultures across the whole Business units
• Ensure the Technical department operates with the highest level of scientific standards and ethically (data quality and Data integrity)
• Create an infrastructure with the IT Department to ensure that results generated by the application group are electronically available (Electronic notebook, scientific reports …) and of high quality
• Ensure data are treated adequately to retain intellectual properties rights and support IP / Patent Department if required to generate data for patent writing or patent opposition

Education:

The Development and Application Director will:

• hold preferably a PhD or Master/Engineering degree in Microbiology, Biochemistry or Bioprocess Engineering.
•  have at least 10 years’ experience in managing R&D or industrial pilot activity preferably obtained through practice in multiple R&D, pilot or production functions in the biotechnology industry.

Skills & Competencies:

• Experience in organizing and managing fermentation / microbiology laboratory and development team preferably in a strong multi-cultural context
• Scientific and technical knowledge in biotechnology at different scales (R&D, pilot and production level)
• Experiences in developing and providing services to industries (CDMO, CMO, Biopharma, Probiotics…) or in joint-development projects
• Self-motivated, self-started and organized personality
• Ability to prioritize and make decisions
• Good communication and presentation skills, both verbal and written in English (and French)
• Excellent interpersonal skills; strong ability to build and maintain operational contacts, capable of adapting style and tone according to the situation, culture and audience
• Expertise in Artificial Intelligence, Design of Experiments, LAB automation is a strong plus