POSITION SPECIFICATIONPosition: Head of Process Development - Job SpecificationCompany: NuritasLocation: Dublin.Reporting Relationship: Chief Medical and Innovation Officer.COMPANY BACKGROUND / CULTURENuritas is revolutionizing the discovery of novel, natural and scientifically proven bioactive ingredients that enable their partners to create better or new product solutions for their customers. The company’s disruptive computational approach to discovery uses artificial intelligence, deep learning, and genomics to rapidly and efficiently predict and then unlock the most health-benefiting components hidden within plants and natural food sources, called peptides. Nuritas has established the world’s largest peptide knowledge base. Through its discoveries, Nuritas wants to firstly manage and improve human health and secondly help make our food system more sustainable by replacing current unwanted ingredients and molecules with more natural and sustainable ones.Since its founding in 2014, Nuritas has developed proprietary AI and DNA analysis to enhance the accurate analysis of molecules and peptides in food. The new technology is significantly faster with unparalleled accuracy compared to traditional methods of discovery. Founded by research scientist Dr. Nora Khaldi, Nuritas has received significant backing to develop its technology.Nuritas has built and grown a unique discovery platform N (Nuritas Peptide Finder). The N artificial intelligence platform with wet lab has been shaped and trained on years of proprietary experimental data as well as curated structured and unstructured data allowing it to predict novel peptides with targeted efficacy. Beyond efficacy, N can also predict with huge accuracy the chemical and physical characteristics of peptides needed to have clinical and commercial viability, such as cell penetration or bioavailability.Nπϕ has attracted high-profile partnerships and customers, including Nestle, Mars, Sumitomo Corporation and Pharmavite. Nuritas’ science-proven bioactive peptides are unlocked from plants and natural food sources, with applications across functional foods, supplements, medical food, cosmetics and food technology.Separately, the beating heart of Nuritas is their incredibly passionate team. Nuritas have an international team comprising over 16 different nationalities with offices in Dublin and Connecticut. They are also very proud of their gender balance with 50% women and men across the team. The Nuritas Data Scientists, Biologists, AI Engineers, Chemists, Commercial and Operations teams bring innovation, passion and flexibility to their work every day. With an extremely strong team, advisory board, investors and collaborations, the Nuritas mission is to unlock the benefits of nature and improve the lives of billions.The Opportunity:We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Head of Process Development, to oversee the development, optimisation and validation of enzymatic protein hydrolysates, from lab to commercial scale. The role combines scientific innovation with practical process development experience to advance Nuritas’ hydrolysis capabilities while meeting specific functional, cost and quality targets. The ideal candidate should have experience in several disciplines including biotechnology, process engineering and food technology.The role will involve cross-functional collaboration across RD, Manufacturing and Quality and Operations, bridging the gap between RD lab discovery and commercial production of protein hydrolysates.Key Duties Responsibilities:Define and lead the strategic roadmap for Nuritas’ targeted protein hydrolysis process, from lab processes, through pilot development to commercial transferDevelop and optimise up and down stream processes in line with best production practices for protein hydrolysates and other relevant functional food ingredientsProvide expertise, guidance and input to relay project findings back to the wider RD team, strengthening Nuritas’ proprietary machine learning platform and in-house RD capabilitiesGenerate and execute a scientific approach to process optimisation, to determine cause-and-effect relationships between process parameters and ingredient functionalityElucidate the relationship between multiple process variables to determine the correlative effects on end hydrolysis performance in terms of efficacy, process tolerances and consistencyCollaborate with the wider RD team to implement a protein hydrolysate process which leverages a platform of computational modelling, cellular based invitro assays and peptidomics.Distil and communicate pertinent processing information to the Operations team, ensuring the efficient transfer of validated production processes from pilot to commercial scalesInstil scientific direction and leadership in protein hydrolysate production within the functional food and ingredient sector o Support new ingredient development and commercial readiness as part of a larger New Product Introduction (NPI).What we are looking for:PhD in biotechnology, food science or an equivalent disciplineMinimum of 10 years previous experience in the area of process optimisation and development of functional food ingredients.Proven track record for the development and commercialisation of functional ingredients, with a specific focus on peptides and protein hydrolysates preferredSelf-motivated, organised, methodical, capacity to work within a dynamic team environment and an ability to communicate findings to scientific and executive teams alikeAttention to detail, analytically minded and a desire for learning and developing skills is requiredStrong problem-solving skills required for developing creative and innovate solutions and insights to achieve project objective.
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