R&D Sr. Chemist

As an integral member of the Product Technology – Specialty Products team, you will focus on developing products supporting woodcare, building materials and/or aerosol products, individually or as part of a project team. Leveraging your technical knowledge, project management experience and business relationships, you will help deliver meaningful solutions to technical problems of moderate complexity. While delivering technical solutions to the businesses, you will also enjoy working with & learning from, a diverse & a dynamic team with decades of experience in the coatings business as well as have access to customized career development plan centered around your aspirations. 

If you are an independent thinker, have a deep desire to learn & grow, & believe you have an entrepreneurial spirit, we’d love to hear from you.

The focus areas where your contribution will be most impactful to the team & organization are as follows:

Product innovation:

• Lead or support new product initiatives individually or as a team supporting the Consumer Brands & the Paint Stores Group businesses.
• Utilize the stage gate process, project management & DFSS tools to effectively manage technical projects. 
• Develop technical approaches in collaboration with internal & external resources aligned with project objectives.
• Demonstrate data driven decision making based on technical experiments & customer feedback.
• Collaborate with marketing & commercialization teams to align developed technologies to successful products.
• Communicate project updates, technical challenges & recommendations to influence teams/manager.
• Record project progress & summaries through presentations, closing reports, white papers, and Coatings Technical Memorandums (CTMs).

Innovation leadership:

• Support technical strategy development for Product Technology aligned with business unit growth drivers 
• Participate in concept generation and assessment of concepts in partnership with marketing and R&D team members.
• Communicate learnings with the larger organization in the form of presentations, CTM, ITM (Internal Test Methods), white papers etc.

Communication

• Prepare written documentation and verbal presentations with technical/business information and develop ability to adapt content to various audiences.
• Interact with customers, vendors & external partners to drive project outcomes with limited supervision.
• Provide input on department projects, resources & staffing as needed.

Safety and Quality 

• Follow Safety, Housekeeping, and ISO practices established.
• Follow quality standards, such as ITMs and ICMs & maintain certification.
• Actively seek to reduce risk through corrective action of unsafe practices.
• Routinely Document lab results and pertaining technical information in electronic lab notebook and/or project folder per ISO standards. 

FORMAL EDUCATION: 
Required:
• Bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (“STEM”) field

Preferred:
• Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry, Polymer Science, Coatings or related field.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:
Required:
• Must have 5 years of experience in coatings formulation and performance testing.
• Proven problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
• Strong Data analysis and interpretation 
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills.
• Math and statistics skills 
• Proven problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills.
• Project leadership/management experience

Preferred:
• Formulation experience in solvent-borne and water-borne formulation
• Knowledge of coatings/formulation for wood substrates
• Knowledge of product commercialization in an industrial setting
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with various levels of technical experience.
• Experience in using DFSS tools in projects.
• Excellent organization and planning skills
• Demonstrated flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.
• High level of initiative and leadership ability 
• Experience interacting with Marketing on design targets and product specifications.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:
10%

Here, we believe there’s not one path to success, we believe in careers that grow with you. Whoever you are or wherever you come from in the world, there’s a place for you at Sherwin-W