Catalyst Chemist

Elevance™ Renewable Sciences, Inc., a new specialty chemical company based on groundbreaking, proven technology, is harnessing the potential of natural oils to produce a portfolio of commercial products across multiple markets. Elevance was formed to institutionalize work started in 2004 in collaboration between Cargill, one of the world’s largest producers of agricultural oils, and Materia, a leading edge technology organization leveraging patents from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), to catalyze the commercial production of renewable chemicals.

Elevance is backed by TPG, and is a high growth business with a leading market and IP position. We are the leader in using renewable or natural oils (e.g., soybean, canola, corn and sunflower oils) to create an extraordinarily wide variety of specialty chemical products using a broad range of proprietary, patent protected technologies, including Nobel Prize winning metathesis.

The complexity of the business model stems from commercializing multiple products through multiple channels into a wide spectrum of premium markets and end use applications. While Elevance’s business model incorporates a relatively complex supply chain, the manufacturing platform operates within a low temperature and low pressure envelope to facilitate scale-up.

Elevance begins with a revenue base of approximately $20 Million and is projected to scale to over $1 Billion in 6 years and directly addresses a $20 Billion Market. We have strong IP protection, real revenue and catalyst technologies which are such that they create a compelling growth opportunity.

Position Summary:

The person is this role will have responsibility as an individual technical contributor on catalyst discovery and development programs.  This includes accountability for delivery in the following areas:

• Catalyst discovery, development, and successful commercialization.
• Design and execution of catalyst research programs for catalyst preparation and testing, including application of High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) methodologies.
• Support to Elevance’s engineering and development in catalyst technology scale-up and commercialization, and plant support.
• External research program development and technical direction such as university research collaborations, HTE partnerships, and molecular and kinetic modeling.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Actively demonstrate positive safety behaviors and practices throughout the organization and is recognized as a leader in safety.
• Conceiving, planning and leading innovative research of commercial and strategic importance to Elevance Renewable Sciences.
• Actively participating in technology project development and project portfolio management.
• Participation in discussion of technical aspects for catalyst synthesis with potential partners
• Documenting and effectively communicating research Writing invention disclosures to secure proprietary protection of key catalyst technologies.
• Monitoring outside technology developments including competitors, universities, and key technology suppliers. 
• Providing technical leadership in the discovery and development of commercial catalyst and process technologies.
• Demonstrating an on-going commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
• Management of external research programs in catalysis

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in either Chemistry or Chemical Engineering.
• At least 10 years relevant work experience
• Training and experience in catalysis including homogeneous catalysis
• Knowledge of unit operations used in catalyst scale-up and manufacturing
• Strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills
• Familiarity with project management to meet project deadlines and operate within budgets
• Well-developed communication (oral and written) and interpersonal skills to build strong relationships and motivate project team members

Interested?  Please about your interest.