Food Packaging R&D Technician — Applications & Prototyping

Sealed Air; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Sealed Air is seeking an R&D Food Applications Technician for our Charlotte R&D center. You will provide hands‑on support to the Food Applications Development team, conducting physical property testing, evaluating packaging systems, building prototypes, and applying lab techniques to advance product concepts.

You will travel up to 20% for field trials, customer visits, and conferences, collaborating with Sales and Technical Service to deliver customer‑focused packaging solutions across

Qualifications

• Strong mechanical aptitude and hands‑on troubleshooting skills.
• Knowledge of packaging equipment operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting.
• Ability to perform physical property testing, equipment evaluations, and laboratory techniques.
• Ability to read rough sketches or plans and build prototypes, fixtures, or machine modifications.
• Strong mechanical and electrical troubleshooting capabilities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Knowledge of food packaging equipment, particularly tray lidding or thermoforming, is a plus.
• Knowledge of PLCs, VFDs, robotics, motor controls, I/O devices, and pneumatics, with structured troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands‑on technical support to the Food Applications Development team from concept through commercialization.
• Conduct physical property testing and apply analytical methods to support product development.
• Evaluate packaging equipment and determine optimal machine set‑points and performance.
• Build prototypes and fixtures from sketches to support development and testing.
• Operate, maintain, and troubleshoot laboratory equipment and tooling.
• Collaborate with Sales, Technical Service, Applications, and other teams to design packaging concepts.

Skills

Mechanical aptitude

Hands-on troubleshooting

Physical property testing

Reading rough sketches

Prototype building

Electrical troubleshooting

MS Excel, PowerPoint, Word

Food packaging equipment knowledge

Tray lidding / thermoforming knowledge

PLCs, VFDs, robotics, motor controls,

I/O devices, and pneumatics

Tools

PLC basics

VFDs

Robotics

Motor controls

I/O devices

Pneumatics

Job description

Sealed Air is seeking an R&D Food Applications Technician for our Charlotte R&D center. You will provide hands‑on support to the Food Applications Development team, conducting physical property testing, evaluating packaging systems, building prototypes, and applying lab techniques to advance product concepts.

You will travel up to 20% for field trials, customer visits, and conferences, collaborating with Sales and Technical Service to deliver customer‑focused packaging solutions across