Product Development Specialist*

3M Company; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

3M Company seeks a Product Development Specialist to collaborate with global teams and lead product development from concept to commercialization. The role emphasizes applying technical and customer insights to create differentiated solutions that meet market and regulatory requirements.

The position requires advanced degrees and proven experience in product or materials development, with travel to facilities for validation and scale-up activities. On-site work in Austin, TX is expected.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree (completed and verified) in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Polymer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field AND three years of relevant experience.
• Ph.D. (completed and verified) in the same fields AND one year of relevant experience.
• Experience developing products for electronics, advanced materials, films, liners, adhesives, coatings, specialty chemicals, RFID, tapes, or related markets.

Responsibilities

• Translate customer needs into technical product specifications.
• Design, plan, and execute experiments to evaluate materials, formulations, processes, or product performance.
• Develop prototypes, conduct feasibility studies, and support scale-up activities.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to enable accelerated growth and NPI commercialization.
• Travel occasionally to facilities to validate material specifications.

Skills

Statistical tools

Design of experiments

Data analysis

Six Sigma

Electronics products

Education

Master’s degree in Chemistry or Engineering

Ph.D. in Chemistry or Engineering

Tools

Minitab

Excel

Job description

Job Description:

Product Development Specialist

Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

The Impact You’ll Make in this Role

As a Product Development Specialist , you will have the opportunity to tap into your curiosity and collaborate with some of the most innovative people around the world.

3M Electrical Markets Division (EMD) is seeking a creative, diligent, and collaborative product development engineer to lead and support product development initiatives from concept through commercialization. This role is responsible for applying technical expertise, customer insight, and structured product development practices to create differentiated solutions that meet business, market, regulatory, and manufacturing requirements. It requires broad technical knowledge as well as the ability to work with people from various functions and geographies. The ideal candidate is a passionate person who strives to bring new products to market, enjoys working with various technologies for various applications, takes pride in leading and completing projects with creativity and rigor, and is motivated by building relevant new business platforms and sustaining existing platforms.

Here, you will make an impact by:

• Translating customer needs and market requirements into technical product specifications.
• Designing, planning, and executing experiments to evaluate materials, formulations, processes, or product performance.
• Developing prototypes, conducting feasibility studies, and supporting scale-up activities.
• Exploring and developing novel technologies/approaches to enable accelerated business growth and ensure competitiveness.
• Travelling occasionally to manufacturing facilities to develop and validate material specifications and enable NPI commercialization.
• Contributing to change management as it relates to product design changes driven by product modification, application development, life cycle management, product/quality improvement, supply changes, regulatory requirements, and cost reduction.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to identify and solve complex problems and to apply/implement new or modified chemistries.
• Reviewing and developing intellectual property at the business level, including proprietary advances, ROIs, patents, trade secrets, etc. Documenting experimental data and observations in technical notebooks or electronic files.

Your Skills and Expertise

To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:

• Master’s degree (completed and verified prior to start) in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Polymer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field AND three (3) years of experience in product development, materials development, process development, technical service, application engineering, or a related technical function.

• Ph.D. (completed and verified prior to start) in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Polymer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field AND one (1) year of experience in product development, materials development, process development, technical service, application engineering, or a related technical function.

Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:

• Experience developing products for electronics, advanced materials, films, liners, adhesives, coatings, specialty chemicals, RFID, tapes, or related markets.
• Knowledge of product commercialization processes, stage-gate development, or design control practices.
• Experience with statistical tools, design of experiments, or data analysis software.
• Familiarity with scale-up, manufacturing transfer, or process capability evaluation.
• Experience working directly with customers or translating voice-of-customer input into technical requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and priorities.
• Strong understanding of quality systems, product specifications, and technical documentation practices.
• Ability to identify innovation opportunities and contribute to intellectual property generation.
• Good understanding of solvent coating and drying of polymers, molding, adhesive curing; corona treating; extrusion coating; e-beam curing.
• Good understanding of statistical methods for data analysis.
• Familiar with the following processes: RM substitutions (and the 3M change management process), NPI process, SKU creation, BOM creation, PFMEA, DFMEA, HOQ, test method development, MSA, capability studies, data analysis (e.g., in Minitab or Excel), root cause analysis, Six Sigma.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision (self-motivated) and in teams
• Ability to conform to shifting demands, timelines, and priorities
• Willingness to travel (within the US mainly)
• Demonstrated ability to apply scientific or engineering principles to solve technical problems.
• Experience planning experiments, analyzing data, and documenting technical results.
• Ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Work location:

• This role follows an on-site working model, requiring the employee to work at least four days a week at the 3M Center in Austin, TX.

Travel: May include up to 15% domestic and international

Relocation Assistance: May be authorized

Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).

Responsibilities of this position may include direct and/or indirect physical or logical access to information, systems, technologies subjected to the regulations/compliance with U.S. Export Control Laws.

U.S. Export Control laws and U.S. Government Department of Defense contracts and sub-contracts impose certain restrictions on companies and their ability to share export-controlled and other technology and services with certain “non-U.S. persons” (persons who are not U.S. citizens or nationals, lawful permanent residents of the U.S., refugees, “Temporary Residents” (granted Amnesty or Special Agricultural Worker provisions), or persons granted asylum).

To comply with these laws, 3M must help assess candidates’ U.S. person status.

The questions asked in this application are intended to assess this and will be used for evaluation purposes only. Failure to provide the necessary information in this regard will result in our inability to consider you further for this particular position.

Supporting Your Well-being

3M offers many programs to help you live your best life — both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope.

3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

All US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M.

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