Lead Application Engineer, Flexible Packaging

About the role

At Henkel, you’ll be part of an organization that’s shaping the future through innovation, sustainability, and collaboration. With trusted brands like Persil®, all®, Loctite®, Snuggle®, and Schwarzkopf® and cutting-edge technologies, you’ll have opportunities to explore new paths and grow. This position is with our Adhesive Technologies business unit, where we empower our people to transform industries and provide customers with a competitive advantage through adhesives, sealants, and functional coatings.

Responsibilities

• Act as a trusted technical partner for customers by leading coatings-focused product and technology demonstrations, coating trials, troubleshooting, and training at customer sites. Use pre- and post-trial documentation and visit reports to help customers succeed.
• Serve as the technical liaison between customers and internal teams—including product development, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, and marketing—to translate application needs into actionable product, process, and customer support requirements.
• Provide timely technical support for assigned regional customers, including product recommendations, substrate evaluations, complaint investigations, line issue diagnosis, and application-based problem solving.
• Plan, execute, and communicate laboratory and pilot-scale requests to support customer and market projects, including coating weight, appearance, adhesion, performance, and processability assessments.
• Prepare reports summarizing trial results, technical findings, conclusions, and recommended next steps, and communicate this information effectively to internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide market-specific coatings expertise through customer engagement, competitive and industry awareness, and involvement in professional societies, technical networks, and industry associations.
• Lead by example in Safety, completing all necessary site and field safety requirements.
• Develop technical and professional skills through ongoing learning, mentoring, and participation in internal and external technical communities.

Requirements

• BS in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science/Engineering, Chemistry, Polymer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or similar degree/experience required; coatings-related technical background strongly preferred.
• Typically, 5–10+ years of technical service, application engineering, process engineering, product development, or industry experience, with direct experience in coatings, coated substrates, converting, or flexible packaging strongly preferred.
• Willing to travel up to ~60%, primarily in the USA and occasionally MX/CAN; with advance planning and support to enable sustainable work-life balance.
• Hands-on experience with coating application methods and equipment, such as gravure, slot die, roll coating, rod coating, Mayer rod, reverse roll, pilot coater, laminator/coater, drying/curing conditions, coating weight control, and defect troubleshooting is highly valued.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot coatings performance and application issues, including adhesion, wet-out, film formation, blocking, curl, appearance defects, coat weight variation, viscosity/rheology, drying, curing, and substrate compatibility.
• Experience translating customer process conditions, substrate structures, and end-use requirements into practical coatings recommendations and trial plans.
• Excellent people skills; able to work effectively with a range of individuals from manufacturing operators and laboratory technicians through senior management both at customers and within Henkel.
• Strong organization skills with the ability to manage multiple customer coating trials, technical requests, and follow-up actions while maintaining clear documentation and communication.

Benefits

• Health Insurance: Affordable plans for medical, dental, vision, and wellbeing starting on day 1.
• Work-Life Balance: Paid time off including sick, vacation, holiday, and volunteer time; flexible & hybrid work policies (depending on role); and vacation buy/sell program.
• Financial: 401k matching, employee share plan with voluntary investment and Henkel matching shares, annual performance bonus, service awards, and student loan reimbursement.
• Family Support: 12-week gender-neutral parental leave (up to 20 weeks for parents giving birth), fertility support, adoption & surrogacy reimbursement, discounted child and elderly care, and scholarships.
• Career Growth: Diverse national and international growth opportunities, access to thousands of skills development courses, and tuition reimbursement.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $105,000.00 to $125,000.00. This range represents the good-faith minimum and maximum wages the Company reasonably expects to offer for this role at the time of posting. In addition to base salary, this position may be eligible for incentive pay or other forms of compensation, as applicable. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate’s skills, experience, education, training, and work location.