UV Digital Ink Formulator

Avery Dennison • Painesville, OH

5d

About The Position

The Digital Ink Solutions team at Avery Dennison designs, compounds and delivers high-quality ink systems for industrial printing, OEM printer manufacturers, direct-to-object applications and packaging. Their latest technology focus is on UV and LED-curable inks, including specialty pre-coat solutions for glass and challenging substrates. Avery Dennison Role Overview We are looking for a highly capable UV Digital Ink Formulator (PhD) to lead and execute research and development of UV/LED curable inks—from concept through commercialization. You will work cross-functionally (R&D, applications, quality, manufacturing, regulatory) to drive formulation innovation through raw material selection, assessment of physical performance properties, regulatory compliance and scale-up readiness. If you thrive in a fast-paced, materials-science driven environment and want to make an impact in advanced ink systems, this is for you.

Requirements

• PhD in Chemistry, Polymer Science, Material Science or closely related discipline (emphasis on photopolymerisation or UV curable systems).
• Minimum 2+ years of relevant experience developing UV/LED curable coatings or inks in industrial environments.
• Strong analytical skills: experience with rheology, particle-size measurement, surface tensiometry, cure-testing, adhesion testing, environmental aging.
• Hands-on lab experience with formulation and small-scale compounding, plus experience facilitating scale-up to pilot/production.
• Excellent organization and written documentation of experimentation planning, results and analysis.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills; ability to translate technical detail into business value.
• Comfortable in a global business environment; able to manage multiple projects and priorities.
• Team player with excellent interpersonnel interaction skills
• Ability to apply learnings from research to proceed to commercialization in an expedited manner

Nice To Haves

• Deep working knowledge of photoinitiator systems, UV/LED cure chemistry, oligomer/monomer networks and adhesion science.
• Extensive experience in digital printing and ink-jet ink formulation for packaging and direct-to-object substrates.
• Patent-filing experience or strong innovation track record.
• Experience working in a matrixed global organisation, with manufacturing and quality teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of next generation UV/LED-curable digital ink formulations: select ink components such as monomers/oligomers, photoinitiators, dispersions and additives to create ink formulations for performance on various substrates.
• Manage multiple product development projects, focused on ink-jet inks design and improvement, while achieving targeted costs, project timing, and customer and regulatory specifications
• Design, execute and analyse experiments to optimize cure behaviour, adhesion, flexibility, print performance, colour stability, shelf life, print-head compatibility and durability (mechanical, chemical, environmental).
• Validate ink performance through printing in-house and working with customers.
• Carry out on-site hands-on ink formulation, testing and printing.
• Translate customer and market requirements (industrial printing, direct-to-object, packaging graphics) into technical specifications and formulation targets.
• Scale-up promising formulations from lab to pilot manufacturing; work with manufacturing/compounding teams to ensure batch reproducibility, process robustness, cost targets and quality metrics.
• Support regulatory and sustainability initiatives: ensure inks meet environmental, health & safety standards and support requested certifications and compliance requirements..
• Generate technical documentation: formulation records, test method protocols, stability/aging studies, failure analyses, root-cause investigations, and intellectual property capture (patent ideas).
• Mentor junior chemists/technicians, share best practices in UV chemistry, photopolymerisation, and ink-system engineering.
• Stay abreast of emerging UV/LED photochemistry, ink-jet / digital printing trends, new substrates and materials to position us ahead of competition.

Benefits

• A role in a global leader in digital ink solutions, with substantial growth and innovation potential.
• Opportunity to drive next-generation UV/LED ink systems and influence manufacturing and business strategy.
• Collaborative environment with strong support for R&D, pilot manufacturing and commercialisation.
• Competitive compensation, benefits and professional development opportunities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees