Senior Project Manager (m/f/d)

Job description

Who we are: DUDE CHEM is a Green Chemistry startup with its origins in the German Cluster of Excellence in Catalysis at the University of Technology Berlin. We are a small but mighty team which is dedicated to fulfil our mission: Based on the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry we aim to build a green chemical-pharmaceutical industry. The industry currently consumes >13% of all fossil resources, most of them during the manufacturing. Our aim is to change this. In order to achieve this goal, we have built a strong IP portfolio and validated the tech onto the market in order to reduce or reuse expensive resources in the production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. We believe that digitalization can be an integral tool for the implementation of greener, more sustainable production processes. This is why we combine both scientific disciplines – digitalization and sustainability – in all of our projects. Over the last years, our team has proven that our approaches work and created hard competitive advantages in the core of the value chain of their customers. Why we need you: We are working on bringing our first, greener manufactured chemicals into commercial scale. Further, many customers are approaching us in order to get our support and help them to source in a more sustainable and controlled way. Thus, we need your help to lead the development of our greener processes and bring them into manufacturing as part of our Chemistry & Engineering Team. In this role you will own a development project, lead the execution and coordinate the project team with your experience in managing complex development project within the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. You will be responsible for planning, executing and controlling all aspects of the development project to ensure delivery within time and budget as well as communication and management of all internal and external stakeholders. If you want to lead the development of our innovative green chemical manufacturing processes and have a real positive impact on the world, you are the perfect match for us! Tasks Responsibilities: As a Senior Project Manager, we expect you to own the development project of a green manufacturing process all the way from early development to implementation in the manufacturing plant. Right from the start, we expect you to lead the project team and be accountable for the success of it. Project planning and execution: Define project goals, scope, deliverables, and success metrics in collaboration with stakeholders. Develop, implement, and manage project plans, timelines, key activities, milestones, budgets, and resource requirements, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives, and successful implementation of all project goals. Ensure project completion within the defined scope, timelines, quality standards, and budget Project leadership and team coordination: Full responsibility and accountability for all operational and reporting aspects in leading a cross functional project team to deliver on all scope objectives on time, in full and with the highest level of quality. Direct and motivate a multi-disciplinary (chemistry, analytics, engineering) project team, holding members closely accountable to deliver detailed results within the agreed project governance structure. Lead all aspects of project communications, agree on achievements, and conduct "lessons learned" exercises. Conduct project meetings, workshops, follow-up activities and/or daily stand-ups, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives. Resource management Identify and manage resources (people, equipment, external service providers) of the project to ensure the right individuals are assigned to meet project requirements and deadlines. Evaluate tradeoffs to balance competing project demands and optimize resource allocation. Stakeholder management: Manage all external service providers such as manufacturers and/or developers. Ensure transparency and efficient communications towards both internal and external stakeholders. Act as the primary liaison between project teams, management, and external partners to find common understanding and alignment on the project goals. Address stakeholder concerns and manage expectations effectively. Risk management: Identify internal & external risks, issues, bottlenecks and road blockers at an early stage and develop & implement mitigation strategies to ensure project continuity and success. Monitor project health, inform the project team of potential impacts, proactively address challenges and/or handle escalations effectively. Documentation and reporting: Ensure full documentation of technical results of the project team. Prepare and present project status and progress reports, updates, and documentation to senior management and collaborators, ensuring transparency and accountability. Continuous improvement and quality: Drive continuous improvement through retrospectives and feedback sessions. Find opportunities to improve processes and implement best practices of different project management methodologies to enhance project efficiency and outcomes. Requirements Qualifications: Education: Sc. or PhD in a natural science or engineering discipline of the life sciences or a related field. Experience: 5+ years of experience in project management with a proven track record of managing projects using traditional or agile project methods and multi-functional teams. Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical and CDMO industry, especially the development of pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing processes. Experience with pharmaceutical regulatory requirements and compliance. Proven track record of managing CDMOs and other external service providers. Technical Skills: Strong understanding of project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, etc.) and tools (e.g., MS Project, Asana, Jira, Trello). Expertise in chemical process development, and scale-up methodologies and manufacturing. Familiarity with goal frameworks (e.g. OKRs) and experience in setting goals, metrics and tasks. Soft Skills: Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams and in a fast-pace environment. Outstanding communication (verbal and written), presentation, moderation and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and negotiate at all levels. Structured, organized and highly goal- & result-oriented way of working with a high degree of commitment and a hands-on mentality Experience of working in a matrix organization structure. Ability to manage multiple priorities and excellent time management skills. Ability to effectively present status updates and business correspondence Ability to listen and respond well to external customers, partners and colleagues at all levels Effective communication of client needs and escalations Ability to operate with significant autonomy and discretion. Demonstrated bias for action and excellent ability to deal with great ambiguity. Excellent oral & written communication in English is a must, German a plus. Exceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence peers and senior management. Certifications: Qualification in project management (PMP certification), agile methodologies or equivalent is a plus. Benefits What we offer: We regard your skills as well as your conscience as our highest assets. We provide every team member with a veto right on projects, e.g. if you don’t want to work for a specific customer due to moral reasons. There were several occasions that also our CEO used this right. We offer you an unlimited work contract and flexible working hours (results orientation), with the options to work from home at least one day per week. You will be part of an extremely motivated interdisciplinary team, giving you all the possibilities to further develop yourself and to help us to build an industry anew. DUDE CHEM strives to be a diverse and inclusive workplace where we can ALL be ourselves. We encourage job applications from people of all genders, backgrounds, and communities. We are consequently state-of-the-art driven and we promise that we will always listen to your ideas. Our dynamic and flat hierarchies enable us to flexibly adapt our organizational structure to the level of expertise required in a project. Sometimes you will learn and sometimes you will have the lead in a project. Open communication and direct feedback are values that we live every day. The conviction to do something that creates a positive impact in the world drives us forward. We are a young, enthusiastic team that likes each other very much and we’d be very pleased if you’d be interested in working with us! Unfortunately, we neither are able to pay you BASF salaries, nor are we able to pay them to ourselves. However, we will do our best to pay you a competitive salary, considering your individual needs and the specific circumstances you are in. Additionally, you will receive stock options from our employee stock option pool so that you can participate in the success of the company. 28 days holiday per year, as well as an entirely paid for annual ticket for the public transport (“Deutschlandticket”) come on top of that. We provide you with organic fruits, snacks, coffee & tea and non-alcoholic drinks in our offices and labs in Berlin. It is important for that you develop professionally, thus we support and offer coaching and job relevant trainings to you. Lastly, we have frequent company socials to have some fun. Anything else you need? Just let us know! :-) Let’s transform the industry for the better, together! How you can apply: Send your CV, cover letter, and expected annual gross salary and anything else which you consider relevant for us to our team. We are very much looking forward to hearing from you!