Biological Formulation Scientist

Corteva Agriscience has the responsibility to develop new active ingredients and new formulated products that are competitive with the current and future market conditions. The individual in the Biological Formulation Scientist or Engineer position will create and develop novel formulations, production processes and delivery systems for new and existing Corteva active ingredients in our Biological Business. The types of actives we work with include microbes, nucleotides, virus, proteins, enzymes, extracts and naturally sourced molecules. The individual will collaborate with other functions in Corteva R&D to explore, test in proof of concept, and reduce to practice novel delivery concepts, and advance successful technologies and product concepts through stage-gate pipeline to business case and commercialization. The individual will also provide SME (subject matter expertise) and support necessary in technology transfer, product registration, and process scale up for these concepts. This individual should be skilled in the conception and development of formulations from the agricultural, pharmaceutical, food science, animal health, personal care or related industries.

Primary Responsibilities

• Exploration, proof of concept, and development of novel formulations, production processes and delivery system technologies and concepts for new and registered active ingredients.
• Collaboration with other functions across the company to deliver maximum success, such as analytical R&D, process development, application technology, biology, agronomy, regulatory, operations and commercial teams.
• Collaboration with external companies or universities to evaluate novel and promising technologies for Ag applications.
• Staying abreast of new discoveries and technologies in the area of formulation and delivery system technologies
• Intellectual property (IP) capture and research report writing and presentation.
• Compliance with laboratory safety procedures
• Lead junior team members and mentor their professional development.
• Support production introductions, technology transfers and launched products as needed.

Other Responsibilities Include

• Under minimal guidance of senior colleagues, develops hypotheses, plans and executes effective experiments, generates reproducible data, interprets results, and modifies hypotheses appropriately.
• Leads the investigation of product quality concerns / issues and troubleshooting of product quality issues at plant level, conducts rework evaluations and provides recommendations to the plant.
• Consistently applies sound scientific methods to solve technical problems.
• Qualifies new active ingredient and raw material sources and supports shelf-life date extensions for existing products.
• Develops understanding of customer needs through discussion with sales and marketing groups and works towards meeting the needs.
• Develops an understanding of competitors and key competitive technologies. Uses knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of competitive products to identify opportunities for competitive product positioning.

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated competence in the area of formulation technology or formulation engineering.
• Experience working with biological actives and developing biological products.
• Experience with production equipment including mixing, milling, blending, dry processing, packaging, fluidic blending, etc. if engineer.
• Ability to work independently and drive projects to completion.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills
• Ability to successfully partner with team members and stakeholders (sales, marketing, R&D, regulatory, product stewards, etc.) from multiple backgrounds.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Ability to persuade/influence others of the value of Corteva technology. Ability to clearly articulate the value of technology when talking with customers.
• Working knowledge of formulation design & development and product registration process.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience working with fermentation and recovery technology for biological actives.
• Proven track record of product development
• Experience working with HTP technology and digital tools.
• Prior experience in research or manufacturing/engineering.
• Computer programming and automation experience
• Advanced statistical analysis capabilities

Education

• PhD / MSc with 4+ years of professional experience /BS with 8+ years of professional experience in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Material Science, Biology, Food Science, Microbiology, Plant Pathology, related fields or relevant experience.