R&D Supervisor at Sanergy

Sanergy’s Kinanie site is in a stage of continuous improvement and will undergo scale-up throughout the next 2 years. This role is needed to supervise and coordinate the team running trials, and ultimately support the NTCO R&D team in improving the facility and process performance. Additionally, NTCO will be providing ramp-up support to the facility; this role will be part of that supporting function.

Key duties and responsibilities

Trials

• Works with the R&D team to understand the trial set-up and requirements
• Participates in pre-trial surveys and post-mortems
• Responsible for coordinating resources to set up and execute trials requested by the R&D team
• Executes trials as planned by the R&D team
• Coordinates knockdown and clean up of trials after completion
• Ensures issues identified at any phase of the trial are communicated quickly to the trial lead
• Ensures 100% completion of quality checks and corrective actions
• Addresses any urgent trial or R&D operational issues. Escalates these issues.

Data collection

• Ensures team consistently and neatly collects data in hard copy
• Reviews data for consistency and highlights data that is surprising, unusual or problematic to trial leads
• Enter all the data collected daily in the respective online workbooks. Creates comments where data is unexpected.
• Cleans and uploads, where appropriate, data logger datasets
• Where appropriate, cleans data and ensures any dashboards are reflecting the new data accurately
• Meticulously stores and organizes original raw data. Keep a record of all data collection sheets used for each trial/R&D project until a trial is concluded.
• Ensures operational team’s qualitative observations are captured and escalated to trial leads
• Print out and make available to the operators, all data collection sheets and work instructions for each trial/R&D project.
• Train new employees on R&D sampling and measurement techniques.

Team management

• Coordinates R&D operators in Kinanie to execute trials, maintain any long-running capability processes, and participate in ramp-up activities supported by NTCO
• Develop weekly shift plans, ensure that monitoring of all planned trials is scheduled, all tasks are allocated standard time and 95% allocation of all the work hours.
• Develop daily work plans and assign all planned tasks daily to the R&D operators.
• Participates in evaluating team performance with R&D manager
• Monitor employee work habits and ensure tasks are completed on time.
• Communicates company updates to team and helps team understand new changes or company strategies
• Communicates team concerns or questions to R&D manager and NTCO Process Lead (Colony Maintenance)
• Instruct operators to follow safe work practices, ensure all team members are wearing protective equipment and follow safety and work instructions

Material and site management

• Respond quickly and practically to emergencies or unexpected problems during the work shift.
• Keep project owners and managers apprised of daily operations with 100% escalation on issues immediately they arise.
• Report any issues identified in relation to Safety, any unsafe acts, and unsafe conditions or general maintenance. Act to temporarily address and fix any safety issues immediately.
• Maintain R&D equipment inventory and arrange for equipment repair on-site by the Maintenance department. Responsible for all equipment owned by R&D in Kinanie, and preventing damage or theft thereof.
• Ensures materials required for trials (especially long-running capability trials) are maintained to avoid stockouts – including water, feedstocks, reagents, disposable PPE and equipment – and communicates promptly when issues cannot be resolved
• Attend all scheduled meetings and company functions (Pre-trial meetings, daily scrum, weekly meeting with manager, All Hands etc.)
• Ensure all R&D work areas are kept clean and tidy.

Staff supervision responsibilities

• Kinanie operator team.

Key Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in Research and Development
• Experience in insect rearing will be an added advantage