RD&E Lead Chemist

The RD&E Lead Chemist is a senior technical leader responsible for driving regional innovation, formulation strategy, application, technical review & problem solving, and cross‑functional execution, with accountability that extends beyond individual projects to portfolio and business impact.

This role does not require direct people management, but carries strong technical leadership and influence across functions and regions.

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Key Responsibilities

nnovation & Portfolio Leadership

• Translate Market and Customer needs into scalable, business-relevant technical solutions.
• Lead the innovation pipeline from concept to commercialization, aligning priorities and removing execution barriers.
• Ensure innovation priorities align with regional strategy, portfolio needs, and business impact.

Advanced Technical Authority

• Serve as the regional technical authority for complex formulation and application challenges.
• Lead resolution of ambiguous, high-risk technical problems where precedent may not exist.
• Set regional technical direction, standards, and decision criteria for priority platforms.
• Lead and support Technical Service Requests (TSRs) by assessing technical complexity, prioritizing critical customer or field issues, coordinating cross-functional expertise, and ensuring timely, practical, and well-documented technical resolutions.

Cross‑Functional & Regional Influence

• Align Marketing, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Manufacturing, and Sales around technical and commercial priorities.
• Drive commercialization readiness, field trials, technical problem solving at customer site, technical risk assessment.
• Represent regional needs and influence decisions in global RD&E initiatives and task forces.

Specification Setup Governance

• Lead governance of EPIC and related systems used to create, maintain, and manage product specifications, formulas, packaging BOMs, labels, SDSs, QATMs, and other product data to ensure accuracy, compliance, and commercialization readiness.
• Partner with Regulatory, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, and Commercial teams to confirm specifications, BOMs, labels, claims, and market requirements are aligned before launch.
• Drive timely completion, review, and approval of specification records, resolving data gaps and cross-functional blockers to support project execution.

·         Leadership Without Authority

• Coach chemists and project teams to strengthen technical judgment and execution discipline.
• Influence decisions through technical credibility, business acumen, and clear trade-off recommendations.
• Mobilize stakeholders to deliver agreed outcomes across functions, sites, and regions.

Leadership Characteristics

• Strategic thinking
• High autonomy and decisiveness
• Drives alignment and execution without formal people management
• Accountable for business‑relevant outcomes, not just technical success [1]
• calibration discussions

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Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Chemistry, Polymer Science, Materials Science, or a related scientific discipline; Master’s degree or Ph.D. is preferred for advanced technical leadership scope.
• Minimum 8–10 years of progressive experience in RD&E, product development, formulation, application chemistry, technical service, or related laboratory/industrial environments.
• Strong technical expertise in formulation development, product performance evaluation, stability testing, raw material assessment, scale-up, and commercialization support.
• Proven ability to lead complex technical problem solving, including ambiguous customer or field issues, root cause analysis, technical risk assessment, and practical resolution planning.