Senior Innovation Engineer

Klöckner Pentaplast

1d•Onsite

About The Position

kp is currently looking for a Senior Innovation Engineer at our Pharma, Health & Durables Site in Charlottesville, VA who will be responsible for conceptualizing, developing, validating technically and commercially feasible high barrier sustainable packaging solutions for pharmaceutical and medical devices for global markets. The position will align with kp’s short and long term strategic goals and work with internal and external stakeholders to design and develop packaging solutions by collaborating with global innovation and cross functional teams.

Requirements

Masters degree in Polymer/Chemical/Plastics Engineering, min 8 years of relevant professional experience
In depth working knowledge of polymers such as but not limited to PE,PET,PP, PETG, PCTFE, PVC, PVDC
Hand on experience on various polymer processing techniques such as single screw/twin screw extrusion, calendaring, coating and lamination
Subject matter expertise on structure property relationship of different polymers.
Working knowledge of various additives for polymers such as anti oxidants, nucleating agents, anti static agents, colorants etc.
Working knowledge of films providing oxygen and moisture barrier for protection of sensitive product such as pharma solid/liquid oral dosage.
Domain knowledge of sterilizable medical device packaging films using various sterilizable techniques such as gamma, E Beam, EtO etc.
Hands-on experience on extrusion/lamination/coating processes
Good understanding of various analytical techniques such as FTIR, DSC, TGA, DMA, Microscopy
Good understanding of various instruments such as tensile tester, impact tester, rapid prototyping.
Proficient in Microsoft Office – Ability to Enter and Interpret Data in Excel and Write Project Reports in Word, make presentations using powerpoint.
Ability to communicate clearly and timely with both internal and external stakeholders
Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
Ability to independently engage with customers, suppliers and internal stakeholders.
Ability to efficiently handle multiple projects at the same time.
Ability to write succinct technical reports
Ability to anticipate constraints and risks, design work arounds and countermeasures to achieve project objectives
Willingness to travel occasionally for customer support, project support or training.

Nice To Haves

Background in Pharma/Medical Device Packaging a plus, incl. an understanding of regulatory norms for pharma and medical devices.

Responsibilities

Understand market/customer requirements to design, develop and validate high barrier sustainable packaging solutions for pharma and medical device products.
Construct design brief in close coordination with sales, product line management, quality, manufacturing and regulatory to define product CTQs and CTPs
Lead packaging development projects from concept to commercialization using kp’s stage gate process and present stage gate updates to peers and kp’s senior leadership team
Work in close collaboration with global innovation team members to develop kp’s short and long term strategic platform solutions.
Develop packaging solutions which meet with global pharma and medical device regulatory requirements.
Work with kp’s external partners to develop open innovation and joint solutions that meet with customer and market expectations.
Use quality by design (QBD) methodologies to develop robust solutions which would meet with pre-defined critical to quality (CTQ’s) and critical to process (CTP’s).
Write timely and detailed but succinct reports to bring out the project goals, actions, observations and next steps
Domain expertise in pharma packaging/medical packaging
Demonstrated ability to work with process and production engineers to understand & solve real time operational challenges during product development
Demonstrated ability to use analytical techniques such as but not limited to – DSC. TGA, FTIR
Partner with material & technology providers to drive new innovations
Liase with legal/patent attorneys to develop/evaluate IP/Freedom to Operate
Monitor and drive product safety through regulatory compliances for all new products – familiarity with CONEG, PROP 65, USFDA, EC/EU, REACH etc…