Fluent in English and Japanese, holder of a PMP (Project Management Professional) certification, more than five years of experience managing CMO projects.
This is the condition set by BTGEN (formerly STgen Bio), a biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing (CMO) corporations in Songdo, Incheon, as it recently sought an experienced business PM (project manager). The condition itself is not very unusual. Still, it suggests the company aims to strengthen global project management and customer response functions.
The scope of work listed in the job posting shows the role is quite broad. It manages global CMO projects "from start to finish," oversees contract execution and revenue, and coordinates production, technology, and quality departments. It also handles key client management. BTGEN views this as a core role to support global expansion and plans to hire on a rolling basis.
BTGEN was established in 2015 after being spun off from Dong-A Socio Holdings. It then operated as a joint venture after Meiji Seika Pharmatech Co. acquired 49% equity, and in 2021 Dong-A Socio Holdings bought back the equity to form the current structure. It now produces biopharmaceuticals for group affiliates such as Dong-A ST.
This year, it has accelerated efforts to secure global clients directly, moving beyond serving only affiliate production sites. According to the industry, it is expanding its customer base not only in the United States and Europe but also in the Japan market.
News from early this month aligns with this trend.
First, the company changed its name. BTGEN stands for "Bio Technology" and also means "next-generation biotechnology." It said the change "reflects the determination to be reborn as a global CMO corporations."
Another is funding for plant expansion. The Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy decided to support the company with a 85 billion won low-interest loan through the Public Growth Fund. This is the first time the Public Growth Fund has supported a bio corporations. The company plans to add 25 billion won of its own funds to expand the plant to a total of 110 billion won.
BTGEN has high-concentration culture technology with a titer of 8 g/L or higher, meaning protein yield per unit volume of culture medium. This exceeds the industry level (2–5 g/L), allowing more medicine to be produced with the same size facilities. This is an advantage in the market for multiple products in small batches, which large companies find relatively difficult to address.
The goal of this expansion is to increase annual capacity from the current 9,000 L to 14,000 L. It will add two bioreactors (cell culture tanks) and additional isolator equipment. An isolator is an aseptic filling system that minimizes human intervention and is one of the key elements global pharmaceutical companies look at when evaluating contract manufacturing partners.
After the expansion, maximum capacity for drug substance (DS) is expected to rise 44% and for drug product (DP) 170%. The target for completion is the first quarter of 2028. The securities market expects BTGEN's annual revenue to reach as much as 300 billion won at that time.
The numbers are already moving. BTGEN posted 103.7 billion won in revenue and 7.1 billion won in operating profit last year, up 76.2% and 308.6%, respectively, from a year earlier. It won back-to-back certifications from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after taking on U.S. and Europe supply of the biosimilar "IMULDOSA." It has already secured more than 20 billion won in new contracts this year.
With this context, the production operations excellence (OE) role in the job posting also stands out. It covers everything from budget monitoring to revising SOPs (standard operating procedures), in short, improving production efficiency and Production yield. It shows that "how well operations run" has become as important as "how much is produced."
It is also notable that the company is hiring across four job families at once—production, business, management, and quality. It suggests the organization is growing quickly and is reshaping its operating system. The company said, "Hiring this year has already surpassed the total for last year," and noted it is "continuing to add staff to meet growing orders." Early this year, BTGEN also changed its on-site shift system from four teams on three shifts to four teams on two shifts.
In the industry, some expect this trend to culminate in an initial public offering (IPO). The appointment late last year of President Lee Hyun-min, a former finance specialist, adds weight to that view. The interpretation is that, after elevating quality and production capabilities, the company is now preparing to be evaluated in the capital market.