Application Development Scientist

Eastman Chemical Company•Kingsport, TN

10d•Onsite

About The Position

Eastman’s Plastic Technology Division within Specialty Plastics is seeking a Scientist to support the Application Development Team in the Packaging markets. The selected individual will position Eastman’s portfolio while providing technical support to drive the close of new business. This position will be onsite at our headquarters in Kingsport, TN. The selected candidate will be responsible for translating customer and market needs into technical requirements that guide product development and influence Eastman’s Innovation Strategy. The selected candidate will lead and support Stage-Gate projects and technical activities, design and run application-development experiments, and promote customer trials to validate Eastman solutions resulting in new business.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree and 8 or more years of experience in industry or Ph.D. or Master’s degree and 3 or more years of experience in the industry.
Understanding of structure-property and processing relationships of thermoplastic polymers.
Demonstrated creativity and a desire to solve challenging and complex problems.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively present key messages within Eastman and to external customers.

Responsibilities

Participate in, align with, and influence Eastman’s market segment team’s (Application Development, Marketing, Sales, Technical Service, Product Management) strategy.
Support market-facing Stage-Gate projects and support technical activities at customers within the market segment.
Develop industry-specific expertise across applications, conversion technologies and incumbent product offerings.
Identify and document industry- and customer-specific unmet needs and define product fitness-for-use criteria.
Translate voice of the customer into Critical to Quality (CTQ) metrics to drive product selection.
Review and assess customer specific CTQs within and across markets to drive material innovations.
Promote a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to customers and partner with Product Development to deliver solutions that address market needs.
Design and execute application-specific experiments to gain fundamental insights and address customer-specific needs.
Facilitate customer trials and evaluations to validate solutions.
Create and protect innovative solutions through patent applications.
Communicate technical findings clearly through written documentation and oral presentations.