This role is for one of the Weekday's clients Min Experience: 15+ years

Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

JobType: full-time

Requirements Must Haves

- Ph.D. in Chemistry, Surfactant Chemistry, or Biotechnology from a reputed institute
- 10-15 years of progressive R&D; leadership experience in formulation/biotech/surfactant industries
- Proven expertise in biobased product development across multiple application domains
- Strong people leadership managing 10-20member multidisciplinary scientific teams
- Deep knowledge of surfactants, analytical techniques, and/or biotechnology
- Hands-on experience in lab-to-plant scale-up and commercialization processes
- Strong project planning, execution, documentation, and innovation management skills
- Familiarity with regulatory frameworks (DSIR, DST, PCB) and compliance protocols

Good to Haves:
- Exposure to premier institutes like IIT, IISc, ICT, or CSIR, coupled with strong research orientation, publications, or patents, demonstrating advanced scientific thinking and innovation-driven problem-solving capabilities




- Experience collaborating with marketing and application teams for troubleshooting, customer-centric product customization, and commercialization strategies, ensuring seamless alignment between R&D; innovations and evolving market demands
- Solid communication, stakeholder management, and talent development skills, with ability to recruit, mentor, and inspire high-performing teams while fostering a culture of continuous learning, experimentation, and scientific excellence

Targeted firms for the vacancy: Archroma, DyStar, BASF, CHT Group, RUDOLF Group, Pulcra Chemicals, Tanatex Chemicals, Bozzetto Group, Croda, Rossari Biotech, Solenis, Kemira, Ecolab (Nalco Water), Buckman, SNF, Nouryon, Omya, Minerals Technologies, Solvay , Unilever , P&G; (You can look at Personal Care or Home care Product companies with Good R&D; program) Must-have Skills Formulation development, Surfactant, Bioformulation

Good-to-have Skills Textile Industry, B2B, R&D;

📌 R&D Lead (Chennai)
🏢 Weekday AI (YC W21)
📍 Chennai