Director - Research and Development

Director of Innovation & Technologies

JOB DIMENSIONS

- Reports to the President & CEO of ArrMaz Products Inc, with a dotted line to the R&D Director of the Specialty Surfactants Business Unit of Arkema.

- Responsible for the safety and operation of 2 laboratory sites with approximately 40 Employees

- General purpose: Innovate and develop sustainable products for global customers that achieve our business and sustainability goals.

- Leads a group of approximately 40 US employees, with growth in Brazil and China of 5-10 additional.

- Advises, leads, consults, and coordinates with Executive committee, Vice Presidents and directors of functional areas, Functional leaders within business units, suppliers, customers, and vendors, external partners and consultants (others as required).

- Support and oversee global R&D initiatives and trials in Brazil, China, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

ACTIVITIES

- Maximize the value created by the company’s product development and “in-house” (as opposed to “field”) customer technical support activities.

- Lead the effort to keep the safety of the technical team in everyday activity at the level of the company’s standards

- Drive the organization to out-innovate the competition over the short and long term in coordination with the rest of Arkema Specialty Surfactants R&D team.

- Enable future growth and prosperity of the global business through sustained delivery of market leading innovations

- Lead the effort (in conjunction with the Marketing – Business Development, Commercial and Operations teams) to optimally prioritize and allocate resources among short- and long-term projects, and between customer support, operations support, and product development projects

- Oversee with the global initiatives of the Technical and Innovation team as needed to advance our interests. Provide guidance and direction to Brazil and China team in coordination with local leaders.

- Implement improved systems for monitoring, advancing, and shelving projects as appropriate.

- Mentor and build succession depth within the technical organization, review organizational design and assure talent capabilities and development of strong leaders.

- Work in close cooperation with suppliers and customers as needed to advance our mutual interests.

- Establish performance goals, allocate resources, and assess policies for the Technology and Innovation team.

- Support development and execution of the company’s business strategies.

- Participate, as needed, in merger and acquisition activities.

- Participate, as needed, in road shows, board meetings, lender and analyst meetings and be able to communicate the company’s technical vision to the outside world

- Coordinates the gate process to ensure product acceptance and communications across business unit leaders.

- Other duties, as assigned.

- Travel required, domestic and international

ACCOUNTABILITIES

- Creation of an institutional knowledge culture

- Responsible for leading the innovation efforts of the global company

- Positioning the technical team to maximize company growth through in-house customer technical service, manufacturing support and product development.

- Ensuring a high level of safety for the technical team operations,

- Mentoring the growth and development of the technical team (for long term sustainability)

SKILLS & ABILITIES

- Ability to understand and determine commercial requirements of developmental products and translate those into the framework for decision making within the team

- Successful record of developing and supporting commercialization of innovative new products

- Demonstrated ability to manage a highly diverse group of talented individuals and get the best out of them all

- Experience improving the effectiveness of product development and technical support efforts without diminishing entrepreneurialism and customer focus.

- Experience developing productive relationships with major customer marketing and R&D organizations

QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

- At least 5 years of experience leading a technical/R&D organization (>10 people) in specialty chemicals with responsibility for balancing customer support, operations support, and product development efforts.

- Experience managing in a highly customized specialty chemical business

- Advanced degree in chemistry or physical chemistry or chemical engineering required. PhD preferred.

- Experience with specialty chemicals used for minerals beneficiation, fertilizer coating, asphalt improvement, and oil & gas drilling chemicals a plus.

- Experience synthesizing, formulating, and applying surfactants, emulsifiers, defoamers, and anticaking coatings a plus

- History of working in close cooperation with Sales, Marketing, Product Stewardship and Operations to drive projects forward.

- M.B.A. highly desirable.