Associate Director- Global Testing and Certifications

The Associate Director, Global Testing, Certifications & Qualifications leads the global capability for testing strategy, certification execution, product qualification, technical approvals, and testing-data management for the Protective Coatings Business. This role builds the systems, governance, external partnerships, and budget discipline needed to support innovation, commercialization, specification positioning, market access, and long-term portfolio value. Passive Fire Protection will be the initial area of focus, with processes and tools designed to scale across the broader Protective Coatings portfolio. The position works across R&D, Engineering, Product Management, Technical Service, Commercial, Marketing, Digital & IT, regional teams, and external testing organizations to ensure testing investments are prioritized, executed, documented, and leveraged globally. This position can be worked remotely.

Job duties include contact with other employees and access to confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore requires a review of criminal history to protect the business and its operations and reputation, as well as the safety of its staff, employees, and business relationships.

Responsibilities

• Global Testing, Certifications & Qualifications Strategy
  • Set the global testing, certification, and qualification strategy for the Protective Coatings Business.
  • Build testing and qualification roadmaps aligned with portfolio priorities, market needs, customer requirements, and growth opportunities.
  • Prioritize testing and certification investments based on business value, market access impact, risk, cost, and speed to commercialization.
  • Improve testing efficiency, reduce cycle time, and increase reuse of existing test data, approvals, and certification assets.
• Testing Program Leadership
  • Own the global portfolio of testing programs supporting product development, certification maintenance, product qualification, portfolio expansion, and market access.
  • Develop annual testing plans and budgets with R&D, Product Management, Engineering, Commercial, and regional teams.
  • Manage regional and global testing budgets, including prioritization, cost tracking, spend visibility, and alignment to business priorities.
  • Coordinate internal and external testing activity to ensure schedule discipline, clear ownership, and consistent execution.
  • Drive consistent methods, documentation standards, reporting practices, and governance across regions.
• Passive Fire Protection Focus Area
  • Lead testing, certification, approvals, and assessment activities supporting the Passive Fire Protection portfolio.
  • Manage fire testing programs supporting intumescent coatings and related fire-protection systems.
  • Maintain, extend, and leverage fire approvals, certifications, test reports, and technical assessments globally.
  • Partner with Engineering, Product Management, Technical Service, and Commercial teams to translate fire test data into practical technical, customer, and business decisions.
  • Establish repeatable practices and systems that can be leveraged across additional Protective Coatings technologies.
• Product Development & Commercialization Support
  • Define testing, qualification, certification, and validation requirements early in development programs.
  • Support product launches, specification approvals, portfolio extensions, and customer qualification needs.
  • Leverage existing test data, certifications, approvals, and technical assessments to accelerate commercialization.
  • Reduce time-to-market through disciplined testing strategies, clear requirements, and early alignment with business priorities.
• Testing Data & Knowledge Management
  • Lead development of a centralized global database for testing results, certifications, approvals, assessments, qualifications, and technical validation data.
  • Partner with R&D, Engineering, Technical Service, Product Management, Digital & IT, regional teams, and external partners to establish a scalable knowledge platform.
  • Create governance processes to ensure records, reports, approvals, and assessments are consistently captured, maintained, and accessible globally.
  • Improve visibility and use of historical testing data to reduce duplicate work, accelerate development, support certification extensions, and improve customer responsiveness.
  • Develop reporting capabilities for certification status, testing schedules, approval coverage, upcoming renewals, testing spend, and strategic certification gaps.
• External Testing Organization Management
  • Develop strong working relationships with external laboratories, certification organizations, testing partners, and assessment bodies.
  • Coordinate external testing programs, assessments, certification activities, schedules, and execution priorities.
  • Evaluate testing partners based on quality, responsiveness, technical capability, cost effectiveness, and business value.
  • Partner with regional leaders and external organizations to manage testing costs, improve budget visibility, and optimize global testing spend.
• Process Excellence
  • Develop standardized global processes for testing, certifications, approvals, and qualification activities.
  • Improve visibility of testing schedules, certification status, project priorities, and testing spend across the business.
  • Support implementation of digital tools and systems that improve speed, efficiency, governance, and business responsiveness.

Requirements

• Must be legally authorized to work in the country of employment without needing sponsorship for employment work visa status now or in the future (e.g., OPT, CPT, H1B, EB-1, etc.).
• Bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math field.
• Must be at least 18 years of age.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in testing, product qualification, certifications, coatings technology, fire protection technologies, engineering support, laboratory operations, or related technical disciplines.
• Experience managing testing programs involving external laboratories and certification organizations.
• Strong understanding of Protective Coatings technologies and testing methodologies.
• Knowledge of testing and certification processes associated with industrial coating systems and passive fire protection products.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional projects involving R&D, Engineering, Technical Service, Product Management, and Commercial teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree.
• Prior experience leading a testing and/or certification lab.

Schedule

Travel Requirements: 50%

Benefits

At Sherwin-Williams, we invest in and support our employees through:

• Life: Rewards, benefits, and flexibility to enhance health and well-being.
• Career: Opportunities to learn, develop new skills, and grow contributions.
• Connection: An inclusive team and commitment to communities.

A general description of benefits offered can be found at http://www.myswbenefits.com/. Click on “Candidates” to view benefit offerings eligible for new hires.