Plastics Processing Development Engineer

About the Company

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company employs approximately 13,000 people around the world, serves customers in more than 100 countries, and had 2025 revenue of approximately $8.8 billion. Eastman is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA.

About the Role

This position is for a development engineer reporting to the General Leader of Mixed Plastics Processing (MPP) Development. The role is an owner of process development for MPP and is responsible for qualifying new feedstocks and technologies, supporting process growth and stewardship. This person will work closely with procurement to understand the market and qualify new materials, and with manufacturing to ensure feedstocks can be handled safely and processed efficiently into the Methanolysis process.

Responsibilities

• Qualification of feedstocks through 3rd party processing and through Eastman equipment
• Close partnership with manufacturing on qualification trials and training of operations personnel on new or existing best practices
• Partnering with internal stakeholders to drive improvement or technology demonstration projects
• Point of contact for sourcing to partner with on questions from suppliers
• Ownership and management of experiments and trials on manufacturing assets
• Work with feedstock technical leaders to understand and implement new screening protocols
• Identify opportunities and improve processes to enable robustness of Eastman assets and any pre-processing operations
• Justifying, scoping, project management, and execution management for Capital Projects
• Awareness of external technologies and capabilities to enable broader feedstock portfolio
• Manage trials of new technologies at 3rd party facilities

Qualifications

• Mechanical Engineering degree highly preferred; other engineering degrees will be considered
• 1+ years of direct manufacturing support preferred
• 2+ years of experience required
• Ability to make decisions with limited information
• Demonstrated project management skills
• High level of adaptability
• Comfortable with giving external presentations
• Ability to engage with external parties, suppliers, customers, etc.
• Must be a self-starter with a focus on results
• Ability to lead and drive challenging projects forward despite uncertainties
• Confident in working within a matrixed environment with multiple stakeholders
• Comfortable challenging peers and supervision to develop creative solutions
• Excellent written, listening, and verbal communication skills

Benefits

• Compensation & Incentives: Base pay plus performance-based incentive opportunities
• Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, prescription-drug, and dental coverage, paired with a Health Savings Account option. Voluntary benefits including vision, optional life, and critical-illness protection. Holistic wellness support including financial-planning tools, family-building assistance, parental leave, and confidential Employee Assistance Program counseling.
• Retirement & Financial Strategies: 401(k) with a company match, plus an additional annual retirement contribution from Eastman
• Time Away: Eleven paid holidays, one personal day, paid time off, and paid vacation
• Growth & Development: Access to mentorship, learning resources, and leadership programs