Senior formulation and application manager

Startup Atlas; Oost-Vlaanderen; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meal vouchers

ADV leave days

Hospitalization insurance

Group insurance

CAO90 bonus

Bicycle allowance

Free shuttle service

Job summary

AmphiStar, Ghent-based biosurfactant innovator, seeks a Senior Formulation and Application Manager to translate technical insights into strategic customer solutions. You will drive hands-on formulation with a commercial focus, shaping the biosurfactant roadmap and applications in personal care and home care markets.

You will lead formulation projects, collaborate with R&D and Sales, and engage directly with customers to deliver high-impact, tested formulations and guidance.

Qualifications

• Master in chemistry, chemical engineering, formulation science, biotech, biochemistry, bio-engineering or equivalent; Bachelor degree with min. 6 years experience.
• Experience in formulation development in home/personal care industry (4-6 years)
• Strong interest in the commercial and customer-facing side of the job
• Hands-on, creative formulation mindset with excellent problem-solving skills and lab activity
• Experience in multidisciplinary teams and translating insights across R&D and commercial
• Familiarity with characterization tools for surfactants and formulation processes (interfacial tension, contact angle)
• Strong communicator capable of building relationships with stakeholders
• Proactive team player who drives projects with clarity and structure
• Fluent in English; other languages (French, German, Dutch) are assets

Responsibilities

• Translate strategic roadmap into a clear formulation plan and prioritize projects
• Lead development and optimization of formulations using AmphiStar biosurfactants for home/personal care applications
• Evaluate new biosurfactant molecules in model formulations and convert into prototypes
• Work hands-on in the lab and manage the formulation team
• Collaborate with R&D and Sales to turn results into customer-ready guidance
• Interact with customers and partners to assess needs and explore feasibility
• Represent AmphiStar at customer visits and industry events
• Design and execute performance tests (surface activity, foaming, wetting, detergency, emulsification, stability, rheology)
• Benchmark against conventional surfactants and translate data into improvements
• Interpret analytical data to optimize formulations and guide decisions

Skills

Formulation development

Customer-facing skills

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Communication skills

Surfactant characterization

Analytical reasoning

Education

Master in chemistry or related field

Bachelor degree with 6+ years experience

Tools

Interfacial tension analysis

Contact angle measurement

Lab testing

Job description

AmphiStar is the first company to develop, scale-up, produce, and sell biosurfactants made entirely from biobased waste- and side streams with applications for consumer products including home care, personal care, industrial cleaners, textiles, and agrochemicals.

Senior formulation and application manager

We are looking for a senior formulation and application manager to support customers with formulation guidance, contribute to product positioning, and shape the biosurfactant innovation roadmap, focusing on personal care and home care markets.

Job Description

Senior formulation and application manager

We are looking for a senior formulation and application manager with formulation know‑how and the ability to translate technical insights into strategic customer solutions. You will support customers with formulation guidance, contribute to product positioning, and help shape our biosurfactant innovation roadmap. This role combines hands‑on formulation with commercial strategy in a collaborative, fast‑moving environment.

AMPHISTAR - WHO WE ARE

At AmphiStar, we’re on a mission to make biosurfactants mainstream. As a fast‑moving, science‑driven spin‑off of Ghent University and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, we convert local waste and industrial side streams into high‑performance, 100% upcycled biosurfactants.

Today, most surfactants are still fossil‑ or palm‑based. We’re here to change that: radically and at scale so we can make biosurfactants mainstream. Our technology converts waste and industrial side streams into high‑quality biosurfactants using fermentation, enabling a circular, local, and scalable production model.

To strengthen our R&D team, we are looking for someone who combines strong formulation skills with commercial feeling. In this role, you help shape innovative applications for our biosurfactant portfolio, with a primary focus on personal care and home care markets.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

WHAT YOU WILL DO

The surfactant market is a highly dynamic environment, requiring continuous product improvements and short- to medium-term innovation projects. With several competing technologies entering the biosurfactant space, AmphiStar must keep differentiating itself.

You sit right at the intersection of R&D, application development, and customer-facing technical support. You turn our biosurfactants into real‑world formulations that make customers go: “Wow-this works.”

You will:

Formulate, test, and create impact

• Translate AmphiStar’s strategic roadmap into a clear and actionable formulation plan, prioritizing projects based on customer needs, market insights, and internal strategy.
• Lead the development and optimization of formulations using AmphiStar’s biosurfactants, with an initial focus on home and personal care applications.
• Evaluate new biosurfactant molecules in model formulations, identify unique value‑adding properties, and convert these into new prototypes or application concepts.
• Work hands‑on in the lab and manage the formulation team to ensure structure, consistency, and creativity in day‑to‑day formulation and application development.

Bring insights to customers & amplify our story

• Collaborate closely with R&D and Sales to turn technical results into clear customer‑ready guidance, formulation support, and application recommendations.
• Interact directly with customers and our partners: answer questions, evaluate their needs, and bring promising suggestions back into the lab to explore feasibility.
• Represent AmphiStar at customer visits, trade shows, and industry events: showing the world what our biosurfactants can do.

Combine formulation with performance testing

• Design and execute a structured set of performance tests, including surface and interfacial activity, foaming behavior, wetting, detergency, emulsification and stability, rheology, and stress testing.
• Benchmark AmphiStar biosurfactants against conventional surfactants and translate performance data into actionable formulation improvements and strategic recommendations.
• Interpret analytical data (purity, degradation profiles, stability, molecular interactions) and use these insights to optimize formulations, guide application development, and support decision‑making.

WHAT YOU BRING

You’re not only a strong formulator, you’re someone who enjoys interacting with customers, understands their needs, and can turn science into solutions.

• Master in chemistry, chemical engineering, formulation science, biotech, biochemistry, bio‑engineering or equivalent. Bachelor degree with min. 6 years experience;
• Experience in formulation development in home/personal care industry (4-6 years)
• Strong interest in the commercial and customer ‑facing side of the job : comfortable interacting with clients and distributors.
• Hands‑on, creative formulation mindset with excellent problem‑solving skills and a willingness to work actively in the lab.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary teams and the ability to translate insights across R&D and commercial colleagues.
• Familiarity with characterisation tools for surfactants and formulation processes (interfacial tension, contact angle,..), bonus: tests related to personal care
• A strong communicator who can easily build relations and grow partnerships with key internal and external stakeholders;
• A proactive team player who takes ownership, shows initiative, and drives projects forward with clarity and structure.
• Fluent in English; other languages (French, German, Dutch) are an asset.

WHAT DO WE OFFER YOU?
We offer you the opportunity to take on a key role within one of the most innovative biosurfactant companies in the world, headquartered in Ghent (Zwijnaarde).
You will join a young, growing, and informal organization where initiative, engagement, and responsibility are truly valued.

• A key role in shaping our biosurfactant application portfolio.
• A varied position with room to grow and add your own personal touch.
• A close-knit and (really) enthusiastic team of AmphiStars who support each other and have fun together.
• An open, multicultural, inclusive work environment built on respect, sustainability & collaboration.
• A competitive salary package, complemented by:
  • Meal vouchers
  • Additional leave days (ADV)
  • Hospitalization insurance
  • Group insurance
  • CAO90 bonus
  • Bicycle allowance
• A safe and pleasant workplace in Zwijnaarde, easily accessible from Gent Sint-Pieters with a free shuttle service.