Sealed Air designs and delivers packaging solutions that protect essential goods transported worldwide, preserve food, enable e-commerce and digital connectivity, and help create a global supply chain that is touchless, safer, less wasteful, and more resilient. We strive to foster a caring, high-performance growth culture that will deliver consistent, sustainable profitable growth and accelerate our performance – a culture where accountability is clear and aligned, and where we reward business outcomes and impact. That culture guides everything we do, including how we partner with our customers and suppliers, how we attract and retain top talent, and how we create and deliver value for our stakeholders. In 2024, Sealed Air generated $5.4 billion in revenue and had approximately 16,400 employees distributing products and services to 117 countries/territories around the world.
Reporting to the Research and Development (R&D) Director for Retail Solutions Development the individual is responsible for driving the R&D mission which includes the development and timely delivery of innovative, sustainable, robust, and cost-effective product solutions in alignment with the corporate strategy. In this role you will drive and execute new product development for Rollstock and Case Ready food packaging applications via innovative polymer/material formulations. In collaboration with multiple other functions and using expertise in processing and polymer structure-property you will incorporate product features in the design to maximize customer and end-user utility.
• Design and execute formulation and processing trials (lab, pilot, and production scale), alignment with other functions for testing, communication with the appropriate operational personnel, and presenting results to project teams and management. • Effectively lead cross-functional teams of technicians and engineers throughout product development lifecycle. Manage trial logistics and budgets. • Support Business, Supply chain and Quality teams to resolve quality issues, and other business maintenance activities. • Identify and pursue potential IP opportunities. • Develop and leverage external partnerships (materials suppliers, OEMs, universities) to monitor the state of the art and use these relationships to drive innovation. • Monitor competitive and regulatory landscape and make proactive recommendations to stay ahead of the curve. • Discover and explore new business, unmet market needs, and technology opportunities in partnership with Business teams, technical experts, and leadership. • Partner with project management team for monthly reporting, project expense tracking, timeline development and adherence. • Incorporate principles of Design for Manufacturing into new product development & transition new product and process technology to the Supply Chain organization in a timely and collaborative fashion. • Collaborate and communicate effectively in a cross functional organization on innovation projects. Use strong presentation skills to present technical information to audiences with diverse backgrounds and connect technical concepts to business outcomes.
• BSc or MSc in Chemical Engineering, Polymer Science & Engineering, or Materials Engineering, • 5+ years of Industrial and/or research and development experience in polymer processing, development of polymeric materials or plastic formulations.
Additional Qualifications • Good understanding of structure-process-performance relation of polymeric materials (especially thermoplastics) and working understanding of polymer processing (extrusion, flexographic printing process and material…) • Strong presentation and communication skills, including the ability to break down technical concepts for a non-technical audience • Evidence of good judgment and decision-making skills, • Creative and Resourceful, pulls together the necessary tools, equipment and people, to get the job done • Flexible to travel domestically and internationally, at least 20%