GBU/Function: R&I

Job family: R&I                                                                 

Job Location: Shanghai, China                                                                 

Contact: [email protected]

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of €10.2 billion in 2019. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels (SOLB) and Paris and in the United States, where its shares (SOLVY) are traded through a Level I ADR program.

The Research & Innovation function (R&I) leads Solvay into new growth territories with breakthrough innovation to generate new products, applications and processes in the field of sustainable chemistry. Partners with the GBUs to deliver more value and leverages the Group’s capabilities to improve competitiveness and create new business opportunities for Solvay and its customers.

Vacancy description

The successful candidate will be mainly responsible for investigating the chemical reactivity of organic molecules in solution, with applications in catalysis, sustainable chemistry, energy storage, CO₂ valorization and polymerization. He / she will also guide experimental teams with predictive high throughput screening approaches (descriptor or machine learning models). The candidate will work in a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team dedicated to the development of eco-efficient products and processes, in collaboration with internal teams and external research institutions.

We encourage applications from candidates with several years of experience in an industrial setting, and a vision for modeling and simulation to help developing the Digital Roadmap of the Shanghai R&I center.

Key missions

• Work in the Research and Innovation Center in Shanghai for Solvay/CNRS Joint Lab – Eco-Efficient Products and Processes Laboratory (E2P2L).
• Plan, perform, analyze, and document quantum-chemical calculations for the study of chemical reactivity of molecules and materials, including in collaboration with internal and external partners.
• Build project files with the most up-to-date literature and ensure the update of such files during the lifetime of the projects.
• Identify and promote the added value of modeling for R&D projects and propose corresponding modeling approaches, using his/her quantum and physical chemistry skills.

 Education and Experience

• Doctorate or post-doctorate in computational chemistry, computational materials science or engineering with a strong background in organic chemistry, homogenous catalysis, polymerization, or biomass transformation.
• Several years of relevant working experience, ideally in industry, application-oriented research or with industrial stakeholders.

Skills

• Excellent academic or industrial track record in applying quantum-chemical (DFT or wavefunction-based) methods to the study of (catalytic) molecular chemistry in solution, ideally with QM/MM or ab initio approaches.
• Excellent understanding of organic, organometallic, polymer or biomass chemistry.
• Experience with high-throughput screening approaches based on quantum-chemical descriptors.
• Experience with one or more additional techniques, such as the prediction of solubility and other thermodynamic properties (COSMO-RS model), (ab initio) molecular dynamics, kinetic modeling, machine learning and statistical approaches,.
• Familiar with common software packages (Turbomole, Schrödinger suite, Gaussian, Q-Chem ...) and Linux environments.
• Knowledge of programming languages is considered a plus, but not mandatory.
• Critical thinking and strongly problem-oriented work style.
• Excellent ability to work in a team and communicate with internal and external stakeholders in English.