Job Description

Role Title: Project Manager
Department: Scale-Up Operations
Reporting To: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Note : Candidates with Short Notice are Highly Preferred :
Role Summary
The Project Manager for Scale-Up Operations plays a critical role in transforming NoPo's lab-scale innovations into world-class, commercial-scale processes for HiPCO SWCNTs and their applications. Operating at the strategic intersection of R&D (TRL 4-7), Scale-Up (TRL 6-9), and Manufacturing, this role requires translating scientific breakthroughs into scalable, safe, cost-effective, and repeatable industrial processes.
This role is about building systems, leading people, and ensuring technology readiness for the world. The ideal leader will apply strong chemical engineering fundamentals to optimize scale-up, develop SOPs, guide pilots, and lead tech transfer into operations--all while building and mentoring a high-performance team that can drive NoPo's mission forward.
Role :
Bridge the Chasm: Own the transition from lab validation (TRL 4-6) to commercial production (TRL 9), enabling technology maturity and readiness.
Lead by Process & Purpose: Apply rigorous engineering, safety, and economic evaluation to all scale-up decisions.
Build Capability: Lead a core team of scale-up engineers, process scientists, and pilot plant staff; set culture, pace, and expectations.
Deliver to Operations: Own the end-to-end scale-up pipeline, culminating in complete documentation and hand off to manufacturing.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Strategic Technology Leadership
Develop and maintain a multi-year scale-up roadmap that aligns with R&D progress, market timelines, and cost targets.
Work closely with the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) to de-risk early-stage technologies, identify scale-up feasibility, and define transition criteria from TRL 4 to TRL 6+.
Set performance, safety, cost, and yield goals for each scale-up phase, ensuring commercial-grade readiness.
2. Process Development and Optimization

• Lead the design, engineering, and optimization of pilot-scale and pre-commercial processes for:

• HiPCO reactors , SWCNT purification, Membrane modules, Chirality-based sorting systems

• CNT fibers and beyond

• Use chemical engineering principles (mass/heat transfer, fluid mechanics, reaction kinetics, etc.) to model, test, and validate scalable solutions.

• Approve all process parameters, quality metrics, and performance benchmarks.

3. Pilot Trials and Validation

• Plan and lead pilot trials, ensuring technical goals, cost estimates, and performance benchmarks are met.

• Analyze trial outcomes using rigorous data methods to inform scale-up readiness or redesign needs.

• Ensure all trials generate full datasets required for tech transfer and compliance.

4. Documentation, SOPs, and Tech Transfer

• Define and document Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), process control plans, safety protocols, and QC workflows.

• Manage smooth handover to Operations, including training, troubleshooting support, and early production monitoring.

• Maintain audit-ready documentation for internal quality systems and external regulatory needs.

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the liaison between R&D and Manufacturing, ensuring open communication, feedback loops, and shared accountability.

• Integrate perspectives from engineering, purification, and reactor teams into a unified scale-up strategy.

• Present technical outcomes and scale-up forecasts to executive leadership and investors.

6. Process Modelling and Digital Engineering

• Use process simulation tools (e.g., Aspen, CFD, thermodynamic models) to validate scale-up design.

• Lead development of digital twins of pilot and commercial systems to predict performance and optimize operations.

7. Safety, Compliance, and Quality

• Lead all EHS activities related to scale-up systems, including high-pressure handling, toxic gas containment, and hazard mitigation.

• Approve EHS documentation and ensure all risk controls are implemented prior to scale-up trials or plant commissioning.

• Define Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs) in collaboration with the QA and R&D teams.

9. Innovation, IP, and Collaboration

• Promote process innovations that reduce cost, improve yield, or enable new applications.

• Contribute to patent filings, technical whitepapers, and collaborative research programs.

• Partner with academic and national labs for joint development or testing support.

Performance Metrics

• Successful TRL transitions (e.g., TRL 6 ? TRL 8) per roadmap

• Pilot success rate and time-to-scale

• Cost-per-gram reduction in scaled-up processes

• Number and quality of handovers to Ops

• Internal EHS compliance and zero-incident rate

• Team growth, retention, and performance metrics

Requirements
Requirements:

• Build and lead a multi-disciplinary scale-up team with clear roles and strong execution culture.

• Coach and mentor junior engineers to think rigorously, act decisively, and own outcomes.

• Foster a high-performance, data-driven, and mission-aligned team environment.

Qualification & Experience:
B. Tech in Chemical Engineering / M. Tech in Chemical Engineering with 8 to 10 Years of Experience in Scale up Commercialization into Specialty Chemicals / EPC / Nanotechnologies / Semiconductor industries of Scaled - Startup.
Benefits
Best in the Industry

Skills Required