SK biotek Ireland, an SK pharmteco company, is a global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) with state-of-the-art facilities in Korea, the US, France, and Ireland. As part of the wider SK Inc., which reported revenues of $88 billion in 2022, our mission is to “make what matters for a healthy, happier world,” delivering from grams to tonnes.
The Swords Campus has been at the forefront of developing, scaling up, and commercially manufacturing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Highly Potent APIs, and Chemical Intermediates for nearly 60 years. With a talented workforce, exceptional technical capabilities, and world-class facilities, we have produced some of the world’s most important medicines — and continue to do so today.
Learn more about SK pharmteco here: https://vimeo.com/skpharmteco
Current Need
SK biotek Ireland is seeking to recruit an R&D PhD Chemist. This position is based at the R&D Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin.
The R&D Centre combines technical and operational expertise, including analytical capabilities, to support the development and manufacture of clinical and commercial small molecule APIs.
Position Description
The R&D PhD Chemist will have expertise in synthetic organic chemistry and will be responsible for supporting all aspects of new and existing chemical process development. This includes technology transfer, scale-up, process safety, monitoring, and troubleshooting for small molecules.
The role involves close collaboration with cross-functional teams such as Operations, Quality, SHE, and external stakeholders to ensure robust, efficient, and well-controlled processes for both existing and new product introductions.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead development projects in the laboratory, including route scouting, route development, proof of concept, crystallisation optimisation, and process safety assessment.
- Provide technical support for the manufacture of APIs and intermediates, focusing on optimisation and troubleshooting.
- Identify and implement projects to optimise processes, considering scale-up, manufacturing requirements, and Critical to Quality Attributes.
- Utilise data monitoring and PAT tools such as FBRM, Raman, and IR; identify and introduce new technologies to support business needs.
- Collaborate with R&D analytical chemists and Operations engineers for new product introduction and scale-up activities, including customer engagement, troubleshooting, documentation, and campaign readiness.
- Support chemistry assessments for new products.
- Lead optimisation initiatives aimed at improving throughput and yield in partnership with Operations engineers.
- Support continuous process verification by collecting and trending data for commercial products, identifying Out of Trends (OOT) and Statistical Alert Events (SAE), and leading investigations with support from engineers and analytical chemists.
- Actively participate in manufacturing campaign performance teams.
- Lead and support quality and safety investigations.
Minimum Requirements
Required Skills and Experience:
- PhD in Organic Chemistry.
- Strong technical background in chemistry.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with proven ability to work across a matrix organisation.
- Strong problem-solving abilities and a commitment to continuous improvement.
- Experience in project management, troubleshooting, and continuous process verification.
- Proficiency with standard root cause analysis and statistical tools.
- Knowledge and hands-on experience with analytical/diagnostic tools such as PAT, chromatography, and process safety.
- Strong understanding of GMP, Quality, Health, and Safety standards, ensuring compliance in all activities.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary & annual bonus.
- Pension & private healthcare.
- Education support.
- Career growth in a global organisation.