The Role
Leads the contract manufacturing business, owning strategy, P&L, customer acquisition, sales, pricing, partnerships, manufacturing network development, operational excellence, and profitability. Builds the function, establishes processes and governance, develops third-party manufacturing relationships, evaluates technical and commercial feasibility, and coordinates R&D, quality, procurement, supply chain, finance, and manufacturing partners. Also builds and leads a high-performing team focused on scalable growth and reliable execution.
Summary Generated by Built In
About US
Scimplify is a science-first manufacturing company for Advanced Materials: from specialty chemicals to the emerging building blocks of next-generation energy applications, life sciences, and crop sciences.
We scale process development and manufacturing as one continuous system, supported by world-class R&D infrastructure and executed across a global network of 500+ manufacturing partners and thousands of scientists and technical partners. The result: new materials go from molecule to commercial scale in months, not years. Scimplify operates offices and teams across 5 countries with 1,000+ innovator customers in 40+ countries.
We are backed by investors such as Accel, Bertelsmann, Omnivore, Hitachi Ventures and 3one4 Capital, having raised over $80M.
Role Overview
The Business Head – Contract Manufacturing will be responsible for building the function from the ground up and developing it into a scalable, profitable business. The role requires a strong combination of commercial acumen, manufacturing expertise, strategic thinking, and entrepreneurial execution.
The individual will own the complete business lifecycle—from identifying market opportunities and acquiring customers to building manufacturing partnerships, ensuring operational excellence, and driving sustainable profitability.
This leader will act as the overall P&L owner for the function, working cross-functionally with sales, R&D, procurement, quality, supply chain, finance, and manufacturing partners.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and execute the overall strategy for Scimplify’s Contract Manufacturing business.
- Build the function from the ground up, defining its operating model, business priorities, team structure, and growth roadmap.
- Identify target markets, customer segments, chemical categories, and high-value manufacturing opportunities.
- Establish scalable business processes, performance metrics, and governance mechanisms.
- Build a strong pipeline of opportunities and convert the business strategy into measurable growth and profitability.
- Own the end-to-end P&L, including revenue growth, gross margins, operating costs, and profitability.
- Develop annual business plans, budgets, forecasts, and growth targets.
- Drive customer acquisition, key account management, pricing strategy, contract negotiations, and long-term customer relationships.
- Identify opportunities to improve margins, optimise costs, increase asset and capacity utilisation, and strengthen working capital.
- Track business performance against key financial and operational KPIs and take corrective action where required.
- Lead the sales and business development strategy for contract manufacturing and custom chemical manufacturing opportunities.
- Build relationships with domestic and international customers, including specialty chemical companies and other relevant end-user industries.
- Develop a strong pipeline of customer projects, RFQs, commercial contracts, and long-term manufacturing engagements.
- Understand customer requirements, translate them into viable manufacturing solutions, and drive opportunities from initial discussions through commercial closure.
- Lead high-value negotiations and establish long-term, strategic customer partnerships.
- Identify, evaluate, onboard, and develop strategic relationships with contract manufacturers, CDMOs, and manufacturing facilities.
- Build a reliable and scalable manufacturing partner ecosystem aligned with customer demand, technical requirements, quality standards, cost targets, and capacity needs.
- Assess manufacturing capabilities, technology, capacity, process maturity, scalability, and commercial viability.
- Negotiate manufacturing agreements, commercial terms, capacity commitments, and service-level expectations.
- Develop long-term partnerships that support business expansion, operational resilience, and sustainable margins.
- Bring a strong understanding of chemical manufacturing processes, scale-up, process optimisation, plant operations, and manufacturing economics.
- Evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of customer requirements, including process transfer, scale-up, capacity planning, and production readiness.
- Work closely with R&D, process development, quality, procurement, and supply chain teams to ensure successful project execution.
- Establish systems to monitor production planning, yields, quality, delivery timelines, capacity utilisation, and manufacturing costs.
- Drive continuous improvement, productivity, cost optimisation, and reliable execution across the manufacturing network.
- Ensure manufacturing partners operate in line with applicable EHS, regulatory, quality, and customer compliance requirements.
- Build and lead a high-performing team across business development, strategic partnerships, and manufacturing programme management, as appropriate.
- Collaborate with R&D, procurement, quality assurance, supply chain, finance, and other internal stakeholders.
- Establish clear ownership, performance metrics, and accountability across the function.
- Develop a strong execution culture focused on customer satisfaction, operational discipline, and business outcomes.
Desired Candidate Profile
- 15+ years of relevant experience in specialty chemicals, chemical manufacturing, contract manufacturing, custom synthesis, CDMO, or related industrial businesses.
- Proven experience in building, scaling, or leading a business/function with significant commercial responsibility.
- Demonstrated P&L ownership, including revenue growth, profitability, pricing, and cost management.
- Strong track record in B2B sales, business development, strategic partnerships, and customer relationship management.
- Substantial understanding of chemical manufacturing, plant operations, process scale-up, manufacturing feasibility, and production economics.
- Experience developing and managing third-party manufacturing networks, contract manufacturers, or multi-site manufacturing operations.
- Ability to connect commercial opportunities with technical and manufacturing capabilities to deliver profitable business outcomes.
- Strong negotiation, stakeholder management, analytical, and leadership skills.
- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to operate in a fast-paced, evolving business environment.
Preferred experience
- Experience in specialty chemicals, agrochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, APIs, fine chemicals, or other relevant chemical manufacturing segments.
- Exposure to custom manufacturing, contract manufacturing, CDMO, toll manufacturing, or outsourced manufacturing business models.
- Experience working with domestic and international customers and manufacturing partners.
- Experience setting up a business vertical, developing a new revenue stream, or scaling a manufacturing-led business.
Skills Required
- 15+ years of relevant experience in specialty chemicals, chemical manufacturing, contract manufacturing, custom synthesis, CDMO, or related industrial businesses
- Experience building, scaling, or leading a business or function with significant commercial responsibility
- Demonstrated P&L ownership, including revenue growth, profitability, pricing, and cost management
- Strong track record in B2B sales, business development, strategic partnerships, and customer relationship management
- Substantial understanding of chemical manufacturing, plant operations, process scale-up, manufacturing feasibility, and production economics
- Experience developing and managing third-party manufacturing networks, contract manufacturers, or multi-site manufacturing operations
- Ability to connect commercial opportunities with technical and manufacturing capabilities to deliver profitable business outcomes
- Strong negotiation, stakeholder management, analytical, and leadership skills
- Entrepreneurial mindset and ability to operate in a fast-paced, evolving business environment
- Experience in specialty chemicals, agrochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, APIs, fine chemicals, or related chemical manufacturing segments
- Exposure to custom manufacturing, contract manufacturing, CDMO, toll manufacturing, or outsourced manufacturing business models
- Experience working with domestic and international customers and manufacturing partners
- Experience setting up a business vertical, developing a new revenue stream, or scaling a manufacturing-led business
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The Company
What We Do
Scimplify is a science-first company specializing in the end-to-end development and manufacturing of specialty chemicals, serving industries such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and industrial chemicals.
