Summary

Title: Fabric Process Development Engineer

Location: Chicago, IL

Travel Requirement: Up to 25% travel may be required.

Compensation: Competitive salary and equity package

Benefits include: Family Health, Dental, Vision; Flexible PTO, FSA Benefits, 401K Savings Plan, Paid Parental Leave, and Long-term Disability Insurance

Reports to: Director of Development

Position Overview

This role develops and scales the processes behind Numat's protective fabrics - proprietary MOF deposition processes, construction of nonwovens, and lamination. You will take processes from bench and pilot through defined, repeatable operation, and build the packages that let them scale toward commercial production. Just as important as any single step is how they fit together: our products are built by several unit operations in sequence, and you will own that sequence as one integrated process.

You will drive process development for Numat's proprietary MOF deposition and lamination operations; working out how material properties and process settings drive each product's performance, defining the operating windows that keep output consistent, and running the trials - on our pilot equipment and at external converting partners - that prove a process out. This is a hands-on development role on a web line supporting new technology development.

Responsibilities

You will work on a varied set of instrumentation/projects and have a diverse set of responsibilities including:

Fabric Process Development

• Scale Numat's proprietary MOF deposition processes - from bench and pilot trials through defined, repeatable processes suitable for commercial production.
• Select, specify, and configure application hardware, fluid delivery, and the drying and curing profile.
• Establish how material properties and process settings drive the product's critical quality attributes.
• Define and hold the process windows, specifications, and control strategy that keep output consistent.
• Own the product as an integrated process rather than a set of separate steps - define how the nonwoven, MOF deposition, and lamination operations interact, what each requires from the preceding operation, and how variation propagates through to the finished fabric.

Pilot Trials

• Run pilot trials on site and support vendor and toll production trials.
• Own web handling and its interaction with the MOF deposition step - unwind and rewind tension, web path, line speed, drying profile, and edge and defect control.
• Diagnose and eliminate defects and sources of variation.
• Support and develop Numat's pilot nonwoven and lamination processes alongside the MOF deposition work.
• Partner with maintenance and equipment vendors on commissioning, qualification, and preventive maintenance as new pilot lines come in-house.

Design Experiments and Scale the Process

• Plan, design, and execute experiments and DOEs that map the process space and reduce product and process variability.
• Analyze the data and turn it into clear conclusions and decisions; assess process capability against product specifications.
• Handle raw-material and substrate variation - set incoming material requirements and build the process latitude needed to absorb what varies.
• Build technology transfer packages and lead trials at external converting and contract manufacturing partners through to qualification.
• Support basic design and FEED for installing unit operations together into a production line - process flow, equipment sizing and specification, layout, material flow, and utilities - and work with equipment vendors through specification, acceptance testing, and commissioning.

Work Across the Group

• Partner with Research - bound what is processable at scale and feed process constraints back into development early.
• Work with the quality lab and metrology program to define the measurements, methods, and acceptance criteria that gate the process.

Qualifications

Required

• A bachelor's degree in mechanical or chemical engineering, or a related engineering or materials discipline. Advanced degree welcome.
• 5+ years of industrial R&D or process development experience in a manufacturing environment - developing and scaling processes, not only sustaining existing ones.
• Hands-on experience with rolled goods and web converting - paper, textiles, nonwovens, films, or membranes.
• Direct experience developing a surface application or deposition process - spray, slot die, gravure, knife-over-roll, dip/nip, curtain, screen, or similar.
• Working command of web handling fundamentals: tension control, web path, line speed, and drying and curing.
• A systems view of a production process - comfort reasoning about how upstream unit operations constrain downstream ones, rather than optimizing a single step in isolation.
• Strong experimental design and data analysis; DOE and statistical thinking as a default habit rather than an occasional tool.
• Genuine interest in hands-on work - this role runs equipment and runs trials; it is not a desk seat.
• A clear communicator who documents and organizes work well, with good judgment about when to decide and when to ask.
• Ability to walk or stand for prolonged periods; ability to bend, stoop, reach and lift up to 50 pounds.
• Ability and willingness to wear respiratory and/or hearing protection, as required.

Preferred

• Experience across more than one surface application or deposition method, and judgment about which suits a given material and format.
• Nonwoven forming (spunbond, meltblown) or lamination process experience, or familiarity with the variability that nonwoven substrates bring to a deposition process.
• Working knowledge of polymer mechanical behavior, textile mechanics, and laminate mechanical characterization, including tensile/elongation, modulus, bending and shear stiffness, drape, and peel/adhesion, with the ability to select appropriate test methods and relate layer properties and lamination conditions to finished-fabric performance.
• Basic design or FEED work for a production line or unit operation - process flow, equipment sizing and specification, layout, utilities, and defining vendor scope - including bringing separate unit operations together into one line.
• Scaling a process from pilot to commercial volume, including technology transfer to contract manufacturers or toll processors.
• Specifying, commissioning, or starting up new process equipment.
• Familiarity with DOE / data-analysis tools (e.g., Minitab, JMP, Python).
• Willingness to travel occasionally to external production and testing partners.

Work Authorization

This position is not eligible for immigration support now or in the future, including filing employment-based visa petitions (e.g., H-1B, O-1, TN, E-3) or F-1 work authorization (including CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT extension), or permanent residence sponsorship.

NOTE: **NO AGENCIES**