Urethane Application Development Chemist at UBE Corporation America Inc. – Naugatuck, Connecticut

FLSA Status: Exempt

Working Status: Full Time

JOB SUMMARY

The job of the Urethane Application Development Chemist is to lead technical service and application development projects at UBE. Coordinate applicable leverage programs with other regions globally. The Urethane Application Development Chemist is expected to be the customer’s first technical point of contact and key problem solver for all customers in a specific region. They are also expected to lead technical efforts and collaborate with R&D, Analytical, and Sales, taking responsibility for developing solutions, establishing milestones, and advancing programs to commercialization.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Apply understanding of elastomer performance, prepolymers, curatives, and other formulation aspects, solving problems in urethane performance and processing.
• Utilize standard test methods as well as develop new ones to best characterize chemical and mechanical performance of polyurethane materials in various applications.
• Explore new market areas as part of cross functional strategy teams.
• Contribute to team thinking in terms of the technical knowledge and capabilities that can be applied.
• Seek strong understanding of unmet needs of customers and markets and focus development efforts to exploit these.
• Advance technical and material capabilities in new market categories through contributions to material and application development projects.
• Bridge the gap between R&D and Applications, developing new prepolymers on a lab scale for specific application projects to accelerate programs within the AT/PD group.
• Develop strong customer relationships and manage a significant portfolio of technical service and application development needs for these customers.
• Travel to existing and new customer’s as well as industry trade shows for opportunity hunting, material trials, process troubleshooting, and developing strong customer relationships.
• Provide trip reports and highlights to the organization.
• Contribute to our global knowledge base and understanding of polyurethanes.
• Publish Application Development reports in areas of significant development.
• Travel will be expected 15% of the time for customer meetings and trade shows.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• This position requires a BS, MS, or higher in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering, Chemistry Polymer Science, or similar.
• Requires excellent communication skills and ability guide others.
• Individual needs to be approachable by customers and employees with a wide range of backgrounds and skills.
• Ability to lead the team in solving application issues via formulation, and in recognizing needs that have a high vs low chance of being solved.
• Solid knowledge of the product portfolio, polyurethane chemistry, processing needs and pitfalls.
• Ability to recommend specific products and processing.
• Ability to synthesize new prepolymer formulations for particular needs.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience or familiarity with polyurethane formulation and product development
• Knowledge of urethane chemistry and processing & polymer science.
• Familiarity with material characterization of chemical and mechanical properties
• Experience with customer facing or application development roles
• 3 - 5 years of relevant professional experience, relevant co-op/internship experience considered.
• Mechanical aptitude, experience with CAD modeling and FEA is a plus

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement: UBE Corporation America Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability.