Senior Chemist

Thomas Brooke International; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Thomas Brooke International in Houston seeks a veteran chemist to serve as the company’s chief technical authority. You will troubleshoot formulations, resolve batch issues, and be the primary technical contact for the lab, production, and customer sites.

You’ll lead the lab team, drive new formulation development, and push MPI/SSPC certifications while shaping a high-trust culture that values autonomy and concrete results.

Qualifications

• Degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering; advanced degree is a plus but not required.
• 10–15 years of industrial coatings formulation experience, with waterborne focus preferred.
• Experience across formulation, QC, problem solving, and lab management.
• Knowledge of MPI/SSPC product approvals is a meaningful plus.
• Oil and gas infrastructure coatings exposure is desirable.
• Servant leadership with high emotional intelligence and collaborative mindset.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the company’s primary technical authority: troubleshooting formulations, resolving out-of-spec batches, and being the first call in the lab, on the production floor, or at customer sites.
• Own the customer-facing technical relationship with fabricators and applicators to diagnose problems and represent technical credibility.
• Manage and mentor the lab team, ensuring knowledge flows to batch makers and QC staff.
• Drive product approvals by pursuing third-party certifications (MPI/SSPC).
• Lead targeted new formulation development: fill product-line gaps and explore adjacent markets.
• Maintain and improve lab documentation, QC processes, and batch records with efficiency.

Skills

Chemical leadership

Lab leadership

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering

Advanced degree (plus)

Job description

• Join a family-owned industrial coatings manufacturer with more than 55 years of proven market presence, and step into the highest-level technical role in the company — reporting directly to ownership with genuine authority over your domain.
• Bring your formulation expertise to a place that will actually use it. There are no layers of approval, no bureaucratic stage gates, and no corporate politics standing between a good idea and a real product. Previous chemists have converted personal technical interests into revenue-generating product lines — and been recognized for it.
• Work in a culture built on trust, autonomy, and mutual respect. This is a team where a delivery driver’s field observation matters as much as a chemist’s lab result. If you’ve spent years being told to stay in your lane, this is a different kind of place.
• Inherit a stable, well-established portfolio in waterborne and solvent-borne industrial maintenance coatings for structural steel — and have the freedom to grow it. There is low-hanging fruit: approvals to pursue, product-line gaps to fill, and a potential entry into oil and gas infrastructure coatings where the raw material capability already exists.
• Earn upside on what you build. Ownership is open to a performance incentive tied to the commercial success of formulations you develop and commercialize — something a large corporation simply won’t offer.
• Enjoy a genuinely flexible work environment. Half-day Fridays are standard. A full-Friday arrangement has been accommodated before. Your birthday is a paid day off — a tradition started by the founder. The owners answer the phone. This is not a corporate environment dressed up as a family one.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Serve as the company’s primary technical authority: troubleshooting formulations, resolving out-of-spec batches, and being the first call when something goes wrong — in the lab, on the production floor, or at a customer’s facility.
• Own the customer-facing technical relationship. Work directly with fabricators and applicators to diagnose application problems, recommend solutions, and represent the company’s technical credibility in the marketplace.
• Manage and mentor the lab team, creating an environment where knowledge flows freely to batch makers, QC staff, and anyone else who needs to understand what’s happening technically and why.
• Drive product approvals — pursue and maintain third-party certifications (MPI and similar) for products that already meet the standards but haven’t been formally submitted.
• Lead targeted new formulation development: filling product-line gaps, building out a primer/topcoat system capability, and exploring entry into adjacent markets where the company’s raw material base gives it a running start.
• Maintain and continuously improve lab documentation, QC processes, and batch records — bringing structure and efficiency without disrupting what already works.

THE RIGHT CANDIDATE

Education & Technical Skills

• Degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field. Advanced degree is a plus but is secondary to hands-on formulation depth.
• Minimum 10–15 years of industrial coatings formulation experience. Background in waterborne industrial maintenance coatings is particularly relevant; experience with solvent-borne and epoxy systems is also important.
• Comfort working across the full technical range: formulation, batch quality, customer problem-solving, raw material evaluation, and lab management. This is a generalist technical leadership role, not a specialist position.
• Experience with product approval processes (MPI, SSPC, or similar third-party specifications) is a meaningful plus.
• Prior exposure to oil and gas infrastructure coatings is highly desirable.
• A servant leader — someone who earns their standing through competence, availability, and helpfulness, and who naturally becomes the person the whole team wants to go to for answers.
• High emotional intelligence, with demonstrated ability to work effectively with people at every level — from ownership to hourly batch operators — treating everyone’s input as worth taking seriously.
• A collaborative change agent: genuinely excited by the prospect of improving things, and experienced enough to bring people along rather than running ahead of them.
• Low ego, high accountability. You solve problems without defensiveness and own mistakes without drama.
• A genuine love of sharing knowledge — explaining not just what to do but why, and finding satisfaction in helping the team around you understand the chemistry.
• At a career stage where freedom, trust, and the chance to make a real, visible contribution matter more than title or corporate advancement. Whether you’re a few years from retirement and not ready to stop, or a mid-career chemist who’s had enough of the corporate grind — if this is what you’re looking for, this is the place.