Job Description
The Senior Scientist serves as a recognized scientific leader and subject matter expert within Industrial Wood, supporting the New Product Development team. Reporting to the Technical Manager, this role is responsible for translating customer, market, and business needs into differentiated coating technologies and commercially successful new products. The Senior Scientist develops technology strategies, leads highly complex development programs from concept through commercialization, and advances innovation platforms that support profitable growth within Industrial Wood. The Senior Scientist leverages deep technical expertise to identify emerging technologies, solve complex formulation and application challenges, establish product design requirements, and influence portfolio and technology-roadmap decisions. This role provides scientific leadership across functions and builds organizational capability through mentoring, coaching, and technical thought leadership.
Job duties include contact with other employees and access 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.
This role is not hybrid and will be located at Sherwin-Williams Morikis Global Technology Center located at 6745 Miller Road, Brecksville, OH 44141.
Responsibilities
• Lead highly complex new product development and platform-technology programs aligned with customer needs, market opportunities, portfolio strategy, and long-term growth objectives.
• Serve as a recognized subject matter expert in coating chemistry, formulation science, application technology, and performance evaluation.
• Translate voice-of-customer, market, regulatory, sustainability, cost, and manufacturing requirements into clear technical strategies, product design criteria, and development plans.
• Develop and execute scientific strategies that create differentiated products, strengthen the innovation pipeline, and position the organization for future growth opportunities.
• Identify and evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, raw material innovations, competitive developments, and external partnerships that may enable new products or accelerate development.
• Lead cross-functional project teams through concept development, feasibility, formulation optimization, validation, scale-up, customer qualification, and commercialization.
• Design and direct complex experiments using scientific methodology, statistical analysis, design of experiments, and structured problem-solving tools to optimize performance and reduce technical risk.
• Define technical milestones, identify project risks, recommend mitigation plans, and communicate progress and decisions to business and technical stakeholders.
• Influence product and technology roadmaps through technical assessments, opportunity evaluation, and strategic recommendations.
• Develop new coatings and coating systems that meet customer performance, application, manufacturing, sustainability, and commercial requirements.
• Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, Procurement, Regulatory, Marketing, Sales, and Technical Service to ensure products are robust, scalable, manufacturable, and ready for successful launch.
• Establish technical standards, best practices, and knowledge-transfer plans that support repeatable development, scale-up, commercialization, and post-launch learning.
• Collaborate with customers, suppliers, academic institutions, and industry organizations to expand technical capabilities and accelerate innovation.
• Present technical findings, project recommendations, development risks, and commercialization readiness to leadership, customers, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Mentor chemists, scientists, and technical professionals in formulation science, experimental design, project leadership, innovation, and commercialization.
• Generate and protect intellectual property through invention disclosures, patents, trade-secret practices, publications, or other recognized technical contributions, as appropriate.
• Adhere to company safety standards at all times.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
• Must be legally authorized to work in the country of employment without needing sponsorship for employment work visa status now or in the future (e.g., OPT, CPT, H1B, EB-1,etc.)
• Bachelor's degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math field.
• Must be at least 18 years of age.
• 10+ years of experience in coatings formulation, materials science, new product development, innovation, or related technical disciplines.
• Demonstrated success leading complex product-development programs from concept through scale-up, validation, customer qualification, or commercialization.
• Proven ability to influence technical direction, portfolio priorities, and business decisions through scientific leadership.
• Strong understanding of formulation chemistry, structure-property relationships, application processes, coatings performance, and experimental design.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary projects with significant technical complexity and business impact.
• Ability to translate customer and market needs into product requirements, technical plans, and differentiated solutions.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills for technical and non-technical audiences.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Expertise in industrial wood coatings, OEM coatings, or related technologies.
• Experience developing and commercializing new technologies, technology platforms, or innovation pipelines.
• Leader of with Stage-Gate or a comparable product-development process.
• Knowledge of customer co-development, field trials, manufacturing scale-up, and technology transfer.
• Experience presenting technical recommendations to executive leadership and strategic customers.
• Track record of mentoring technical professionals and developing organizational capability.
• Strong user of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), Lean Six Sigma, statistical design of experiments (DOE), or related methodologies.
• Publications, patents, invention disclosures, industry presentations, or recognized technical contributions are desirable.
Travel Requirements: 15%
This position is not eligible for sponsorship for work authorization now or in the future, including conversion to H-1B visa.
Successful candidate will be required to sign an Employee Restrictive Covenant Agreement where permitted by law.
This position is also eligible for bonus based on performance and subject to the terms of the Company's applicable plans.
