Walk-in || Research And Development Officer

R&D Chemist Roles & Responsibilities

An R&D (Research & Development) Chemist is responsible for developing, improving, testing, and scaling chemical products or processes from the laboratory stage toward commercial production.

Key Responsibilities

• Research & development — Design and conduct experiments to develop new chemical products, formulations, or processes.
• Formulation development — Prepare and optimize formulations by evaluating raw materials, concentrations, additives, solvents, and processing conditions.
• Laboratory experimentation — Plan experiments, execute laboratory trials, and record observations and results accurately.
• Analytical testing — Analyze raw materials, intermediates, and finished products using techniques such as HPLC, GC, UV-Vis, FTIR, titration, pH, viscosity, etc., depending on the industry.
• Method development & validation — Develop, optimize, and validate analytical methods when required.
• Product optimization — Improve product quality, stability, performance, cost, yield, or manufacturing efficiency.
• Troubleshooting — Investigate failures, deviations, unexpected test results, and process problems using scientific and systematic approaches.
• Scale-up support — Transfer laboratory formulations/processes to pilot or manufacturing scale and support scale-up trials.
• Stability studies — Conduct stability testing and evaluate changes in product properties over time under different storage conditions.
• Documentation — Prepare laboratory reports, experimental records, specifications, SOPs, development reports, and technical documentation.
• Raw-material evaluation — Evaluate new suppliers and alternative raw materials for quality, performance, and compatibility.
• Quality & compliance — Follow laboratory safety procedures, GMP/GLP requirements, company SOPs, and applicable regulatory standards.
• Cross-functional collaboration — Work with Production, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs, Engineering, and Procurement teams.
• Literature & patent research — Review scientific literature, patents, technical publications, and competitor products to identify new technologies and opportunities.
• Cost optimization — Identify opportunities to reduce raw-material costs, improve yield, minimize waste, and increase process efficiency.
• Safety — Handle chemicals, equipment, and hazardous materials safely and ensure proper waste disposal.

Typical Day-to-Day Activities

An R&D Chemist may spend the day planning experiments preparing samples/formulations running laboratory tests analyzing results troubleshooting problems documenting findings discussing results with other teams.

Important Skills

• Strong knowledge of organic/inorganic/analytical chemistry
• Experimental design and problem-solving
• Analytical instrument handling
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Technical report writing
• Knowledge of GMP/GLP and laboratory safety
• Communication and teamwork
• Attention to detail
• Basic knowledge of scale-up and manufacturing processes

The exact responsibilities vary significantly between pharmaceutical, chemicals, cosmetics, food, polymers, paints/coatings, agrochemicals, and specialty-chemical industriesRole & responsibilities

Preferred candidate profile