R&D- Applications Development Manager

The R&D Manager, Commercial Applications leads the application laboratory and serves as the technical expert for product application, rheology, and performance optimization within the Industrial Wood Division. This role supports product development, customer implementation, application testing, and technical training while collaborating with internal teams and external customers to validate products, improve processes, and drive successful adoption of Industrial Wood solutions. The position also provides hands-on support during customer trials, resolves technical challenges, and ensures alignment between laboratory capabilities and real-world manufacturing conditions.

Job duties include contact with other employees and access to confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company’s staff, employees, and business relationships.

20% Travel

• Providing testing support and guidance for stage gate product development, product investigations, and internal and external product benchmarking.
• Calculating, coordinating, and communicating required personnel, substrates, application equipment time, and material quantities to support multi-product benchmarking projects.
• Completing application assessment for stage gate projects for all technologies
• Completing application work and provide feedback for, Raw-Material replacement, Manufacturing site change, Rework and technology transfer projects
• Utilizing extensive knowledge of product performance to interpret coating application results to provide feedback to formulation team in developing new products
• Development and validation of Industrial Wood (IW) application procedures to align with line audits of customers.
• Maintenance of current equipment and capital planning of new equipment.
• Management of one or more team members.
• Maintaining external communication on scheduling to the IW team.
• Developing and providing application training to internal and external customers both at internal and external sites including trade shows.
• Development and maintenance of line audit documentation for customers.
• Scheduling meetings to coordinate materials and substrates to ensure testing and training are executed with minimal variation from defined processes and product specifications
• Troubleshooting on external customer lines without technical lab assistance
• Gathering information and designing testing parameters to reproduce quality issues and provide feedback to quality and R&D team on product and application differences
• Customer application trials and training local technical service staff at IW sites as well as at customer sites with or without technical lab assistance.
• Hosting customer visits and leading live product demonstrations on customer substrates, analyzing results with key decision-makers to drive approvals or implement targeted adjustments to application processes and product selection.
• Coaching and mentoring team members to ensure timely completion of projects and career growth as needed.
• Consulting on continuous improvement initiatives to support internal and external customers.
• Consulting on product selection for current and future product systems to the development lab.
• Consulting on the creation of sales tools including training manuals and brochures.

Minimum Requirements
• Must be legally authorized to work in the country for which you are applying for employment (without now or in the future needing sponsorship for employment work visa and/or permanent residence status)
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must have a bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (“STEM”) field
• 5+ years of management/leadership experience and the ability to communicate effectively in a matrix environment of differing organizational structures and physical locations.
• Knowledge of conventional Industrial Wood Coatings flat line application equipment including reciprocal, fixed head spray, roll, curtain coat, and vacuum coaters.
• Knowledge of Rheology and its use in Coatings
• Knowledge of conventional solvent-borne products such as conversion varnishes, lacquers and PU’s as well as UV.
• Knowledge of conventional as well as UV waterborne product applications as well as 100% solids UV.
• Knowledge of key measurement techniques used in the evaluation of products during application such as film thickness, gloss, and color.
• Experience at customer application line and performing line audits
• Computer skills (Word, Excel, Emails, video conference)
• PowerPoint skills and presentation experience in front of customers
• Project management/scheduling experience

Preferred Qualifications
• 10 years of applications experience.
• Experience in a technical laboratory
• Knowledge of Rheology as it pertains to Wood Coatings
• Proven ability to understand and utilize statistical analysis to interpret data as pertains to product application
• Understanding of typical manufacturing strategies for producing product

Successful candidate will be required to sign an Employee Restrictive Covenant Agreement where permitted by law.