Principal Scientist

GAF•Parsippany, NJ

About The Position

As the Principal Scientist, ISO R&D, you’ll collaborate with R&D technicians/technologists, R&D scientists, and operations leadership to carry out research and scale-up trials. Work with codes, procurement and marketing to ensure projects are aligned with business objectives and raw material costs are being managed appropriately. You’ll be responsible for providing formulation and recommended process settings to technicians for lab-scale work and manufacturing personnel for scale-up trials. Develop innovative new products for GAF, focusing on polyisocyanurate/polyurethane chemistry and additive technology, structure-property relationships, and assessing improvements/changes to the ISO panel construction that benefit roofing system performance. The Principal Scientist will be located in Parsippany, NJ but will travel to ISO manufacturing plants as needed. The successful candidate will be a productive hands-on, self-directed scientist with exceptional capabilities to deliver on technical and commercial requirements.

Requirements

Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.) Ph.D. Degree in Engineering, Applied or Physical Science with a minimum of 5 years relevant work experience.
Master’s degree MS Degree Engineering, Applied or Physical Science with a minimum of 8 years relevant work experience.
Bachelor’s Degree BS Degree Engineering, Applied or Physical Science with a minimum of 10 years relevant work experience.
H.S. Diploma or General Education Degree (GED) 25+ years related experience.
The incumbent is recognized within the company as a key and critical contributor, providing strategic technical direction for major projects in their area.
They are expected to provide some guidance to other technical areas beyond the assigned business unit.
The individual is the company expert for a key product/process, making major product line extensions or major process changes.
Develops significant new products to provide for long term business impact and growth.
Identifies and takes initiative to lead continuous improvement efforts.
Adds new product lines to existing platforms.
Contributions are patentable/trade secrets.
Develops and utilizes new to the company materials and processes.
Exercises judgment in selecting methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results.
Provides technical direction for major projects and programs that impact a key product area and technology advancement.
Required to work with key operations and marketing people to determine tactical objectives.
Self-directed within broad parameters; initiates projects within area of expertise, with approvals from other functional areas
Required to present project justifications to senior R&D management and to other functions.
May participate and present in external organizations and represent GAF.

Responsibilities

Must champion safety
Work with various functional groups, including Marketing, Sales, Manufacturing, Purchasing as well as other R&D scientists, to drive innovation and guide research project activities.
Lead the organization's development of key roofing product initiatives from concept, design, testing, manufacturing, and codes approvals to product launch.
Work closely with partner companies and key raw material suppliers to advance the development of products or processes.
Successfully use advanced material characterization techniques to establish structure-property relationships of materials and final product performance. This includes the use of techniques such as FTIR, ICP, Chromatography, DMA, DSC and Rheometry.
Develop significant new products to provide for long-term business impact and growth.
Establish correlations with the analytical data to the performance and durability of the finished product in order to reduce development time, establish quantitative performance benchmarks, and assure that products & systems will meet building code body and internal performance standards.
Manage technical business support for current products, including raw material qualification, benchmarking of competitive materials and product/system testing at external laboratories.
Represent GAF and lead technical committees at key industry meetings and technical conferences.
Publish technical reports and conduct presentations on key projects regularly.
Effectively coordinate and manage technicians in support of several simultaneous research programs.
Excellent planning, organizational, and documentation skills coupled with effective teamwork and communication skills.