Senior Manager, Development & Production Chemistry in Bristol

By joining Bio-Techne, you’ll join a company with a powerful and positive purpose of enabling cutting-edge research in Life Sciences and Clinical Diagnostics. Bio-Techne, and all of its brands, provides tools for researchers to further treat and prevent disease worldwide.

Pay Range: £62,200 - £99,580. Placement within the salary range will vary depending on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and internal equity considerations.

Position Summary:

The Senior Manager of Development & Production Chemistry will lead the teams responsible for the design, development, scale‑up, and manufacture of small-molecule chemical tools that support life‑science research. This role combines strategic leadership with hands‑on operational oversight, ensuring that new product development (NPD) pipelines, production schedules, and quality standards are delivered effectively and safely. As a senior people leader, the position holder will cultivate a high‑performing, collaborative culture, driving team engagement, skills development, and professional growth. The ideal candidate will have a detailed working knowledge of COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health 2002), DSEAR (Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002), and other relevant legislation and will provide line management for the Lab EHS Manager. The Senior Manager will collaborate closely with facilities, planning, and other cross‑functional technical teams, and will represent the function during customer audits and external assessments.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Leadership
• Inspire and lead the teams responsible for research, development and production chemistry by directly managing individual team leads and managers, as well as the Lab EHS Manager to drive operational excellence and collaboration.
• Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture with Health & Safety-first principles.
• Act as the key representative for the function within the global R&D organization, delivering clear communication and influential leadership at all organizational levels.
• Set clear team objectives, career development plans, and structured coaching to build long-term capability and bench strength.
• Build strong team engagement, accountability, and collaboration across sites and functions.
• Oversee workforce planning, recruitment, succession planning, and capability development to meet evolving business needs.
• Embed and promote the EPIC values in all areas of work, maintaining the company’s culture, ethics, and people engagement.
• Own and optimize the departmental budget, capital expenditure (CapEx) planning, and resource allocation to maximize operational impact and innovation capacity.
• Development and Production
• Lead the translation of product development ideas and production requests into actionable, prioritized plans, balancing resourcing to deliver on business objectives.
• Collaborate closely with the Program Management Office, Operations, and Quality departments to communicate priorities and support on-time delivery.
• Ensure time allocation is accurately tracked to support precise financial reporting.
• Identify, support and drive continuous improvement initiatives, in collaboration with the Operations & Continuous Improvement Managers.
• Deliver strong oversight of Quality Management System (QMS) compliance and represent the function during internal and external audits, embedding robust SOPs and best practices.
• Contribute to strategic decisions related to portfolio expansion, chemistry capabilities, and infrastructure improvements, by partnering with the appropriate stakeholders.
• Health & Safety
• Directly manage and support the Lab EHS Manager, ensuring strong alignment across scientific and safety functions.
• Maintain deep working knowledge of COSHH and all applicable health, safety, and environmental regulations.
• Champion a culture where safety is everyone’s responsibility by promoting safe laboratory practices, risk assessments, incident investigations, and proactive hazard management.

Minimum Requirements/Qualifications:

• Qualified to PhD level in synthetic organic chemistry.
• >5 years’ experience leading and developing teams, a highly skilled people manager with experience of matrix management.
• >2 years’ experience leading people leaders.
• Comprehensive knowledge of chemical safety regulations (COSHH, DSEAR) with a passion for rigorous H&S standards.
• Experience with scale-up chemistry and process safety management desirable.
• Familiarity with Quality Management Systems such as ISO 9001:2015.

Personal Qualities and attributes:

• A dynamic and approachable leader who inspires and motivates teams to excel and innovate.
• Highly organized with excellent project and time management skills to effectively deliver on a wide variety of tasks.
• Demonstrates calmness under pressure, adaptability, and a solution-oriented approach, combined with a resilient ‘can-do’ mindset to overcome challenges effectively.
• An effective communicator and collaborator who builds trusted relationships across functions and with external partners and customers.
• Self-motivated, with the confidence to lead change, influence stakeholders, and drive continuous improvement aligned with Bio-Techne values and goals.

Bio-Techne is committed to product quality, customer satisfaction, continued improvement, minimising environmental impacts and conserving natural resources. Environmental and quality management is an integral core value and vital part of the Bio-Techne culture.

Why Join Bio-Techne:

• We offer competitive wages along with extensive benefits for employees and their families.
• We invest in our employees’ financial futures through retirement programs and an employee stock purchase plan.
• We help our employees develop their careers through mentorship, promotional opportunities, training and development, internship programs, and more.
• We offer an international and diverse working environment, enriched by employee resource groups; volunteer and charity events; and employee events that build a culture of caring and belonging.
• We foster a culture of empowerment and innovation, where employees feel valued and encouraged to bring their new ideas to the table.

Bio-Techne is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

To protect the interests of all, Bio-Techne will not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than a candidate application. Any unsolicited resumes sent to Bio-Techne will be considered Bio-Techne property. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete an application, participate in an interview, or take part in any other stage of the recruitment process, please contact hr@bio-techne.com for assistance.