Scale-Up Bioprocess Engineer
Role Summary
The Scale-Up Bioprocess Engineer bridges lab-scale innovations and industrial-scale manufacturing. You will transfer, optimize, and scale up microbial and liquid C1 fermentation processes, focusing specifically on non-mechanically agitated systems. This role requires deep expertise in fluid dynamics, gas-holdup, and shear-stress management in airlift bioreactors. This role also involves engineering design, pilot-scale operation, and tech transfer to global contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) partners.
Key Responsibilities
· Airlift Optimization: Design, characterize, and optimize non-mechanical mixing paradigms within airlift and bubble column bioreactors.
· Hydrodynamic Modeling: Map gas-holdup, liquid circulation velocity, and mixing times to ensure optimal mass transfer coefficients (kLa).
· Shear-Stress Management: Quantify and mitigate fluid-induced shear stress to maintain cell viability during high-density cultivation.
· Process Scale-Up: Translate bench top airlift protocols to pilot and commercial-scale production systems.
· Technology Transfer: Author tech transfer packages, mass/energy balances, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for global manufacturing partners.
· Data Automation: Deploy real-time software parameters (DCS/MES) to evaluate production runs and troubleshoot hydrodynamic deviations.
Qualifications & Skills
· Education: Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, or a related field.
· Target Background: Academic or Research experience coming directly from reputed university or research institute.
· Technical Experience: Explicit hands-on experience working with airlift bioreactors, bubble columns, or related non-mechanical mixing systems. Alternatively, you may have 3+ years handling pilot or industrial-scale bioreactors, preferably with C1 feedstocks, gas-fermentation or methylotrophic organisms.
· Domain Knowledge: Advanced understanding of multiphase hydrodynamics, transport phenomena, and fluid mechanics.
· Traits: Analytical thinker capable of solving complex physical scaling challenges in a fast-growing startup.