Manager, Research, Development & Commercialization - Innovation and Commercialization

Jimmy Jazz; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

The Manager, RD&C - Innovation and Commercialization at Inolex leads the development and commercialization readiness of the innovation portfolio, translating customer needs and market opportunities into differentiated ingredient technologies and scalable product platforms.

You will coordinate feasibility studies, experimentation, IP strategy, and cross-functional collaboration to accelerate scale-up and commercialization, ensuring technical rigor and business impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Material Science, or related field.
• 10+ years with BS, 8+ years with MS, or 6+ years with PhD in related industry.
• Experience in personal care, specialty chemicals, biotechnology, or related innovation-driven industries preferred.
• Experience supporting technical teams, innovation programs, formulation science, and commercialization readiness initiatives preferred.

Responsibilities

• Support development and execution of the innovation pipeline, technology platforms, and scientific roadmap.
• Coordinate priorities, roadmaps, stage-gate activities, milestones, and commercialization plans to advance innovation from concept through launch.
• Identify and evaluate internal and external technologies, trends, partnerships to strengthen portfolio differentiation and innovation growth.
• Conduct technology assessment through competitive intelligence, patent landscape review, scientific literature analysis, benchmarking, and data-driven experimentation.
• Apply chemistry and formulation science to support ingredient design, IP generation, and commercialization readiness.

Skills

Chemistry

Formulation science

Materials science

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Science storytelling

Education

Bachelor's in Chemistry/ChE/Materials Science

MS or PhD preferred

Job description

• Job Category R&D, innovation, commercialization
• Employee Type FT Exempt
• Required Degree 4 Year Degree
• Travel 25%
• Manage Others Yes

Description

Responsibilities:

Innovation Pipeline Development & Technology Platform Support

• Support the development and execution of Inolex’s innovation pipeline, technology platforms, and scientific roadmap to deliver differentiated ingredient technologies and business growth.
• Coordinate research priorities, technology roadmaps, stage-gate activities, technical milestones, and commercialization plans to advance innovation from concept through launch.
• Identify and evaluate internal and external technologies, emerging trends, competitive opportunities, and potential partnerships to strengthen portfolio differentiation and innovation growth.
• Conduct technology assessment through competitive intelligence, patent landscape review, scientific literature analysis, benchmarking, and data-driven experimentation to guide technical and business decisions.
• Apply expertise in chemistry, formulation science, structure-property relationships, and mechanisms of action to support ingredient design, performance optimization, intellectual property generation, technical differentiation, and commercialization readiness.

Commercialization Readiness & Launch Support

• Enable customer-facing teams through technical training, scientific storytelling, product knowledge, launch support materials, and commercialization guidance.
• Represent Inolex in selected customer, industry, technical, and strategic partnership engagements where innovation or commercialization expertise is required.
• Lead assigned RD&C innovation projects and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver innovation excellence, technical rigor, and commercialization success.
• Establish clear project expectations, accountability, project management discipline, and standards for scientific execution and documentation.
• Build and strengthen capabilities in innovation, formulation science, technical documentation, knowledge management, and commercialization execution.
• Foster a culture of innovation, ownership, collaboration, continuous learning, and scientific excellence across project teams.

Requirements

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Deep expertise in chemistry, chemical engineering, physical chemistry, material science, formulation science, or related specialty chemical domains.
• Strong understanding of ingredient functionality, formulation interactions, structure-property relationships, mechanisms of action, application behavior, and performance characterization.
• Proven ability to support new ingredient or technology development, technical assessment, project execution, and commercialization readiness activities.
• Experience with IP strategy, prior art analysis, competitive intelligence, technical documentation, claims support, and patent development support.
• Ability to translate scientific innovation and technical data into accurate value propositions, customer benefits, technical narratives, and launch support materials.
• Strong project management, portfolio discipline, scientific judgment, cross-functional leadership, and ability to drive execution across multiple technical priorities.
• Excellent communication, presentation, stakeholder engagement, technical writing, and scientific storytelling abilities.
• Demonstrated collaboration, influence, project leadership, and ability to work effectively across cross-functional technical and commercial teams.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Material Science, Formulation Science, or related field required; M.S. or Ph.D. preferred.
• Minimum 10+ years with a B.S., 8+ years with an M.S., or 6+ years with a Ph.D. of relevant industry experience preferred for this manager-level innovation and commercialization scope.
• Experience in personal care, specialty chemicals, biotechnology, or related innovation-driven industries preferred; cosmetics or personal care industry experience strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting technical teams, innovation programs, formulation science, technical documentation, and commercialization readiness initiatives preferred.

Physical Requirements:

• Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• This position requires on-site presence at an Inolex facility in Philadelphia, PA at least four days per week to support cross-functional collaboration and engagement with R&D, operations, technical service, and product commercialization teams.
• Occasional travel approximately 20–30% is required for internal meetings, customer engagements, industry conferences, and global collaboration as needed.
• Work is primarily performed in an office and laboratory environment; must be able to sit for extended periods, work at a computer, and participate in laboratory or formulation activities as required.

This company is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer (EOE/including disability/vets).

Summary

The Manager, RD&C - Innovation and Commercialization supports the development and commercialization readiness of Inolex's innovation portfolio. This role helps translate customer needs, market opportunities, and emerging science into differentiated ingredient technologies, technical development plans, scalable solutions, and commercially ready product platforms.

This role applies scientific and technical expertise to advance ingredient innovation from concept through scale-up by supporting feasibility assessment, technical experimentation, product differentiation, documentation, and cross-functional commercialization activities. Market-facing teams identify customer needs, growth priorities, and commercial opportunities. This role partners with those teams to define technical priorities, assess feasibility, coordinate development work, and support the scale-up pathway required for successful commercialization. The Manager is expected to improve the speed, quality, and discipline of RD&C innovation by coordinating technical workstreams, strengthening IP strategy, improving project execution to deliver commercially meaningful innovation.