Senior Manager – R&D Program & Commercialization

• Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of R&D engagements, from opportunity assessment and planning through execution, delivery, and commercialization.
• Oversee multiple customer-funded and internally funded R&D initiatives, ensuring alignment with business priorities, timelines, budgets, and expected outcomes.
• Establish execution plans, milestones, resource requirements, timelines, and review mechanisms in collaboration with scientific and business teams.
• Track progress, identify bottlenecks, manage dependencies, and drive timely resolution of execution challenges.
• Maintain portfolio-level visibility through dashboards, review meetings, and structured reporting to leadership.

• Coordinate with Business Development and scientific teams to evaluate incoming customer requirements and identify suitable R&D opportunities.
• Manage the opportunity pipeline from initial lead evaluation and technical feasibility through costing, quotation submission, conversion, and project initiation.
• Work with scientists to understand the scope of work, development requirements, resource needs, technical deliverables, and estimated timelines.
• Coordinate with Procurement to assess raw material costs, sourcing options, vendor availability, and other relevant cost components.
• Drive quotation preparation and pricing coordination, ensuring proposals are commercially competitive and financially viable.
• Track quotations, follow-ups, conversion status, and opportunity outcomes to improve pipeline visibility and win rates.
• Coordinate execution after project award, ensuring adherence to agreed timelines, customer deliverables, and commercial commitments.
• Facilitate customer communication, manage cross-functional dependencies, and support successful delivery and opportunities for repeat business.

• Manage internally funded R&D initiatives undertaken to develop new products, improve processes, or create strategic business opportunities.
• Translate business priorities into execution plans, development milestones, budgets, resource requirements, and commercialization targets.
• Work closely with scientific teams on process development, optimization, scale-up, and manufacturing readiness.
• Monitor development progress, timelines, costs, and commercial viability against defined milestones.
• Coordinate with manufacturing, Procurement, and other relevant functions to facilitate the transition from laboratory development to scalable production.
• Identify risks, delays, and commercialization challenges, enabling timely decisions on prioritization and resource allocation.
• Drive the progression of successful R&D initiatives towards commercialization and measurable business value.

• Partner closely with Procurement to plan sourcing requirements, raw material availability, vendor coordination, and cost estimates for R&D engagements.
• Coordinate with scientific teams to develop accurate estimates for materials, development activities, external services, and resource requirements.
• Work with Finance and relevant stakeholders to assess project economics, budgets, margins, and cost variances.
• Monitor estimated versus actual costs and identify opportunities to improve cost efficiency and resource utilization.
• Ensure commercial proposals and execution plans are aligned with agreed budgets and business objectives.

• Establish standardized operating processes for lead evaluation, feasibility coordination, costing, quotation management, project initiation, execution reviews, and closure.
• Develop dashboards and reporting mechanisms to track the R&D pipeline, active engagements, timelines, budgets, resource utilization, and commercialization milestones.
• Introduce structured governance and review mechanisms to improve accountability, execution discipline, and operational efficiency.
• Identify gaps in existing workflows and implement SOPs and process improvements to support a scalable R&D operating model.
• Ensure clear ownership of deliverables, dependencies, and decisions across all stakeholders.

• Act as a central coordination partner across R&D, Business Development, Procurement, Finance, and manufacturing teams.
• Drive alignment between customer expectations, scientific requirements, commercial commitments, and execution capabilities.
• Facilitate regular reviews to monitor progress, resolve bottlenecks, and maintain delivery commitments.
• Provide leadership with actionable insights on pipeline performance, resource requirements, execution risks, costs, and business outcomes.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related technical discipline.
• An MBA or additional qualification in operations, business management, or supply chain would be an advantage.
• Typically 8–12 years of relevant experience in R&D operations, CDMO/CRDMO, process development, technical program management, or R&D business operations.
• Experience managing customer-facing R&D engagements and/or strategic internal R&D initiatives from development through delivery or commercialization.
• Strong exposure to costing, pricing, procurement coordination, resource planning, and cross-functional execution.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent initiatives, timelines, budgets, stakeholders, and operational dependencies.
• Understanding of process development, scale-up, technology transfer, and manufacturing readiness is highly desirable.

Preferred Industry Background

• CDMO / CRDMO
• Specialty chemicals and chemical manufacturing
• Pharmaceutical R&D and API development
• Agrochemicals and crop sciences
• Contract research and process development organizations
• Advanced materials

Key Skills & Competencies

• R&D program and portfolio management
• Commercial acumen and business-oriented decision-making
• Lead pipeline and quotation management
• Costing, pricing, and financial analysis
• Procurement and supply chain coordination
• Process development and commercialization coordination
• Cross-functional stakeholder management
• Operational excellence and process standardization
• Data-driven decision-making and problem-solving
• Strong communication, planning, and execution capabilities

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Lead-to-quotation and quotation-to-win conversion rates.
• Timely execution and delivery of customer-funded R&D engagements.
• Accuracy of costing, pricing, budgets, and resource estimates.
• Adherence to agreed timelines and development milestones.
• Cost efficiency and utilization of scientific and laboratory resources.
• Progression of strategic R&D initiatives through scale-up and commercialization.
• Revenue contribution and commercial outcomes from R&D engagements.
• Repeat business and customer satisfaction.
• Effectiveness of cross-functional coordination and R&D operating processes.