Sr. Pilot Plant Manager

Indigo is a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. With a vision of creating a world where farming is an economically desirable and accessible profession, Indigo works alongside its growers to apply natural approaches, conserve resources for future generations, and grow healthy food for all. Utilizing beneficial plant microbes to improve crop health and productivity, Indigo’s portfolio is focused on cotton, wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice. The company, founded by Flagship Pioneering, is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN, Research Triangle Park, NC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and São Paulo, Brazil.  www.indigoag.com

The role of the Sr. Pilot Plant Manager will be to lead all activities relating to the operation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of Indigo’s brand new, state of the art, solid-state fermentation (SSF) pilot plant located at our main research facility in Charlestown (Boston), Massachusetts. 

The Sr. Manager will also be responsible leading all of our SSF scale up activities and production at our contract manufacturers. As we look to expand our pilot capabilities in the future, the Sr. Manager will lead the effort to develop the preliminary scope and capital cost of these new unit operations. The role will be directly responsible for 2 technicians and report into the VP of Manufacturing.

Responsibilities:

• On-Boarding:
  • Develop a strong network w/ Product Development, Supply Chain, and contract manufacturers
  • Develop proficiency in all solid state fermentation unit operations
• Development:
  • Develop a 12-month roadmap of activities for the pilot plant, including process optimization & scale up of new microbes for H@ 2022
  • Implement tools to communicate & review priorities with stakeholders and team members
  • Lead all solid state fermentation scale up projects and coordinate SSF production batches
  • Map out the current solid state fermentation processes utilized in the lab, at the pilot plant and at contract manufacturers
  • Identify key differences and best practices, quantify performance and consistency of each unit operation, and create a strategy to improve alignment between scales
  • Develop a written strategy for our solid state fermentation supply chain
  • Explore opportunities and investments for new technologies to make a step-change improvement in our fermentation & down-stream processing
  • Define the scope and initial cost estimate to expand our pilot plant capabilities to include: liquid fermentation, concentration & spray drying
• Management:
  • Develop a personal development plan and actions for each team member

Competencies:

• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Mechanically-inclined, willing to get hands dirty
• Ability to interact and influence at all levels of the organization
• Resourceful / can network with external partners (i.e. contractors, equipment vendors, facility service providers)
• Service-oriented/ able to work collaboratively with internal and external partners
• Comfortable with ambiguity, changing priorities and tight timelines
• Curious, innovative, outside of the box thinker
• Strong technical expertise, general knowledge of unit-operations and scaling
• Project management and data analysis skills
• General knowledge of Q.C./Q.A., KPI, etc.
• Self-starter, able to work independently

Qualifications:

• 5-7+ years of experience in process development / engineering or production involving fermentation and down stream processing
• 3-5 years of managing and developing people
• BS or MS in microbiology, biochemistry, or chemical engineering
• Experience with OSHA and Lab/Pilot Plant safety
• Experience working in or running a pilot facility. Plant start up experience is desired.