Research and Development Lab Community Manager
Ecovative is seeking a collaborative, people and project focused Research and Development Lab Community Manager to oversee and manage research and engineering experts that align with the company’s vision, mission, and customer deliverables.
Ecovative is a company creating next generation materials through mycelium biofabrication. We create better materials for everyday needs. We are working to develop technologies from mycelium that solve important problems, like animal agricultural and plastic pollution.
This role organizes the research team to ensure this success through regular collaboration with Technical Operations leadership and the team members executing the work. The R&D Manager is responsible for people management responsibilities including talent acquisition, development of training and on-boarding programs, and continuous development of individual and team contributors including research scientists, biologists, chemists, material scientists, and engineers. This role will assess and match personnel across active internal projects, as well as grant based and private commercial contracts and effectively organize project teams. A successful R&D Manager at Ecovative will have proven expertise managing a large team with diverse skills as well as with project management including charting progress and pipelines to meet existing and planned research projects. This role will have a high level of collaboration with other leaders within the technical operations, including quality, pilot scale, safety, and technology transfer.
Minimum qualifications: Bachelor's degree in science or engineering related fields with a minimum of at least 3 years or more relevant experience in people and project management. Must possess broad technology product management and ideally within a bio or high tech research industry; seasoned management skills, including a desire to set people up for success and continuous development; strong familiarity with safety, sanitation, and quality aspects; well-developed project management skills; familiarity with development techniques such as Lean and Agile; strong analytical and reasoning abilities; ability to interact at all levels of an organization, including clients and partners; excellent writing and presentation skills; written work must be concise and persuasive; strong communication and interpersonal skills; demonstrated experience overseeing multiple research projects.
Preferred qualifications: A combination of experience in both academia and private industry project management. Experience managing a science and engineering community within an R&D environment. Knowledge of fermentation or mycelium research. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and/or training.