Senior Fermentation Engineer

It’s an exciting time to be part of the IFF family. The combination of IFF and DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences unites us to form a global leader in taste, scent, nutrition and biosciences, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy.

This Senior Microbial Physiologist/Fermentation position will join the Health and Biosciences business division (formerly DuPont). He/she will be one of the key members in microbial product and process development, at the junction between discovery and manufacturing.

About IFF
At IFF (NYSE: IFF), an industry leader in food, beverage, health, biosciences and sensorial experiences, science and creativity meet to create essential solutions for a better world – from global icons to unexpected innovations and experiences. With the beauty of art and the precision of science, we are an international collective of thinkers who partners with customers to bring scents, tastes, experiences, ingredients, and solutions for products the world craves. Together, we will do more good for people and the planet. Learn more at iff.com, Twitter , Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Responsibilities:

• Lead in the design, development and optimization of fermentation processes to produce new to the market products using bacterial and fungal systems.
• Lead project teams and/or manage project portfolios with high complexity using technical expertise coupled with a broad perspective.
• Solve complex engineering and biological problems where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of various factors to get to the root cause(s).
• Provide technical guidance and expertise in identifying and troubleshooting fermentation problems.
• Actively participate in the execution of scale-up/scale-down methodology for fermentation processes, including experimental design and analysis.
• Work collaboratively with teams of molecular/microbiologists, biochemists, recovery and manufacturing engineers to deliver commercial project objectives.
• Work as an individual contributor to conduct experiments and advance projects. Pursue novel technical ideas aligned with delivering business impact.
• Contribute to strain and process improvement efforts through different methodologies, such as supporting the implementation of evolution screening and small-scale assays.
• Document experiments, deliver technical presentations, and generate/contribute to progress, technical, legal, and/or regulatory reports.
• Increase the level of professional expertise and visibility of self and team through scientific network contacts, mentoring of junior engineers, and external communications.
• Identify shortcomings in existing research procedures and systems and propose/implement solutions to address them.

Requirements:

• Ph.D. degree in relevant Engineering or Biosciences disciplines with at least 4 years industrial R&D experience

OR

• Master’s degree in relevant Engineering or Biosciences disciplines with at least 8 years industrial R&D experience

OR

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant Engineering or Biosciences disciplines with 10 years industrial R&D experience
• Strong microbial physiology and metabolism control skills as demonstrated by publications in peer reviewed journals and/or intellectual property
• Experience in metabolic engineering of traditional or non-traditional micro-organisms
• Demonstration of exceptional capabilities in biochemical reaction kinetics, material and energy balances, and mass transport with respect to cellular processes.
• Experience in successfully introducing fermentation products/processes to the commercial scale by working at various scales (shake flask, benchtop, pilot and commercial scales) requiring aseptic conditions/technique
• Experience designing experiments to generate learnings guided by scientific and engineering first-principles
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Self-starter with good organizational skills, attention to detail, and project leadership experience
• Some travel required
• Position located in Wilmington, DE

Preferred Skills:

• Experience scaling up and recovering under strict anaerobic conditions.
• Translating experimental data/results into computer-based models to analyze complex biological systems and translate findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Working successfully with CMOs (tollers) to scale-up or de-risks new processes
• Automation & process control experience is a plus

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more