Applications Engineer jobs in Illinois

About Us: 

Valent BioSciences LLC is a worldwide leader in the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of biorational products for the agriculture, public health, and forestry markets. We have more than 60 years of experience bringing biorational products to market, and our products are used in sustainable operations in 95 countries around the world. Biorational products maximize plant quality, productivity, and sustainability.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical, Valent BioSciences LLC operates with the Sumitomo Spirit mindset, which means to benefit both self and others, recognizing that private and public interests are one and the same. It’s about contributing to society, as well as making a profit.

Description of Job: Responsible for designing, developing and evaluating processes for downstream recovery of microbial fermentations, including purification of active ingredients from microbial fermentation broths, to support the development and manufacture of new products and improvements to current products. The position is located at our global biorational research center in Libertyville, IL, but will interact extensively with our manufacturing team located in Osage, IA to ensure that the processes developed are aligned with manufacturing and to participate in and help lead the associated technology transfer process. The job requires hands-on experience with pilot scale separation equipment (filtration, centrifugation, evaporation, extraction, chromatography, crystallization, distillation, etc.) as well as working knowledge of the corresponding manufacturing equipment and processes.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Conduct and coordinate all work in strict compliance with all applicable safety requirements, containment 
• requirements, standard operation protocols, and other guidelines. 
•  Work with a multidisciplinary team to design and develop scalable, safe and cost-effective recovery 
• processes for fermentation broths to produce technical grade active ingredients from lab to pilot to 
• manufacturing scale. 
• Play leadership role in design and execution of experiments, critical analysis of data and solving problems
• with creativity. Mentoring and coaching others. 
•  Work with manufacturing counterparts to ensure that the processes developed are aligned with 
• manufacturing capabilities. Assist with cost modeling analyses as needed. Manage the transfer of 
• recovery technology from R&D to manufacturing pilot and production scales. 
•  Prepare and maintain project documentation including charters, timelines / Gantt charts, meeting minutes, 
• action items, tech transfer documentation etc.
• Keep detailed records of experiments and documentation in electronic lab notebook system.
•  Write research reports and prepare and deliver technical presentations.

Requirements

• Demonstrable experience in developing and scaling up processes for downstream recovery of microbial 
• fermentations (bacteria, fungi, yeast), including isolation and purification of secondary metabolites.
•  Working knowledge of fermentation downstream recovery processes at production scale.
•  Hands-on experience with pilot scale separation equipment (filtration, centrifugation, evaporation, 
• extraction, chromatography, crystallization, etc.).
• Knowledge of basic chemistry concepts such as polarity, acidity/basicity, solubility, etc., and correlation 
• with chemical structures.
• Mechanically inclined and ability to work with heavy instruments. Able to physically to regularly lift objects 
• up to 50 lbs.
• Self-starter with good organizational skills and demonstrated ability to solve DSP problems creatively.

Education: BS with minimum 10 years of post-academic experience, MS with minimum of 6 years of post academic experience required. PhD with minimum 2 years of post-academic experience preferred. 

Travel: 10-20% domestic.

What We Offer:

You’ll enjoy competitive compensation, consisting of base pay plus an incentive program available to all full-time employees, and a comprehensive benefits package including high-quality healthcare options, 401k matching, life and disability insurance, generous time off (with time off to volunteer) and much more! Additionally, we offer several Flexible Work Arrangements to support a healthy work-life balance.

We work together to power our sustainable future. Here's what drives us: Valent BioSciences, LLC has a strong commitment to both sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In fact, being a responsible corporate citizen has been ingrained in our culture since the company’s founding. Today, it remains at the forefront of everything we do.

• Valent BioSciences LLC is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation and/or identity, national origin, citizenship, immigration status, disabilities, or protected veteran status.