Paint Materials Engineer

Location: Georgetown, KY
Work Schedule: Onsite, Monday–Friday
Travel: Up to 30% domestic and international
Overtime: Up to 20 hours per week during project periods, weekends, holidays, and shutdowns

1514503

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Paint Materials Engineer to support automotive paint production engineering and new model initiatives. This position will focus on new color and material introductions, paint trials, material performance, quality evaluation, and process improvement within a high-volume automotive manufacturing environment.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience with automotive paint processes, color and appearance evaluation, paint materials, coatings, or related manufacturing processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead new paint color and material introductions from initial evaluation through production approval
• Plan and support paint and material trials, including online production testing
• Evaluate paint color, appearance, quality, and material performance
• Establish process controls and operating parameters for new materials and technologies
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for paint/material-related issues
• Work with manufacturing, engineering, suppliers, and other cross-functional teams
• Analyze material performance, cost, and environmental impact
• Identify opportunities to reduce material costs and improve manufacturing performance
• Prepare technical reports, data summaries, charts, and presentations
• Support new model and production activities on the manufacturing floor

Qualifications

• 3+ years of relevant engineering or manufacturing experience
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or equivalent relevant work experience
• At least 1 year of experience evaluating color and appearance of painted surfaces
• Experience with automotive paint, coatings, paint materials, or related manufacturing processes
• Strong problem-solving and root-cause analysis skills
• Experience coordinating projects across multiple departments, suppliers, or external groups
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
• Experience creating and presenting technical reports to management
• Ability to work in a manufacturing/shop-floor environment
• Ability to travel up to 30%
• Ability to support occasional weekends, holidays, overtime, and plant shutdown periods

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, or a related discipline
• Automotive OEM or Tier 1 manufacturing experience
• Paint laboratory or paint workability evaluation experience
• New model, new color, or paint launch experience
• Experience with body paint and/or resin/plastic paint processes
• Toyota Business Practices (TBP) experience
• Paint Pilot experience
• Basic Japanese or Spanish language skills

Additional Requirements

This position requires work in an automotive manufacturing environment. Candidates must be comfortable wearing required PPE, including safety glasses, hearing protection, gloves, hard hat, and steel-toed shoes that extend above the ankle.

Candidates should also be comfortable with domestic and international travel to manufacturing facilities and suppliers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and potentially Japan.