Director - Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC)

Role Description

The Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) is an open-access Research and Development biorefinery centre, based 3 miles from the University of York main campus. Our ambitious vision is to support the widespread use of biorenewables across the world and we have already helped over 500  businesses to explore bio-based process and product opportunities by providing technical data and specialist advice to inform business decisions. With the up and coming retirement of our current Director, we are now seeking to appoint a new Director to continue the work at BDC to build the bioeconomy regionally, nationally and globally.

The Role
You will be responsible for the overall leadership of BDC defining the strategic direction of the business in terms of the range of projects that the BDC team delivers. You will lead the engagement with the University of York (primarily through the BDC Board and the University Subsidiaries Management Group). 

As Director you will also represent BDC at relevant University initiatives such as BioYorkshire and other external partnership and industry events, including the Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum, the York and North Yorkshire LEP and the City of York Council. You will engage with public and private sector organisations to drive the delivery of the grant and commercially funded programmes of work that bring in income to support the BDC. 

Key Requirements:

• Degree and professional qualification, or equivalent experience
• Extensive experience operating at a senior management/expert level
• Knowledge of the bioeconomy sector at a regional, national and international level
• Extensive leadership experience, providing motivation, inspiration, direction and breadth of vision
• Experience of managing substantial budgets/funding/resources
• Excellent communication skills 
• A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

We particularly welcome applications from female candidates, and candidates from minority ethnic backgrounds, who are under-represented at senior management level in the organisation.

If you are interested in the role, we encourage informal enquiries. Please contact Dr Joe Ross (joe.ross@york.ac.uk). 

Closing date for applications: 31 May 2023.

About Us
The BDC works at the interface between academia and industry to convert plants, microbes and biowastes into profitable biorenewable products. With biologists, chemists, and business development specialists the BDC team offers a unique combination of multi-disciplinary expertise coupled with pilot-scale processing capabilities in one coordinated centre. For further information on BDC, please visit www.biorenewables.org