Director of Research and Development

Thank you for stopping by to take a look at the Director of Research & Development (with a focus on BioMass and Bio Engineered Materials) role, I appreciate it. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tom Welke, I am Partner & VP at RSM Solutions Inc and I have been recruiting talent for over 22 years and have been in the tech sector since the 1990s. Due to that, I am going to be far more focused on 'fit' than anything else...a fit for you and a fit for the client. If you are familiar with my job descriptions, you will know that I like to add some humor to these things. Life is too short to not have some humor. Plus, I am willing to bet, there are individuals reading this JD and it just so happens to be the 25th one today and your eyes are probably getting a little blurry. So, hopefully, this will be a refreshing change of pace.

As with any role we work on here, social fit is just as important as technical fit. So, here are some of those characteristics that create a social fit:

• Remember the "Think Different" ads from Apple from back in the late 1990s. Well, if you haven't seen them...I encourage you to watch a few, it just might change your life. Have you ever wanted to work for a company that appreciated people with thoughts that come out of left field? Well, this client is one of them. So, if you are the kind of person that likes to challenge assumptions, and 'think different', then this could be a great fit for you.
• This company is looking to move quickly to reach its goals. However, they are also the kind of firm that checks to make sure their shoes are tied before they run a race. So, while things move fast here...it isn't reckless. So, attention to detail in your work will be needed here for success.

Ideally, we are seeking someone either in the Lancaster / Palmdale California area, or Lodi, California area. So, this is not a remote opportunity. If you aren't local to those areas, we would need you to relocate to the area.

For this role, we are seeking a Research & Development Engineer with a focus on Biomass and Bioengineered Materials. If you have a deep Chemistry background with a focus on R&D, that would be right up the alleyway of what we are seeking. That Chemistry experience should be something of a combination of physical chemistry with organic chemistry. Experience with how carbon atoms behave, nanocarbons, and converting plant materials into bio-oils would be great attributes in a successful candidate for this role. For example, if you have experience with hydro deoxidization, carbon nanotubes, pyrolysis and gasification, that would be spot on with what we are seeking in this role. If you have come from schools like UC Davis, The University of Minnesota, Texas A&M, Iowa State and other schools with a solid chemistry program would be great to see your background.

This client has about 10 employees now and will grow to roughly 100 within the next two years. So, this is definitely a firm in startup mode. So, we will need you to be comfortable in a startup environment where things can change rather rapidly.

Here are some of the main responsibilities for this role:

• Further define, from a technical perspective, as is and to be processes based on this clients current state, in order to explore additional opportunities in the Activated Carbon and Bio Engineered Materials space.
• Design, optimize, and troubleshoot chemical processes specific to Activated Carbon, BioMass and Bio Engineered Materials.
• Design experiments using statistical analysis, to understand the dynamics of chemical processes.
• Provide direction to the pilot plant operations team to execute experiments.
• Allocate resources, including personnel, equipment & materials to support project activities. This also will include mitigating risks throughout project lifecycles.
• Communicate regularly with various project stakeholders to provide project updates, address concerns, and resolve issues to ensure project deliverables adhere to project schedules.
• Partner with CTO & President, CEO, CFO and VP of Product & Operations to bring those nifty strategic projects you will be a part of to completion.
• Play a lead role in the commissioning of new equipment and process systems.

Here is what we are seeking:

• At least 10 years of R&D experience as a chemist in the physical and organic chemistry space. This experience should be in the activated carbon, hydro deoxidization, carbon nanotubes, pyrolysis and gasification space.
• Experience with chemistry modeling software (examples are Aspen Plus, Hysys, and Aveva).
• A degree from a solid agricultural chemistry or chemical engineering program (examples are UC Davis, UC Berkley, University of Minnesota, Iowa State, Texas A&M, etc...)