R&D Manager - Core Materials

Amcor • Neenah, WI

2d

About The Position

The R&D Manager is assigned global responsibility for one of Amcor Flexible’s three raw-material categories: resins, webs (paper, film, and foil), or liquids (coatings and adhesives). The role leads a team that partners with Procurement, raw-material vendors, and R&D to plan and execute materials development programs. The manager develops relationships with global vendors to understand their products and technical capabilities, and leads standardized prequalification testing of new raw materials and communication of findings across global R&D.

The Global Materials team creates, enhances, standardizes, and simplifies raw-material use across the Amcor Flexible enterprise. Its work supports innovation, cost and performance optimization, supply continuity, manufacturability, and customer needs. The position’s responsibilities include safety and compliance, portfolio strategy, cost optimization, strategic supplier partnerships, technical leadership, and talent development.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5–10 years of experience in R&D materials development in flexible packaging or related manufacturing industries.
• Experience working in a global, matrixed organization with Procurement, Engineering, and external suppliers.
• A strong track record in raw-material innovation, cost optimization, and portfolio simplification initiatives.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree or PhD.
• Experience leading or managing centralized technical centers or laboratory organizations.

Responsibilities

• Act as a safety leader, communicate safety concerns, and ensure raw-material development, testing, and qualification meet applicable global safety, regulatory, and compliance requirements.
• Develop and lead execution of a balanced global resins portfolio, delivering value through people, processes, and tools.
• Own raw-material prequalification protocols and drive cost competitiveness and simplification objectives.
• Identify material-characterization development gaps and ensure standard methods, data analysis, and documentation are maintained.
• Maintain a globally connected, business-aligned, team-focused operating cadence.
• Develop, deploy, and sustain practices, processes, methodologies, training, and knowledge management.
• Ensure the team uses targeted business systems and tools, including SAP, SMS, SharePoint, and TaskRay.
• Identify and recommend cost-reduction and simplification opportunities using knowledge of materials and the global flexibles portfolio.
• Collaborate with Procurement and Operations to align cross-functional cost-reduction and simplification objectives.
• Lead laboratory and pilot assessments of new raw materials and make recommendations for business-group or global programs.
• Drive identification and execution of resin and resin-concentrate repatriation opportunities, including capital recommendations.
• Build and maintain relationships with key raw-material vendors and understand their laboratory, pilot-testing, and commercial-production capabilities.
• Collaborate with suppliers on new raw-material technologies and align supplier-development roadmaps.
• Leverage vendor resources to accelerate Amcor development programs.
• Recommend strategic supplier partnerships to Procurement and R&D leadership in support of long-term business objectives.
• Coordinate and report on development activities with top global vendors.
• Act as a subject-matter expert in the assigned category and teach colleagues about material properties, characterization methods, and vendor capabilities.
• Lead global communications meetings to share findings and best practices.
• Work across R&D to identify and propose methods and technologies that advance global development capabilities.
• Ensure the Global Resins strategy aligns with and supports short- and long-term Advanced Analytic capabilities.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision plans.
• Flexible time off, starting at 80 paid hours per year for full-time salaried employees.
• Company-paid holidays, starting at 8 days per year; the amount may vary by location.
• Wellbeing program and Employee Assistance Program.
• Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account.
• Life insurance, AD&D, short-term and long-term disability, and voluntary benefits.
• Paid Parental Leave.
• Retirement Savings Plan with company match.
• Tuition Reimbursement, subject to approval.
• Discretionary annual bonus program, with initial eligibility dependent on hire date.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager