74 R D jobs in South Africa

We are looking for a dynamic and hands-on Manager to lead our Research & Development team. This role is based at our offices in Bryanston and reports to the Head of Portfolio Risk & Profitability.

The R&D Manager will be responsible for team leadership, hands-on testing, and translating field insights into strategic business improvements.
Main responsibilities of a Research & Development Manager:

• Engage directly with clients to test strategies, gather feedback, and validate concepts
• Lead a team of R&D professionals, providing coaching, direction, and support to ensure high performance
• Design and implement structured experiments to improve key performance metrics (conversion, premium, client satisfaction, etc.)
• Monitor results of live tests and iterate based on outcomes
• Use insights from client interactions to develop scalable solutions across departments
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure alignment on strategy and execution
• Track and report on the performance and impact of R&D initiatives
• Identify opportunities to improve processes and client journeys
• Support team development through mentorship and regular performance feedback

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following:

• Comfortable working hands-on with clients and systems
• Passionate about testing, learning, and continuous improvement
• Excellent problem-solving and critical thinking skills
• Strong leadership and people management ability
• Resilient and able to navigate change and uncertainty
• Confident communicator with the ability to engage clients and influence internally
• Organised and able to manage time across operational and leadership duties
• Collaborative, with a team-first mindset

Qualifications & experience

• Matric
• Completed Degree or a 3-year Diploma from a reputable tertiary institution
• Excellent communication skills, fluent in English with a neutral accent
• At least 2 years’ experience in a leadership or coaching role
• Experience in client-facing roles, testing strategies, or process improvement is preferred

Ready to lead innovation and make a difference? Join our fast-paced, high-impact team! Apply now!

Please keep files smaller than 10MB. Files types we accept: .pdf, .doc, .docx

This role is ideal for a scientific professional with a strong background in formulation, compliance, and leadership. You will ensure the smooth progression of multiple R&D initiatives while mentoring a team and maintaining operational excellence.

This is a critical leadership role for someone passionate about driving innovation and excellence in product development.

Minimum Requirements :

• BSc in a scientific field, with Coschem Diploma / Cosmetic Formulation Diploma.
• Postgraduate qualification in Project Management.
• 68 years in cosmetic R&D, including 5+ years in a leadership role.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects within time and budget.

Key Skills & Responsibilities:

• Oversee R&D lab operations and project timelines.
• Manage changes to raw materials, packaging, and stability testing.
• Lead cross-functional meetings and project reviews.
• Draft, maintain, and enforce departmental SOPs.
• Collaborate with QA and Manufacturing on troubleshooting and quality issues.
• Manage documentation, BOMs (Syspro), IEP/CEP samples, and MMI records.
• Lead and develop the R&D team; assess training needs and conduct appraisals.
• Support budget planning and manage consumables and equipment procurement.
• Compile raw material files and present monthly performance reports.

"Looking for a role that aligns with your package expectations, job level, or industry expertise? Apply now via our career portal:

R&D MANAGER

The R&D Manager is responsible for managing the R&D lab activities and for project management related to alternative raw materials, packaging changes, stability testing and post NPD to commercial launches. The successful incumbent will report to the Head of R&D.

Key Performance Areas

• Oversee all R&D lab activities, including setting weekly plans and monitoring progress.

• Manage projects related to regulatory compliance, changes in raw materials, new packaging, and product promotions.

• Chair weekly project tracker meetings, providing clear feedback to the Head of R&D and the broader team.

• Draft and approve departmental SOPs to ensure high standards and efficiency are maintained.

• Troubleshoot and collaborate with the Manufacturing and QA teams to resolve batch failures, reworks, and customer complaints.

• Administration of all documentation from Operational and Stability Chemists to internal and external stakeholders.

• BOM maintenance on Syspro.

• MMI storage, archiving, updating, and issuing.

• Control of IEP/CEP samples and reports.

• Manage and mentor the R&D team, conducting performance appraisals and identifying training needs.

• Ensure that Operational Chemist & Lab Assistants are adequately trained to take NPD and formula upgrade products forward once the project reaches commercial batch manufacturing stage.

• Team administration, including time and attendance monitoring and maintaining discipline.

• Support the Head of R&D in setting and monitoring the departmental budget.

• Manage departmental resources, including the purchasing of consumables and evaluating new equipment.

• Ensure accurate compilation of raw material files and other key documentation.

• Prepare and present monthly statistical reports to the Head of R&D.

Qualifications, Experience & Competencies

• Bachelor of Science (BSc) in a relevant scientific field with Coschem Diploma / Diploma in Cosmetic Formulation and a post graduate qualification in Project Management.

• A minimum of 6 - 8 years in a cosmetic R&D environment, at least 5 years of managerial experience in an R&D environment.

• Proven track record of managing projects, meeting deadlines, and staying within budget.

We are looking for a dynamic and hands-on Manager to lead our Research & Development team. This role is based at our offices in Bryanston and reports to the Head of Portfolio Risk & Profitability.

The R&D Manager will be responsible for team leadership, hands-on testing, and translating field insights into strategic business improvements.
Main responsibilities of a Research & Development Manager:

• Engage directly with clients to test strategies, gather feedback, and validate concepts
• Lead a team of R&D professionals, providing coaching, direction, and support to ensure high performance
• Design and implement structured experiments to improve key performance metrics (conversion, premium, client satisfaction, etc.)
• Monitor results of live tests and iterate based on outcomes
• Use insights from client interactions to develop scalable solutions across departments
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure alignment on strategy and execution
• Track and report on the performance and impact of R&D initiatives
• Identify opportunities to improve processes and client journeys
• Support team development through mentorship and regular performance feedback

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following:

• Comfortable working hands-on with clients and systems
• Passionate about testing, learning, and continuous improvement
• Excellent problem-solving and critical thinking skills
• Strong leadership and people management ability
• Resilient and able to navigate change and uncertainty
• Confident communicator with the ability to engage clients and influence internally
• Organised and able to manage time across operational and leadership duties
• Collaborative, with a team-first mindset

Qualifications & experience

• Matric
• Completed Degree or a 3-year Diploma from a reputable tertiary institution
• Excellent communication skills, fluent in English with a neutral accent
• At least 2 years’ experience in a leadership or coaching role
• Experience in client-facing roles, testing strategies, or process improvement is preferred

Ready to lead innovation and make a difference? Join our fast-paced, high-impact team! Apply now!

Please keep files smaller than 10MB. Files types we accept: .pdf, .doc, .docx

Job Title: Administration Clerk - R&D

Job Location: Gauteng, Germiston

Deadline: August 8, 2025

• Jobs by Location
• Jobs by Industry

We're committed to bringing passion and customer focus to our business.

If you enjoy wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll find your career rewarding with us!

• Assist in product development

• Administrative / Management jobs

We are Blue Cube

At Blue Cube, we fuse proven expertise with bold innovation to create advanced sensor technology for the mining industry. As part of Draslovka — a global leader in sustainable chemical technologies — we deliver real-time measurement solutions that are transforming how minerals are processed worldwide.

About the Role

We are seeking an adaptable and growth-oriented R&D Process Engineer (Product Beta Testing) to join our agile team. In this unique role, you will be the vital link between our R&D engineers and our customers, travelling to sites to help oversee the beta testing (first use and site trials) of our latest products. You'll gather user feedback, champion customer needs, and work with our internal teams to accelerate product maturity and impact.

This position is ideal for a process engineer or metallurgist at the start of their career who enjoys hands-on challenges, real-world problem solving, and collaborating with people from diverse backgrounds. If you are energized by learning quickly and making a tangible difference in the mining industry, we want to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

• On-Site Product Beta Testing & Trials Visit mining and processing sites to help oversee the commissioning and first-use trials of new Blue Cube products alongside R&D engineers and client teams.
• Ensure successful installation, operation, and troubleshooting of technology in real-world conditions.
• User Collaboration & Feedback Engage directly with users to understand their requirements, challenges, and feedback throughout beta testing and trials.
• Communicate user insights and suggestions clearly and constructively to the R&D team to guide product improvements.
• Continuous Product Improvement Collaborate with product development teams to refine and mature products based on field experience and user perspectives.
• Advocate for customer needs and usability in every stage of product development.
• Remote and On-Site Support Provide technical assistance to trial users, both in-person and remotely, helping them get the most from our solutions.
• Documentation & Reporting Maintain clear records of site visits, user feedback, system performance, and lessons learned.
• Help develop and update support and commissioning documents and materials.
• Teamwork Share learnings, ideas, and best practices with colleagues across engineering and commercial teams.

Skills & Attributes

• Degree in chemical / process engineering, metallurgy, minerals processing, or a related field.
• Understanding of mineral processing, continuous chemical or separation processes, or commissioning of measurement systems.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; able to listen, empathize, and convey technical concepts clearly.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to travel internationally as needed.
• Fast learner, adaptable, and proactive in personal and professional development.
• Solid documentation habits; able to report and synthesize information effectively.
• Able to work independently in the field and collaboratively as part of a team.
• Proficient in English; additional languages are an asset.

Bonus

• Hands-on experience with measurement, automation, or process control systems (through studies, projects, or internships).
• Exposure to agile development environments.
• Experience commissioning or supporting new technology in industrial or mining settings.
• Passion for sustainability and innovation in mining.

Why Blue Cube?

• Shape the future of sustainable mining with real-world impact.
• Join a global, close-knit team — agile like a start-up, backed by a stable market leader.
• Work on challenging, meaningful technology in an environment that values curiosity and tenacity.
• Travel and develop your career as you help bring new solutions to life.
• Help make mining safer and greener by replacing hazardous chemicals with better solutions.

BSc / BEng or Masters degree in a relevant scientific field: Food Science, Engineering, Packaging Science, Chemistry, Physics, or related field.

Minimum 4+ years of experience in Technical Product Development.

Experience in value-added bakery and/or emulsions is preferred.

Understanding of food safety, quality standards, and regulatory requirements.

Deep understanding of raw material interactions, functional ingredients, and food processing techniques.

Ability to implement new product platforms using scientific and technological advancements.

Conducting sensory evaluations, shelf-life/stress testing, and ensuring product performance meets specifications.

Experience in formulating and testing food products from concept to market launch.

Please Note: If you have not been contacted within two weeks, please consider your application unsuccessful.

By applying for this position, you hereby give consent for your personal information to be retained on our database for future employment opportunities and further grant consent for your personal information to be accessed by third parties, strictly for the purposes of recruitment and/or employment purposes.

Furthermore, you hereby confirm that any information you have provided is true, correct, and up to date.

Posted Thursday, July 3, 2025 at 9:00 PM

Want to do the Best Work of Your Life?

Working at Signant Health puts you at the very heart of the world’s most exciting sector - a high-growth, dynamic company in an extraordinary industry. We’re radically changing the clinical trial landscape, driving change through the technology and innovations we create and the services we deliver to our customers.

Where do you fit in?

The Software Architect is responsible for product portfolio architecture. Performs product design, systems analysis and programming activities which may require extensive research. Performs bug verification, release testing and support for assigned products.

As part of our team, your main responsibilities will be:

• Designing overall system architecture including the internal architecture of a component, as well as communication protocols and interfaces to other components;
• Researches and understands the marketing requirements for a product, including target environment, performance criteria and competitive issues;
• Researches new technology or development tools to remain abreast of current technology;
• Helping and training fellow developers to work with new product components / modules, to follow company coding practices and architectural guidelines;
• Conducting unit testing and integration testing;
• Performing code and design reviews;
• Performing bug verification, release testing and support for assigned products;
• Being responsible for product’s usability by designing user interfaces, creating use cases, and implementing prototypes and conducting usability tests;
• Preparing technical documentation of product, creating user interface guidelines and conducting reviews.

Decision making and influence

• Coaches and mentors software engineers;
• Works closely with project management and software developers to formulate the high-level technical solution

You’ll need to bring:

• M.Sc/B.Sc Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or Information Systems;
• 7 + years of software development experience;
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal;
• APIs: REST, GraphQL, WSO2 / Kong ;
• DB: RDBMS (SqlServer/Oracle / PostgreSQL and Non-RDMBS (MongoDB);
• Monitoring: Dynatrace;
• Virtualization/Cloud: AWS, Docker, OpenShift / K8s, Skaffold;
• Secrets Management (AWS Secrets Manager / Azure Keyvault / Hashicorp Vault);
• Architecture: Microservices, Micro FrontEnds, Backend for FrontEnd, CQRS, Sidecar, Event Sourcing.

Specific programming knowledge:

Specific knowledge .NET:

• Build tools: Azure DevOps.

We’d be thrilled to hear that you also have:

• User-oriented approach to software development;
• Must be willing to expand the skills by learning other technologies as needed;
• Must be a team oriented person with a “can do” attitude.

Does this sound like something you’d like to explore? Then we’d love to hear from you!

Please apply below. We review and respond to every application, keep an eye on your inbox for our reply.

Please note that Signant does not accept unsolicited resumes from Third Party vendors.

At Signant Health, accepting difference isn’t enough—we celebrate it, we support it, and we nurture it for the benefit of our team members, our clients and our community. Signant Health is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or veteran status.

At Scrums.com (formerly SovTech), we believe the future of software lies in the talent, innovation, and creativity found on the African continent. For over a decade, we have been pioneering world-class software development for a global audience. We are the leading custom software development company from Africa that, like any great tech company, was founded in a garage. Scrums.com has now grown to more than 350 of the best AI-powered software engineering experts, building world-class platforms for growing businesses across four cities on three continents.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to growing Africa's tech ecosystems. Africa is home to the world's youngest population, with over 50% of Africans under the age of 25. Recent estimates indicate there are over 700,000 professional software developers across Africa today. That number is projected to double by 2025. We believe in the future of African tech talent and the impact it will have on scaling global companies.

Accelerating business growth with expert tech talent

Trusted by 400+ companies, Scrums.com helps businesses scale with our cloud-based engineering subscription platform, offering consistent, cost-effective AI-powered experts, teams, and reliable developer analytics.

Our Culture

Our culture is underpinned by 8 core values.

Earth’s leading software company from Africa- that's where we're going.

Why Join Us?

Be part of a dynamic, people-first team that’s showcasing and advancing Africa’s tech landscape on the global scale. At Scrums.com, we celebrate your individuality, empower your decision-making, and create meaningful experiences. Together, we’re driving innovation and building exceptional teams Take a look at some of the highlights:

Embrace Our African Talent Footprint, Flexibility, and Autonomy

At Scrums.com, we champion an empowered workplace where you shape the culture, influence decisions on tech stacks, and take charge of user testing—all while working from wherever you thrive best across our interconnected Guilds.

Our distributed teams span South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and other parts of the continent, showcasing the diversity and brilliance of African talent.

The Scrums.com Vibes

Annual Foos-Fest ️ : Showcase your skills at our legendary Foosball Festival and take home quirky, sought-after awards.

AI-Powered Hackathons : Collaborate with your team to create innovative, market-ready products in just 24 hours—all while enjoying live music and family-friendly fun.

Year-End Celebrations ️ : Reflect and connect at our unforgettable year-end events, a decade-old tradition we continue to cherish.

Popcorn Fridays, Dev Chats, and Braais : Bond with colleagues over insightful discussions and sizzling good vibes.

Fluid Clubs : Join like-minded peers in activities like hiking, running, and more to foster shared interests beyond work.

Weekly All-Hands : Stay inspired and in the loop with our weekly All-Hands sessions that bring us together as one team.

Explore Week : Our annual tradition encourages you to work from anywhere around the globe for one exciting week—freedom meets inspiration!

Stacos (our company currency) : Reward and recognise your peers with Stacos and exchange them for cool vouchers to celebrate accomplishments big and small.

Commission Incentives : Unlock attractive rewards for successful business development leads and employee referrals.

Continued Career Growth & Support

Internal AI Platforms : We empower our teams with access to both closed and open source LLM’s that make work easier and empower your professional growth. We love AI!

High-Performance Culture : Stay aligned and on track with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and structured annual reviews.

Personalized Mentorship : Receive dedicated guidance from leadership and the Talent SuccessTeam through one-on-one sessions and quarterly check-ins tailored to your career aspirations.

Our teams are powered by AI— Transforming How We Work

Our teams embrace cutting-edge AI platforms, agents and tools, creating smarter workflows and accelerating career development with AI.

OpenAI, Anthropic, Llama - we use them all so choose what suits you best!

You don’t need your own licenses - we cover the costs and have our own internal AI platforms that gives you access to them all in a secure environment.

Outstanding Employee Benefits*

Discovery Medical Aid : Prioritizing your health with the best care.

Half-Day Birthday Leave : Celebrate your special day with an afternoon off!

Family responsibility & Parental Benefits : Providing full support for a meaningful work-life balance.

*Please note: Benefits may vary depending on employment type

Join us and be part of a dynamic, supportive team that’s making waves across Africa.

Experience

2–5+ years of experience in software development with a strong Python background

Exposure to or curiosity about generative AI technologies — image generation, LLMs, computer vision, and voice cloning

Experience working on experimental or R&D-style projects, preferably in small, agile teams

Familiarity with tools, frameworks, or APIs in the GenAI ecosystem (e.g. Diffusion Models, Transformers, Whisper, VITS, etc.)

Skills

Python expert — confident writing clean, experimental, and reusable code

Comfortable working with ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Replicate, ComfyUI, etc.)

Quick to prototype and iterate — whether building a new tool, testing a model, or running a benchmark

Strong debugging and research skills — can sift through GitHub issues, Discord chats, arXiv papers, and Reddit threads to find answers

Comfortable running, modifying, and chaining models (image, text, audio)

Bonus: Experience with prompt engineering , fine-tuning , or deploying GenAI models at scale

Attributes

Inherently curious — obsessed with how things work, how they break, and how to push them further

Self-motivated and comfortable diving deep into weird corners of the internet for answers

Passionate about open-source GenAI models , experimental tools, and cutting-edge research

Willing to test and break boundaries — including uncensored models and controversial areas of GenAI

Strong communicator — shares findings clearly with the team, documents well, and raises good questions

Not afraid to get stuck, get weird, and figure it out

Real-World Impact

Helped prototype features across image generation, LLM interaction, computer vision, and voice cloning

Contributed code and insights that directly shaped product direction and AI integration

Explored edge-case use of GenAI tools and models, helping the team find what’s next before it’s mainstream

Acted as a radar inside GenAI communities — surfacing trends, breakthroughs, and tooling before others spot them

Pushed forward initiatives with a hacker's mentality and a researcher's discipline