Head of Radiochemistry & Isotope Production - Austin, TX

Subcritical Systems Inc; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance.

Job summary

Subcritical Systems, Inc. in Austin, TX seeks a leader to develop, commission, and operate an accelerator-based radioisotope production capability. You will build an integrated program spanning target development, irradiation, radiochemical processing, purification, QC, and delivery of medical and industrial radioisotopes.

You will shape the radiochemistry strategy, establish GMP-quality workflows, and align production with global clinical pipelines across NA, Europe, and Asia.

Qualifications

• PhD or advanced degree in Radiochemistry, Nuclear Chemistry, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in radioisotope production, radiochemistry, radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, or accelerator-based nuclear science.
• Experience leading an isotope production program within an accelerator, national laboratory, academic, commercial, or radiopharmaceutical facility.
• Hands-on experience developing and operating radiochemical processes within hot cells or shielded processing environments.
• Strong understanding of radionuclide production pathways, target chemistry, nuclear reaction cross-sections, decay chains, radionuclidic purity, and isotope recovery.
• Experience establishing controlled, documented, and GMP-quality radiochemistry workflows.
• Experience scaling radioisotope production from research quantities to routine commercial or clinical supply.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and operation of a proton accelerator-based radioisotope production program.
• Define the isotope production roadmap based on technical feasibility, market demand, radiopharmaceutical development pipelines, and clinical requirements.
• Develop irradiation, target handling, radiochemical processing, purification, and recovery workflows for medical and industrial isotopes.
• Lead the design, specification, installation, commissioning, and qualification of hot cells, radiochemistry laboratories, and associated isotope-processing infrastructure.
• Design and implement cGMP-quality chemical separation and purification processes for radioactive materials.
• Establish robust, reproducible production workflows covering target receipt, irradiation, transfer, dissolution, separation, purification, formulation, QC, and waste handling.
• Partner with accelerator physics and engineering teams to optimize beam energy, current, irradiation conditions, target design, cooling, and isotope yield.
• Develop and maintain isotope production models incorporating nuclear reaction cross-sections, radionuclidic purity, decay, production yield, and processing timelines.
• Establish quality systems, batch documentation, analytical methods, specifications, and release criteria appropriate for radiopharmaceutical precursor and isotope production.
• Ensure radiochemistry operations comply with applicable radiation safety, environmental, GMP, transportation, and regulatory requirements.
• Build and lead a multidisciplinary team spanning radiochemistry, isotope production, analytical chemistry, targetry, quality, and operations.
• Maintain a detailed understanding of emerging radiopharmaceutical clinical programs and translate future isotope demand into production strategy and capacity planning.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

GMP knowledge

Radiochemistry expertise

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

PhD or advanced degree in Radiochemistry, Nuclear Chemistry, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or related discipline

Tools

Hot cells

Radiochemistry laboratories

Isotope processing infrastructure

Job description

Subcritical Systems, Inc. in Austin, TX seeks a leader to develop, commission, and operate an accelerator-based radioisotope production capability. You will build an integrated program spanning target development, irradiation, radiochemical processing, purification, QC, and delivery of medical and industrial radioisotopes.

You will shape the radiochemistry strategy, establish GMP-quality workflows, and align production with global clinical pipelines across NA, Europe, and Asia.