R&D- Chemist II (Powder)

Responsibilities

• Works collaboratively with General Industrial Sales, Technical and Marketing teams to support and secure new business as well as maintaining current customer base.
• Communicates effectively and promptly with managers, customers, vendors, and other stakeholders. This includes delivering formal and informal presentations as needed.
• Analyzes data to identify trends, resolve customer issues, and assess information for project advancement.
• Leads technically complex projects or multiple simpler projects with minimal supervisor input.
• Establishes timelines and identifies resource needs to support project work.
• Applies specialized knowledge/skills with polymers, adhesion, raw materials, instrumentation, extrusion, additives, and substrates to develop superior performance coatings and perform root cause analysis when problems arise.
• May directly work with and mentor lower-level chemists or technicians to support team project goals.
• Hands-on development: formulating, processing, applying, curing, and testing of new coating products.
• Scale-up and manufacturing of new products.
• Implements continuous improvement efforts.
• Uses SDS and raw materials management system.
• Adheres to safety policies and laboratory documentation.
• Written and verbal communication of all results.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, good organizational and planning abilities, and a high level of initiative.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math field.
• Minimum of 3 years in coatings, polymer, thermoplastic, thermoset, or adhesive research and development.
• Understand extrusion and dispersion.
• Full-scale manufacturing experience of coatings, polymers, thermoplastics, thermosets, and/or adhesives.
• Understands instrumentation and test methods needed to quantify behavior of coatings/ polymers.
• Ability to determine the difference between colors to tint paint to customer desired colors.
• Proficient with analytical methods for characterization of coatings and coating defects.
• Demonstrated successful scale up and commercialization of coating or polymer systems.
• Proven problem-solving and decision-making ability.
• Experience with Design of Experiment.
• Exhibit an in-depth understanding of coating formulation and how it relates to coating requirements.
• Proficient in statistics and data analysis.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced Degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or Polymer Science.
• 7+ years in coating, polymer, or adhesive research and development.
• Experience in data visualization software to analyze large datasets.
• Experience designing, executing, and analyzing experimental studies to characterize formulation impact on product performance.
• Understanding of synthesis of polyester and epoxy resins.
• Liquid and powder spray systems utilizing robotic equipment.