Contract Manufacturing Heads

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

1. Business Strategy & Function Building

• 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.

2. P&L Ownership & Commercial Leadership

• 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.

3. Sales & Business Development

• 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.

4. Strategic Partnerships & Manufacturing Network Development

• 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.

5. Manufacturing & Operational Excellence

• 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.

6. Cross-functional Leadership & Team Building

• 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.