R&D Chemist

Intertape Polymer Group; Marysville (MI); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Intertape Polymer Group is seeking an experienced R&D Chemist to drive new product development from customer needs to scalable production. You will design innovative solutions using lab and pilot facilities and collaborate with Marketing, Product Management, and Operations to deliver competitive products.

The role requires 2–4 years in R&D, strong project leadership, and excellent communication skills. Travel about 25% to IPG plants, HQ, and supplier locations is expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a Science or Engineering discipline.
• 2-4 years’ experience in Research & Development.
• Proven project leader with high success rate.
• Innovative, organized self-starter with good problem-solving skills.
• Collaborative interpersonal style with experience in leading project teams.
• Proficient in MS Office suite of software, working knowledge of Smartsheet or other project planning software.
• Knowledge of DOE principles and statistical analysis software.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Capable of writing reports for distribution at the Executive level.
• Ability to travel ~ 25% to visit IPG plants, IPG HQ, and customer and supplier locations.

Responsibilities

• Identify customer needs and design product solutions that meet them at a competitive cost.
• Work with Marketing and Product Management to identify new product opportunities and develop business cases.
• Use QFD, VOC or New Product Blueprinting to determine performance factors and properties for new products.
• Deliver solutions that exceed customer requirements within an acceptable time frame.
• Develop innovative product designs using lab and pilot facilities and translate to production.
• Ensure products meet end-use application needs and communicate results to stakeholders.
• Support all safety and 5S housekeeping programs.
• Travel to customer facilities to support development and improvement efforts.
• Utilize project management tools to plan and monitor development time and resources.
• Oversee and review experimental work of team members.
• Write clear reports and executive summaries with unique document numbers.

Skills

Project management

MS Office

Smartsheet

Gantt charts

Statistical analysis software

Communication skills

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher in science or engineering

Tools

MS Office

Smartsheet

Job description

Position Description

Title: R&D Chemist

Department: R&D

Reports to: R&D Director

Status: Salaried Exempt

Principle Accountabilities

• The New Product Development (NPD) responsibilities begin and end with the customer. The R&D Chemist is charged with accurately and precisely identifying any all customer needs that are not being met. It is then their responsibility to use that knowledge to design a product solution which fully meets those needs, while at the same time differentiating and elevating the performance of the product solution at a competitive cost.

• Work with the Marketing and Product Management group in a formalized process to identify, fully explore and document new product opportunities. Contribute to the development of the overall business case for the new product opportunity.

• Utilize QFD, VOC or New Product Blueprinting in the process of determining the performance factors, physical properties, physical appearances, and intangible qualities that will be designed into new products or product groups.

• Deliver solutions which exceed our customer’s requirements at a competitive cost in an acceptable time frame.

• Develop the innovative product design using extensive lab and pilot facilities. Work with the operations group to translate the design into a commercially viable process.
• Ensures that all products designed meet the end-use application needs of the intended customers.
• Ensures that all information via the new product commercialization meeting is provided to Production, QC, Scheduling, Purchasing, Product Management and Marketing once the project is complete.
• Follows new products into the field, works with Technical Service and Sales to gain customer acceptance and helps uncover any product deficiencies.
• Travels to customers’ facilities to support new product development and product improvement efforts.

• Utilize excellent project management skills during the entire new product development Representative activities would include the preparation and maintenance of tracking tools such as Smartsheet or Gantt charts to determine and monitor the development time and required resources to create a new structure.

• Assigns, oversees and reviews the experimental work performed by team members.

• Writes clear, concise interpretive reports and memos with executive summaries using report writing format which is provided and assigns each report a unique document number for inclusion into an electronic database and a hard‑copy library.
• Actively supports all Safety programs and initiatives and 5S housekeeping programs.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a Science or Engineering discipline.

• 2-4 years’ experience in Research & Development

• Proven project leader with high success rate

• Innovative, organized self-starter with good problem‑solving skills.

• Collaborative interpersonal style with experience in leading project teams.

• Proficient in MS Office suite of software, working knowledge of Smartsheet or other project planning software.

• Knowledge of DOE principles and statistical analysis software.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills. Capable of writing reports for distribution at the Executive level. Comfortable presenting results and project updates to team members, executives and customers.
• Demonstrated customer focus and commitment to Company values.
• Demonstrated capability to manage time without consistent day to day interaction with supervisor
• Ability to travel ~ 25% to visit IPG plants, IPG HQ, and customer and supplier locations.