Director of Technology- Rigid PVC
About The Company
A “Hyper-Growth” company founded in 1997 by resolute PVC professionals determined to meet the global quality challenges facing the industry. After growing successfully for 19 years, in 2016 they were acquired by private equity taking on new product development and geographic expansion, from two manufacturing facilities to five. They have a reputation for manufacturing the highest quality advanced polymers, custom plastics, and compounds for applications in siding, deck and rail, window & door, recreational, automotive, wire and cable, battery, and footwear just to name a few. With new product innovations in 1600 new products the company has one of the most comprehensive product lists in the industry. It includes rigid and flexible PVC compounds, TPR, TPE, TPO, CPE alloys, LSOH, SBS, SEBS, PVC/acrylic alloys, and foam compounds. Also offering flame retardant concentrates, purging compounds and color matching.
- In the past three years, they have added 150 new customers!
Your Unique Role
The Director of Technology, reports directly to the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Innovation, & Business Development. You are the senior leader of the Rigid PVC Business Unit. Your team of six will formulate rigid PVC compounds, rigid PVC alloy compounds, and CPVC compounds. You are working with operations on scale-ups and supply technical aid to procurement, sales and to customers to deliver rapid growth in Building & Construction, Consumer & Industrial applications.
- Working closely with Technical Service you will take part in customer on-site technical visits, presentations and processing trials and occasional off-site commercial meetings.
- Under your leadership the team will develop new RPVC (rigid-polyvinyl-chloride) product solutions for unmet customer needs
- Formulate new products and reformulate existing products (research (20%) and development (80%)
- Work closely with operations team for product scale-ups
- Supply technical information, aid, and support to customers
- Coordinate the production of new products and samples with manufacturing and quality departments
- Supply technical support to the sales force in response to technical service requests
- Establish and revise product specifications and QC test requirements
- Aid production with process parameters and QC testing of product
- Supply guidance to projects produced on sample line
- Ensure regulatory compliance with UL, AAMA, NSF, REACH, CE and other related codes and standards
- Manage RPVC Technical Group, annual G&O’s, performance reviews
- Develop Technical Group continuous improvement through G&Os and outside technical training
- Establish RPVC technology annual budget by working with Financial Group and monitoring throughout the year
- Supply compound costing to Sales / Product Management for customer quoting
- Work with Sourcing to qualify new raw materials
- Represent the RPVC Technical Group in the company’s New Product Development Team meetings and execute upon agreed NPD targets and timelines
What Is In It For You?
- Fast pace, collaborative culture with extreme dedication to customer service
- 40% Organic growth offering a ton of advancement opportunity
- Competitive base salary with extreme bonus potential
- 401K is vested at once and matches up to 9%
Seeking a Candidate With:
- MS degree or higher in Chemistry, Polymer Science, Materials or Chemical Engineering
- 8+ years’ experience formulating new polymer compound products, Rigid PVC compounds, RPVC alloy compounds, CPVC compounds
- 5+ years’ experience in managing customer technical service
- 3+ years’ experience managing an R&D team of 4 or more
- Must have experience in the building & Construction, Consumer & Industrial market
- Deep working knowledge of UL and CE process approval standards
- 25% percent travel
Location Information
- Cleveland/Akron Ohio Area
- More than 37% of Fortune 500 companies are present in Northeast, Ohio
- Home to several higher education institutions
- International, regional, and county airports
- Professional Sports Teams
- Moderate cost of living
