Job Description

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

PRODUCT TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP (80%)

Manage technical product line initiatives for Specialty Coated Wovens product portfolio. Enhance current products and support development of new products to secure and strengthen competitive advantage.

Engage and iterate with customers and marketing to understand needs and develop product improvements that bring value to customers.

Lead product qualifications of manufacturing line extensions, customizations and product design changes that deliver business value or opportunity for growth.  
Apply knowledge of scientific fundamentals and experimental design in projects. 

Coordinate testing, analyze data, draw conclusions, make recommendations and implement improvements to products, processes, and test methods.  Recognize problems and initiate corrective actions.
Communicate technical results to project teams.  Author summary reports on technical findings, when applicable.
Support technical claim and testing expansion to further differentiate products in the market.
Monitor the merketplace (technical leaders, suppliers, competitors, industry organizations) to identify and react to changes such as competitive activity, customer process changes, code, and regulatory requiremwnts, and emergence of new technologies. 
Generate technical insights which lead to discovering product intellectual property and competitive advantage.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT (20%)

Define and drive product improvement projects, partnering strongly across functions to align and deliver successful outcomes.

Lead product and technology projects from development to commercialization.

Define, manage and communicate the scope, timeline and resources needed. 
Identify, assess, and mitigate risks to effectively manage changes throughout the project.
Provide technical recommendations and feedback to others, sharing knowledge throughout the organization. 
Collaborate and communicate effectively with people across different functions in the organization.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Degree in Engineering or Science field.
Demonstrated ability to generate new and innovative product designs/improvements in continuous manufacturing processes.
Demonstrated use of fundamental engineering and business principles to deliver product & process innovations.
Demonstrated ability to develop and meet key milestones, to work and communicate effectively with people across different functions of the organization, and to technically contribute to the development of solutions.
Ability to travel up to 30-50% of the time (varies depending on project need).

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

Experience in consumer branded product development and/or process.
Demonstrated track record of project leadership from concept to launch of within large cross-functional teams.
Demonstrated project management effectiveness in R&D and/or manufacturing environments is preferred (developing plant trials, communication plans, awareness of budget restraints, etc.).
Experience with statistics to drive data based decisions and develop customer-inspired test methods.
Multi-functional leadership skills (ability to manage across functions from product management, marketing, operations and other R&D functions).

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

Strong desire to innovate and own delivery of project outcomes.
Self-motivated with the ability and desire to work independently to learn and apply new technical areas.
Team oriented, with high energy and desire to build strong relationships, collaborate and drive results across multi-functional and discipline boundaries in a dynamic, multi-project environment.
Ability to present data to multifunctional audiences and drive the decision-making process.
Resilience and agility to adapt to an ever-changing environment and business.
Passion for understanding how things work and the ability to navigate through large data sets to provide project direction.
Out of the box thinking to identify new approaches to overcome obstacles.
Ability to generate and translate innovative concepts into technically feasible and consumer-inspired products.
Practices safety-conscious behaviors in all operational processes and procedures.
Attention to detail and dedication to documenting and embedding knowledge within the organization.