Pharmaceutical Oral Solid Dosage Process Scientist

About the Role

Palomba General Trading LLC is seeking a Pharmaceutical Oral Solid Dosage Process Scientist to contribute to complex pharmaceutical manufacturing initiatives in Saudi Arabia and the broader GCC region. This full-time onsite role in Jeddah focuses on the industrial production of tablets, capsules, powders, and granules, emphasizing process stability, equipment effectiveness, and troubleshooting. Collaboration with formulation, manufacturing, engineering, and technical project teams will be essential to enhance product uniformity and manufacturing efficiency, covering both current production lines and upcoming manufacturing projects.

Key Technical Responsibilities

• Assess oral-solid manufacturing from raw materials to finished product.
• Assist in optimizing powder blending procedures and granulation methods, including wet and dry granulation.
• Support milling processes and control particle size.
• Analyze powder flow and ensure blend consistency.
• Evaluate lubricant incorporation and final blending phases.
• Optimize tablet compression parameters such as force and weight variability.
• Address hardness, friability, and other tablet quality issues.
• Support capsule filling operations where applicable.
• Review and troubleshoot coating procedures and defects.
• Monitor process yield, product losses, and segregation during material transfer.
• Analyze variability between production batches and facilitate scale-up and technology transfer.
• Participate in manufacturing trials and root-cause failure analyses.
• Collaborate with engineering to address equipment-related challenges.

Powder & Granulation Science Expertise

• Knowledge of particle-size distribution, bulk and tapped density, flowability, compressibility, moisture content, granule strength, binder levels, liquid addition rate, mixing and impeller speeds, endpoint determination, and drying conditions.

Blending and Content Uniformity

• Optimize blend times, assess low-dose API distribution, evaluate segregation risks, excipient dispersion, lubrication, sampling strategies, blend-uniformity troubleshooting, and powder-transfer mechanisms.

Tablet Compression Parameters

• Manage variables including compression force, pre- and main compression, turret speed, fill depth, tablet weight, hardness, thickness, friability, disintegration, and ejection force.
• Investigate manufacturing defects such as capping, lamination, sticking, picking, weight inconsistency, excessive friability, poor hardness, and delayed disintegration.

Coating Processes

• Experience with film, functional, and enteric coatings; optimization of spray rate, atomisation, inlet/exhaust/bed temperatures, pan speed, and drying conditions.
• Troubleshoot issues like mottling, surface roughness, peeling, twinning, sticking, uneven coating, and color inconsistencies.

Capsule Manufacturing Applications

• Knowledge in powder and granule filling, fill-weight control, flow problems, dosing-disc and tamping systems, capsule closing, and in-process controls.

Process Equipment Familiarity

• Work experience with high-shear granulators, fluid-bed processors, roller compactors, mills, sieves, bin and V-blenders, IBC systems, tablet presses, capsule fillers, coating pans, vacuum and contained powder transfer systems.

Troubleshooting Skills

• Ability to differentiate issues arising from formulation, raw materials, particle properties, process settings, equipment configurations, environmental factors, and material transfer.
• Focus on identifying credible technical causes and implementing practical corrective actions, beyond mere documentation.

Critical Process Parameters

• Comfortable managing parameters such as mixing time, granulation endpoint, moisture content, drying temperature, milling speed, screen size, blend time, compression force, tablet press speed, coating spray rate, airflow, temperature, and product yield.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate holds a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Technology, Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering, Chemistry, or a related field. They have a minimum of five years of relevant experience in oral-solid pharmaceutical manufacturing or process development with hands-on exposure to tablet or capsule production, including granulation, blending, and compression. The candidate must possess a strong grasp of powder behavior, demonstrate problem-solving skills in manufacturing contexts, and be familiar with GMP environments and process data analysis. Experience in process scale-up or technology transfer is preferable. Fluency in written and spoken English is essential; knowledge of Arabic is an advantage.

Preferred Technical Exposure

• Oral solid dosage forms, tablet and capsule manufacturing
• Granulation and powder processing
• Tablet compression and film coating techniques
• GMP standards and process scale-up
• Troubleshooting manufacturing issues

Preferred Industry Experience

• Pharmaceutical and generic drug manufacturing
• Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO)
• Nutraceutical production
• Tablet and capsule production facilities
• Pharmaceutical process equipment expertise

What We Offer

• Full-time role based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Indicative monthly salary between SAR 17,000 and 26,000, contingent on experience and qualifications
• Performance incentives
• Health insurance coverage
• Hands-on involvement in advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing projects across the region
• Exposure to international process-equipment manufacturers and specialist technology partners
• Opportunities to contribute to manufacturing optimization, troubleshooting, scale-up, and equipment-related projects
• Participation in an international technical environment connecting pharmaceutical manufacturers with engineering and technology experts

About Palomba General Trading LLC

Palomba General Trading LLC is an international trading and business development company headquartered in Dubai. Operating between the Middle East and Europe, it develops technical and commercial partnerships with specialized manufacturers and industrial clients in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, food, cosmetics, specialty ingredients, and industrial process technologies. The company supports clients through technical coordination, application development, and international market expansion.