Material Development Engineer

First Quality King of Prussia PA; McElhattan (Clinton County); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary and bonus opportunities

Paid time off (three-week minimum)

Medical, dental and vision starting day one

401(k) with employer match

Tuition assistance

Job summary

First Quality King of Prussia PA is seeking a Material Development Engineer for its facility in McElhattan, PA. This role focuses on leading material development and innovation for absorbent hygiene products, ensuring material quality and processing. Collaboration with engineers and suppliers is a key part of the job.

The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of engineering experience, a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, and strong project management skills. Benefits include competitive salary, paid time off, medical coverage from day one, and tuition assistance.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years in Project or Process Engineering experience.
• Minimum of 5 years in industrial experience.
• Minimum of 2-5 years Material Development/Process experience.
• Knowledge and understanding of absorbent hygiene raw materials.

Responsibilities

• Promote a safety culture for all team members.
• Collaborate with suppliers to define material needs.
• Evaluate analytical data and relay to non-technical personnel.
• Lead internal and external trials in material categories.

Skills

Project Management

Material Testing

Material Specifications

Lean Manufacturing

Education

Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering

Bachelor’s in Polymers

Bachelor’s in Materials Science

Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Minitab

SAP

Job description

Overview

Founded over 35 years ago, First Quality is a family‑owned company that has grown from a small business in McElhattan, Pennsylvania into a group of companies, employing over 5,000 team members, while maintaining our family values and entrepreneurial spirit. With corporate offices in New York and Pennsylvania and 8 manufacturing campuses across the U.S. and Canada, First Quality produces high‑quality personal care and household products for large retailers and healthcare organizations.

Position Summary

We are seeking a Material Development Engineer for our First Quality Products facility located in McElhattan, PA. This position will lead the material development and material cost innovation work process while ensuring consistent material quality, supply, and material processability on our lines for our absorbent hygiene products. The role will work in collaboration with process engineers, operations, quality engineers, product developers, and external supply partners. It will lead internal and external trials in specific material categories.

Responsibilities

• Promote a safety culture, embracing safety as a core value, instilling and exemplifying a safety mindset for all team members resulting in an incident‑free workplace.
• Work in conjunction with the Quality department to ensure consistent raw material quality and that finished product satisfies all finished product quality standards.
• Collaborate with suppliers, external partners and internal team members to define material needs and create/refine/review raw material specifications.
• Work closely with both production and process team members to ensure good material processability on our converting lines.
• Support funding the growth activities related to materials for the Absorbent Hygiene business.
• Investigate new material and relevant technologies and collaborate with PD team members to continuously improve our absorbent hygiene products.
• Develop a deeper material understanding for some of the material categories such as non‑wovens, films, pulp, SAP, adhesives, elastics and laminates.
• Develop intellectual proprietary (IP) where applicable to establish competitive advantage, and ensure FTP for performance and cost innovative materials.
• Assist in planning, conducting, analyzing, and interpreting technical services.
• Responsible for project planning and execution on commercial and pilot line trials.
• Evaluate analytical data including material characterization and relay information to non‑technical personnel.
• Organize Material Development pipeline and raw material qualifications.
• Always maintain a high level of professionalism.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering, Polymers, Materials Science, or Mechanical Engineering (preferred).
• Minimum of 5 years in Project or Process Engineering experience.
• Minimum of 5 years in industrial experience.
• Minimum of 2‑5 years Material Development/Process experience.
• Experience in a lean manufacturing environment (preferred).
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Ability to develop and organize multiple projects.
• Ability to work with a diverse, cross‑functional team of professionals to deliver against key objectives and timelines.
• Knowledge and understanding of absorbent hygiene raw materials, material interactions within product and converting processes (preferred).
• Specific expertise in the following areas: Raw materials, Material Testing, Material Specifications, Trial planning and execution, Intellectual Property, Project Management, Knowledge of material science and analytical testing procedures, Knowledge and use of statistical analysis, Knowledge and use of Design of Experiments, Knowledge of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel, Minitab, and other office systems, SAP knowledge (preferred).

Benefits

• Competitive base salary and bonus opportunities.
• Paid time off (three‑week minimum).
• Medical, dental and vision starting day one.
• 401(k) with employer match.
• Paid parental leave.
• Child and family care assistance (dependent care FSA with employer match up to $2,500).
• Bundle of joy benefit (year's worth of free diapers to all team members with a new baby).
• Tuition assistance.
• Wellness program with savings of up to $4,000 per year on insurance premiums, and more!

EEO Statement

First Quality is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identification, or protected Veteran status.