Responsable Développement de Procédés

Axplora’s mission is to be a trusted manufacturing partner to the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Driven by passion, curiosity, and dedication of our highly skilled employees, we aim to make them be proud to collaborate with our customers to deliver cutting-edge products for the benefit of humankind.

While accomplishing our vision of providing API for medicines on time and at scale, we offer a caring and safe environment in which our people can leverage their full potential. Our 2.500 employees are based in Europe, India and the USA, and Axplora is organized in 3 BUs (CDMO services, Specialty products, Steroids & HPAPI products).

BU CDMO is gathering more than 1000 employees based in 6 sites located in Europe. It is a leading player in fast-growing CDMO market (ADC, Omega3 ) with technology-driven differentiation such as chromatography, hazardous chemistry, cryogenic reaction, electrochemistry and flow chemistry.

The industrial site of Chasse sur Rhône (20 min south of Lyon - served by train - 250 employees), is classified as SEVESO 3 upper threshold and specializes in the development and custom production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Under the responsibility of the Chief Technologies Officer and as a member of the site CODIR, you will manage the R&D department in Chasse sur Rhône.

As Head of the R&D Department, you will be responsible for leading development and scale-up activities on the definition of synthesis routes for intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients. You will be responsible for proposing, evaluating and organizing Research and Development activities, considering current regulations and constraints related to safety, quality, cost and deadlines.

**Main missions**:

- Manage the R&D Department at the Chasse-sur-Rhône site. A team of around 20 people both in synthesis and analysis.
- Have vision. Ability to propose new approaches, technologies, ideas, directions, innovations, and ways of working; convince of them and plan for consecution.
- Evaluate new customer requirements and opportunities for new projects and products: technical assessment, planning, presentation of development strategies (cost and timelines) and identification of risks.
- Propose and develop synthesis approaches based on a technical and economical comparison of the various possible options.
- Plan and prioritize the department's activities and ensure that the resources usage is effective in achieving the objectives set by the company.
- Develop and implement methodologies in line with current regulations (Design Of Experiments, Fate & Purge, etc.) for the development of synthesis processes
- Ensure that processes comply with internal procedures, current regulations and specific customer requirements.
- Continuous improvement: Maintain excellence in modern synthetic methods and technologies through continuous personal development & innovation focus. Proactively contribute to improvement of laboratory safety, efficiency, and ways of working.Contribute to the improvement of existing processes, in particular by supporting investigations and by designing sustainability & cost reduction strategies
- Be a driving force behind proposals for new methodologies and technologies needed to develop Axplora's service offering.
- Propose the technical investments required for the Department activities and manage the Department's budget
- Work closely with other functions and sites to ensure the success and efficiency of transferred processes
- Contribute to Axplora Group's internal projects in order to harmonize procedures, know-how sharing and identification of best practices
- Collaborate with senior management to formulate a comprehensive R&D strategy aligned with the BU / Global requirements.
- Represent Axplora at scientific events and customer meetings. Contribute to the external visibility of the company in terms of scientific excellence
- Chemistry: Specialization within synthetic methodologies or technologies such as automation, flow chemistry, photochemistry, electrochemistry, and specialized purification techniques.
- Collaboration: opportunities to be involved in or lead external collaborations with other R&D sites in the group, academia, or industry. Axplora counts on 130 R&D scientists spread along 9 sites. The role requires ability to work collaboratively as part of a diverse and international team to achieve global goals.

**Qualifications**:

- PhD in Chemistry with a specialization in organic chemistry.
- Minimum 15 years' experience in the API CDMO pharmaceutical industry, in a similar position.
- Successful experience in managing large multifunctional teams
- Experience answering Requests for Proposals (RfPs) and interacting with customers in this regard.
- Excellent chemical knowledge and understanding, particularly in synthetic organic chemistry. Experience in route of synthesis design.
- Experience in the design and development of chemical processes, from sca