Senior Scientist

Spectrum Plastics Group•Pleasant Prairie, WI

16d

About The Position

The Senior Scientist is a technical leader within DuPont’s Food & Industrial business, responsible for driving innovation in blown polymer film formulation and technology. This role combines advanced scientific expertise with strong collaboration skills to deliver rapid, customer-focused solutions while supporting sustainability and recyclability goals.

Requirements

Ph.D. or M.S. in Polymer Science, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline.
8+ years of experience in polymer formulation, extrusion, and/or film development.
Demonstrated ability to deliver rapid technical solutions and manage complex projects.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills across internal and external stakeholders.
Entrepreneurial mindset to envision and drive change rather than settle for the way things are.
Strong analytical skills and familiarity with rheology, thermal analysis, and barrier property testing.
Operates independently, providing technical leadership and influencing strategic direction.
Leads complex projects and mentors junior team members.
Impacts cross-functional objectives and drives innovation initiatives.

Responsibilities

Rapid Product Formulation: Drive accelerated development, testing and scale up of film formulations to meet emerging customer opportunities.
Customer Technical Support: Partner with Sales/Commercial teams in a “2-in-a-box” model to provide technical expertise to customers (10–20% travel).
Open Innovation Partnerships: Own development and execution of external collaborations to enhance mechanical and barrier properties of 3-layer films without sacrificing recyclability. Identify partners for pilot line or small-scale trials.
Supplier Collaboration: Build and maintain technical relationships with PE resin suppliers to optimize resin performance and enable second-source options for cost control.
Analytical Testing: Conduct competitive film composition analysis (layer count, thickness, polymer composition, mechanical and barrier properties). Specify, acquire, and leverage analytical equipment as needed. This also includes ensuring appropriate lab test result entry and Laboratory Data Management system improvements and usage.
Internal Expertise Integration: Partnerships with DuPont’s analytical and polymer experts to strengthen technical capabilities and know-how for the business
Intellectual Property Strategy: Lead IP strategy for the F&I business, ensuring protection and differentiation of innovations.
Cross-Functional Trial Support: Collaborate with Manufacturing Technology, Commercial, and Operations teams to plan and execute trials for new materials.
Innovation Documentation: ensure timely documentation of innovation through presentations, innovation portfolio metric updates, 3rd-party agreements as they relate to innovation, electronic laboratory notebook entries and EDL report documentation.

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