Starch Chemist

A privately owned national company located in the Quad Cities, Iowa is seeking an experienced Starch Chemist. This company is a leading manufacturer of corn-based products such as food and pharmaceutical starches, maltodextrins, corn syrup solids, industrial starches, and USP ethyl alcohol. This opportunity seeks a dynamic hard driving person that has a strong background in carbohydrate science. This position offers strong technical growth potential and the autonomy to lead the research process with a world class company.  

 

Qualifications are a B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Chemistry with approximately 5-10 years of work experience.  The qualified candidate needs to have a good understanding of organic chemistry.  Necessary skills include starch modification techniques such as acylation, etherification, phosphorylation and enzyme modification.  One job responsibility will be troubleshooting manufacturing processes, solving production problems and communicating results to plant personnel.  Another important function is to develop new starch products, from conception to commercialization, and communicate product development progress with cross functional teams.  For this responsibility, the candidate should be able to take feedback on new product functionality and make necessary changes to the product prototype as a part of an iterative product development process.  Experience at scaling up starch processes in a pilot plant and production is a plus.  The position has a strong technical growth potential and is looking for a motivated individual that enjoys technical challenges and working in the lab.  The expectation of this position is for the successful candidate to work in the lab >80%.

 

Critical Skill Summary:

·  Organic Chemistry

·  Starch Chemistry

·  Carbohydrate functional group modification

·  Physical/Chemical Characterization of biopolymers and organic molecules such as via GC/MS, HPLC, GPC, RVA, DSC, TGA, NMR, FTIR.

·  Pilot plant and Production scale-up experience.

·  Strong written and verbal communication skills including presentation skills.

·  Computer Skills

·  The ability to interact positively with co-workers and customers.

·  Highly motivated, self-starter who can create new opportunities