Advanced Development Engineer - Materials & Innovation

Colonial Group; Troy (MI); On-site; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Colonial Group is seeking an Advanced Development Engineer to help develop and industrialize emerging surface and functional technologies for North America, including plastics, films, coatings, and related innovations. You will translate concepts into manufacturable applications and lead technical discussions with customers, supporting sales activities and project execution.

The role emphasizes hands-on development, risk assessment, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver customer-ready

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Manufacturing, or related technical field.
• Experience in product development, advanced development, manufacturing engineering, materials, process development, technical sales support, or launch support.
• Working knowledge of automotive manufacturing, plastics, PUR, decorative or functional films, surface technologies, functional integration, validation, tooling, or related processes.
• Ability to evaluate feasibility, cost, timing, technical risk, supplier readiness, and manufacturing impact.
• Ability to lead customer technical discussions and explain emerging technologies with confidence, clarity, and credibility.
• Strong cross-functional communication, problem-solving, ownership, and follow-through skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate emerging advanced plastics, film, surface, and functional technologies for customer, program, and market needs.
• Assess feasibility, cost, timing, performance, validation requirements, manufacturing risk, and application limits.
• Translate material and process concepts into practical applications for RFQs, innovation reviews, customer discussions, and new business opportunities.
• Create application guidelines, design considerations, validation plans, and lessons learned for repeatable use.
• Define plant implementation needs for advanced development applications, including process standards, trial plans, validation builds, and launch-readiness criteria.
• Work with manufacturing, quality, suppliers, purchasing, and plant teams to confirm feasibility, scalability, repeatability, cost impact, and timing risk.
• Support prototype trials, production builds, issue resolution, and handoff from advanced development into program execution.
• Lead or support customer technology meetings, innovation reviews, and technical workshops with a clear, credible technical point of view.
• Communicate confidently with customers about technology options, application benefits, feasibility, risks, timing, development maturity, and production readiness.
• Partner with sales, customer business units, engineering, and program teams to position technologies appropriately for RFQs, customer pursuits, and early adoption opportunities.
• Convert customer input into actionable technology requirements, development priorities, risk items, and next-step recommendations.
• Identify and evaluate suppliers, materials, tooling concepts, and manufacturing processes for advanced development projects.
• Assess supplier capability, maturity, risk, capacity, and development support needs.
• Coordinate technical input across engineering, design, manufacturing, quality, purchasing, sales, suppliers, and plant teams.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Manufacturing, or related technical field

Experience in product development, advanced development, manufacturing engineering, materials, process development, technical sales support, or launch support

Working knowledge of automotive manufacturing, plastics, PUR, decorative or functional films, surface technologies, functional integration, validation, tooling, or related processes

Ability to evaluate feasibility, cost, timing, technical risk, supplier readiness, and manufacturing impact

Ability to lead customer technical discussions and explain emerging technologies with confidence, clarity, and credibility

Strong cross-functional communication, problem-solving, ownership, and follow-through skills

Job description

Colonial Group is seeking an Advanced Development Engineer to help develop and industrialize emerging surface and functional technologies for North America, including plastics, films, coatings, and related innovations. You will translate concepts into manufacturable applications and lead technical discussions with customers, supporting sales activities and project execution.

The role emphasizes hands-on development, risk assessment, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver customer-ready