Job at a glance
The Senior Scientist serves as a recognized scientific leader and subject matter expert within Industrial Wood, supporting the New Product Development team. Reporting to the Technical Manager, this role is responsible for translating customer, market, and business needs into differentiated coating technologies and commercially successful new products. The Senior Scientist develops technology strategies, leads highly complex development programs from concept through commercialization, and advances innovation platforms that support profitable growth within Industrial Wood.
The Senior Scientist leverages deep technical expertise to identify emerging technologies, solve complex formulation and application challenges, establish product design requirements, and influence portfolio and technology-roadmap decisions. This role provides scientific leadership across functions and builds organizational capability through mentoring, coaching, and technical thought leadership. Job duties include contact with other employees and access confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised.
The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company’s staff, employees, and business relationships. This role is not hybrid and will be located at Sherwin-Williams Morikis Global Technology Center located at 6745 Miller Road, Brecksville, OH 44141.
• Lead highly complex new product development and platform-technology programs aligned with customer needs, market opportunities, portfolio strategy, and long-term growth objectives. • Serve as a recognized subject matter expert in coating chemistry, formulation science, application technology, and performance evaluation.
• Translate voice-of-customer, market, regulatory, sustainability, cost, and manufacturing requirements into clear technical strategies, product design criteria, and development plans. • Develop and execute scientific strategies that create differentiated products, strengthen the innovation pipeline, and position the organization for future growth opportunities.
• Identify and evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, raw material innovations, competitive developments, and external partnerships that may enable new products or accelerate development. • Lead cross-functional project teams through concept development, feasibility, formulation optimization, validation, scale-up, customer qualification, and commercialization.
• Design and direct complex experiments using scientific methodology, statistical analysis, design of experiments, and structured problem-solving tools to optimize performance and reduce technical risk. • Define technical milestones, identify project risks, recommend mitigation plans, and communicate progress and decisions to business and technical stakeholders.
• Influence product and technology roadmaps through technical assessments, opportunity evaluation, and strategic recommendations. • Develop new coatings and coating systems that meet customer performance, application, manufacturing, sustainability, and commercial requirements. • Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, Procurement, Regulatory, Marketing, Sales, and Technical Service to ensure products are robust, scalable, manufacturable, and ready for successful launch.
• Establish technical standards, best practices, and knowledge-transfer plans that support repeatable development, scale-up, commercialization, and post-launch learning. • Collaborate with customers, suppliers, academic instituti