Business Head – Biofuels speciality chemicals

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

We are looking for a commercially driven and strategically minded leader to lead and scale Scimplify's Biofuels business. The individual will be responsible for identifying new business opportunities, developing strategic partnerships, building customer relationships, managing commercial negotiations, and driving sustainable business growth.

The role requires a strong understanding of the biofuels ecosystem, including feedstock sourcing, production and manufacturing, offtake arrangements, supply chains, market dynamics, and applicable regulatory frameworks.

The successful candidate should be capable of developing the business strategy, establishing a strong industry network, and translating market opportunities into profitable commercial outcomes.

Key responsibilities

1. Business Strategy & Growth

• Develop and execute the business strategy and growth roadmap for Scimplify's Biofuels vertical.
• Identify opportunities across the biofuels value chain, including feedstock, production, processing, trading, distribution, and offtake, as relevant to the company's business model.
• Evaluate market trends, demand drivers, pricing dynamics, competitive positioning, and emerging opportunities.
• Build a robust business pipeline and establish measurable revenue and profitability targets.
• Explore new markets, product categories, geographies, and business models to expand the company's presence.

2. Business Development & Commercial Leadership

• Drive customer acquisition, business development, commercial negotiations, and strategic account management.
• Build relationships with oil marketing companies, biofuel producers, feedstock suppliers, industrial consumers, refiners, traders, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Develop and execute commercial agreements, supply contracts, offtake arrangements, and long-term business partnerships.
• Identify opportunities to improve commercial margins, optimise sourcing costs, and strengthen business profitability.
• Lead negotiations on pricing, volumes, payment terms, supply commitments, and contractual obligations.

3. Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Development

• Build and maintain a strong network of biofuel manufacturers, feedstock aggregators, technology providers, distributors, and industry partners.
• Evaluate potential partners based on production capacity, quality, reliability, economics, and scalability.
• Develop partnerships that enable reliable sourcing, manufacturing access, market expansion, and long-term customer commitments.
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to structure commercially viable partnerships and execute strategic initiatives.

4. Feedstock, Supply Chain & Manufacturing Understanding

• Develop a strong understanding of biofuel feedstocks, sourcing economics, production processes, manufacturing capacity, and supply chain dynamics.
• Evaluate feedstock availability, quality, pricing volatility, logistics, and supply continuity.
• Work with manufacturing and supply chain partners to assess production feasibility, operational readiness, and cost competitiveness.
• Identify opportunities to improve supply reliability, production economics, inventory management, and delivery performance.
• Collaborate with technical and operational teams to ensure products meet customer specifications and applicable quality requirements.

5. Financial Performance & Business Ownership

• Own business performance across revenue, gross margins, operating costs, and profitability, in line with the scope of the role.
• Develop business plans, forecasts, budgets, and commercial growth strategies.
• Assess commercial opportunities through financial modelling, unit economics, pricing analysis, and profitability evaluation.
• Monitor receivables, working capital, contractual exposure, and commercial risks.
• Provide regular updates to leadership on business performance, market opportunities, risks, and growth plans.

6. Regulatory & Market Intelligence

• Track relevant biofuel policies, blending mandates, sustainability requirements, and industry developments in India and other target markets.
• Maintain an understanding of applicable regulatory, quality, documentation, and compliance requirements.
• Build relationships with industry associations and relevant ecosystem stakeholders.
• Evaluate the commercial implications of policy changes, market developments, and emerging technologies.

7. Cross-functional Collaboration

• Work closely with leadership, procurement, finance, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and other internal teams.
• Translate customer requirements and market opportunities into actionable business plans.
• Establish clear business metrics, review mechanisms, and accountability for execution.
• Build and lead a high-performing team as the business scales.

Desired candidate profile

• 12-20 years of experience in biofuels, bioenergy, renewable fuels, energy, oil and gas, commodity trading, or related industrial businesses.
• Proven experience in business development, commercial leadership, strategic partnerships, or business management.
• Strong understanding of the biofuels value chain, including feedstocks, manufacturing, sourcing, supply chains, and offtake.
• Established relationships with relevant industry participants, customers, suppliers, manufacturers, or oil marketing companies.
• Experience negotiating commercial agreements and developing long-term strategic partnerships.
• Strong commercial acumen, financial understanding, and ability to evaluate business profitability.
• Experience managing large accounts, building business pipelines, and delivering measurable growth.
• Strong leadership, negotiation, analytical, and stakeholder management skills.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build and scale a business in a dynamic environment.

Preferred industry experience

Candidates from the following backgrounds may be relevant:

• Biofuels and biodiesel manufacturing
• Ethanol and advanced biofuels
• Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel
• Bioenergy and renewable energy businesses
• Oil marketing companies and energy trading
• Biofuel feedstock sourcing and commodity trading
• Industrial chemicals and process manufacturing, with demonstrable biofuels exposure

Key sucess

• Revenue growth and achievement of business targets.
• Profitability and improvement in commercial margins.
• New customer acquisition and strategic account development.
• Successful establishment of sourcing, manufacturing, and offtake partnerships.
• Growth in the qualified business pipeline and conversion of commercial opportunities.
• Supply reliability, working capital discipline, and contract execution.
• Development of a scalable and sustainable Biofuels business.