Head of Development

The organization

Aphea.Bio is a Belgium Agroscience company that focuses on the exploitation of natural, beneficial interactions that occur between microorganisms and plants. Aphea.Bio discovers and develops new biology-based agricultural products for crop protection and crop improvement. Backed by a strong syndicate of investors, Aphea.Bio aspires to become a disruptive player in shaping a more sustainable agriculture.

The position

To strengthen the current management team and to propel Aphea.Bio’s substantial candidate portfolio into products, we are looking for a Head of Product Development. In this function, you will be responsible for all aspects related to the product development strategy of newly discovered biostimulant and biocontrol products based on bacteria and fungi. Therefore, you will be instrumental to the success of the company.

Tasks & responsibilities

In this role, you can expect key accountabilities, such as becoming part of the management team and providing leadership in an AgroSciences scale up company, co-steer the company strategies and above all providing guidance to translational and product development programs towards launch of innovative biology-based products. In this position, you will coordinate a cross functional team of experts in microbiology, fermentation, formulation, field trials, product registration and quality control.

Furthermore, you will:

• Make recommendations to R&D pipeline based on best practices or trends which could impact product development and successful launches
• Use your knowledge of the industry to understand the strengths and weaknesses of competitive products to identify opportunities for differentiated product positioning
• Represent internal teams and collaborate with external partners or industrial teams to conduct and test out new technologies
• Maintain the highest quality of scientific foundations of the company’s discovery efforts
• Plan, direct and efficiently manage the product development budget
• Provide expertise on product strategy towards the project teams by defining the technical value proposition of products
• Ensure successful development plans and registration dossiers to successful product launches

Candidate profile

To be successful in this position, you bring the following experience:

• Relevant experience and exposure towards launching novel biological products for an agricultural application
• The ability to think strategically and creatively with regards to the development of microbial products
• Track record in multidisciplinary project management roles
• Ability to turn the scientific discovery into marketed products
• Proven track record of working in a team atmosphere and developing novel products
• Interest to work and live in Belgium/Ghent
• Personality traits:
• Collaborative mindset
• Resilient/adaptive; remains calm and deliberate under any circumstance
• Good organisational skills
• A passion to move novel products forward in a fast-paced environment

The offer

• You will play a central role in the future success of the company that fosters fast decision making, has high-throughput and innovative screening pipelines, a solid candidate product portfolio, and the financial resources to boost activities.
• You get the opportunity to optimize and expand the development team in a company that is fully dedicated to bring new products to the market.
• You will not only own the decisions about what gets developed but also influence every aspect of how it gets built and launched.
• You will be offered a lot of opportunities to work on new development areas and work together with a team of energetic, spirited people with a strong reputation that want to make a difference in their field
• A competitive salary and benefits package

Interested?

You can apply to this position by using the link below. For more information please feel free to contact Jord Teeuwen, Managing Partner, +31(0)6-11107684, +31(0)23-7548660.