Organic Chemist

Overview:

TekWissen is a global workforce management provider headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan that offers strategic talent solutions to clients worldwide. The job opportunity below is with one of our clients specializing in biotechnology product development services. The client is dedicated to supplying laboratory equipment, chemicals, supplies, and services essential in healthcare, scientific research, safety, and education. As a global leader in serving the scientific community, the organization generates approximately $40 billion in annual revenue and is committed to making the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. Their global team delivers innovative technologies, convenient procurement solutions, and pharmaceutical services through industry-leading brands.


Position: Organic Chemist

Location: Rockford IL 61101

Duration: 12 Months

Job Type: Temporary Assignment

Work Type: Onsite

Summary

We are seeking an Organic Chemist / Scientist to support a critical Cell Biology SIOP initiative focused on developing and qualifying key raw materials for cell-culture media production. The initiative supports a significant internal product portfolio and is designed to strengthen supply continuity, improve control over raw-material quality, and establish a sustainable long-term manufacturing strategy. The Organic Chemist / Scientist will play a key role in the development, optimization, scale-up, and documentation of synthetic and purification processes for priority fatty acids, lipids, and related raw materials. The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on experience in organic synthesis, multi-step synthesis, purification, and analytical characterization. This role will develop robust processes that meet required purity and identity specifications and are suitable for scale-up and transfer to manufacturing operations. Candidates with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Bio-Organic Chemistry, Bioanalytical Chemistry, or a closely related discipline are strongly preferred.

Key Responsibilities

• 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 with a focus on yield, purity, reproducibility, scalability, and raw-material availability.
• 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.
• Investigate impurity profiles and troubleshoot synthesis, purification, stability, and recovery issues.
• Conduct feasibility studies using lower-purity or alternate-source starting materials and establish conditions required to achieve target product quality.
• Support scale-up from laboratory development to gram and hundreds-of-gram quantities.
• Develop processes suitable for transfer to manufacturing operations.
• Partner with Analytical Development to establish or refine purity and identity methods.
• Support material preparation for internal evaluation, packaging/formulation activities, process validation, and manufacturing transfer.
• Prepare experimental protocols, development reports, batch/process instructions, technical summaries, and other technical documentation.
• Maintain complete and accurate laboratory records, including experimental conditions, calculations, raw data, observations, deviations, and conclusions.
• Collaborate with R&D, Analytical, Operations, Quality, Procurement/Sourcing, and Project Management teams.
• Communicate technical results, project risks, recommendations, and project status to stakeholders.
• Follow departmental quality systems, EHS requirements, chemical hygiene procedures, and safe laboratory practices.

Required Skills

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Chemical Sciences, Bio-Organic Chemistry, Bioanalytical Chemistry, or a closely related scientific discipline. A Bachelor's degree with substantial directly relevant industrial synthetic chemistry experience may also be considered.
• Strong hands-on experience in organic synthesis and multi-step synthesis is required.
• Experience with reaction optimization and independent laboratory experimentation.
• Demonstrated experience with purification of complex organic molecules using chromatography and other preparative purification techniques.
• Hands-on experience interpreting HPLC, LC-MS/MS or MS, NMR, and FT-IR data for reaction monitoring, identity confirmation, purity assessment, and impurity troubleshooting.
• Ability to independently troubleshoot reactions and purification processes and design efficient experiments to resolve technical problems.
• Experience documenting experimental work for process development, technology transfer, or regulated/quality-controlled environments.
• Ability to work independently while contributing effectively within a cross-functional team.
• Excellent written, verbal, technical communication, and data-presentation skills.
• Experience with lipid chemistry, fatty-acid chemistry, glycerides, phospholipids, surfactants, or detergent-like molecules is preferred.
• Experience with synthesis or purification of phosphatidylcholines, diacylglycerols, or related lipid molecules is preferred.
• Experience with Biotage Isolera/Selekt or comparable flash/preparative chromatography systems is preferred.
• Experience with CAD or ELSD detection for lipid or non-chromophoric compound analysis is preferred.
• Experience scaling synthetic chemistry processes from small-scale experiments to gram or hundreds-of-gram quantities is preferred.
• Experience with process validation, change control, or transfer of R&D processes to manufacturing is preferred.
• Knowledge of raw-material specifications, supplier qualification, and technical evaluation of alternate-source materials is preferred.

TekWissen® Group is an equal opportunity employer supporting workforce diversity.