Manus is seeking a Group Lead - Process Engineering to lead the process engineering function across a dual mandate of portfolio management and process innovation. Reporting to the SVP, Operations & Innovation, this mid-to-senior leader balances two complementary responsibilities: governing the portfolio of process engineering projects - prioritization, resourcing, stage-gate progression, and delivery against capacity, yield, and cost targets - while advancing the company's process innovation agenda through engineering design, modeling, and scale-up of next-generation unit operations. The role pairs program leadership with deep technical direction, translating business and commercialization priorities into an executable engineering roadmap and a high-performing team.
Key ResponsibilitiesPillar 1: Portfolio Management- Portfolio ownership - Own the process engineering project portfolio: intake, prioritization, resourcing, and stage-gate governance across pilot, scale-up, and capital projects.
- Engineering roadmap - Translate operations, commercial, and innovation priorities into an integrated engineering roadmap with clear milestones, budgets, and deliverables.
- Resourcing & capacity - Manage resource allocation across engineers and projects, balancing near-term delivery against longer-term innovation.
- Performance & reporting - Establish portfolio KPIs and dashboards; report status, risks, and trade-offs to the SVP and leadership.
- CAPEX & economics - Partner with capital engineering, finance, and operations on CAPEX planning, business cases, and project economics.
- Execution standards - Drive consistent project execution, design reviews, and engineering documentation practices across the group.
Pillar 2: Process Innovation (Engineering, Design & Modeling)- Innovation leadership - Lead process innovation across separations, concentration, crystallization, drying, and powder handling - from concept through commercial design.
- Design & modeling - Direct process design and modeling: mass and energy balances, simulation, scale-up, and techno-economic analysis to evaluate new routes and unit operations.
- Data-driven optimization - Champion modeling, simulation, and statistical methods to improve yield, throughput, reliability, and cost.
- Technical packages - Guide development of PFDs, P&IDs, design bases, and equipment specifications for new and improved processes.
- R&D-to-plant transfer - Partner with R&D to mature emerging technologies, de-risk scale-up, and support technology transfer to manufacturing.
- Technology scouting - Identify and evaluate new processing technologies and equipment that expand capability and competitiveness.
Leadership & Cross-Functional- Team development - Build, mentor, and develop a high-performing process engineering team; set technical standards and career pathways.
- Stakeholder partnership - Partner across operations, quality, R&D, automation, maintenance, and commercial teams to align engineering with growth objectives.
- Culture - Foster a culture of safety, technical rigor, and continuous improvement.
Required Qualifications- B.S. in Chemical Engineering or a closely related discipline; M.S. preferred.
- 12+ years of process engineering experience with progressive leadership, including team and/or portfolio / program management.
- Demonstrated expertise in process design, modeling / simulation, and scale-up from pilot to commercial production.
- Proven success managing a portfolio of projects - prioritization, resourcing, budgets, and stage-gate delivery.
- Strong command of unit operations across separations, drying, and dry powder handling, and adjacent processing.
- Experience translating business and commercial priorities into engineering roadmaps and CAPEX plans.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder-management skills at the senior level.
Preferred Qualifications- M.S. or Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering or related field.
- Experience in natural ingredients, food, nutraceutical, fermentation, or specialty chemicals.
- Proficiency with process simulation tools (e.g., Aspen Plus, SuperPro Designer) and DOE / statistical methods.
- Portfolio / stage-gate management experience; PMP or equivalent; Lean / Six Sigma.
- Familiarity with cGMP / FSMA and food-safety requirements, and with process automation (DeltaV)
