EMEA Sustainability Development Program Associate

Location: Heerlen/Geleen, Netherlands.
 

Program start date: 1 October 2026
 

As part of our European 24-month program, you will have the opportunity to gain a wide breadth of exposure and experience across our key Business Units. In addition, you will continue to grow and develop your career through on-the-job and formal training, coaching and mentoring. At the end of the program, you will be placed in an engineering role that suits your strengths as you kick start your career with Avient.

Besides the on job and formal training, we offer you a long-term career path into a performing and rewarding workplace, teambuilding and network activities and a culture of values focused on Collaboration, Innovation and Excellence.

You will navigate into our rotational assignments in:
 

• Operations: 
  o    You will take on a Junior Improvement Engineer role with a deep introduction to the production environment and you will gain a solid understanding of production processes. As part of an interdisciplinary project team you will contribute to an improvement project focused on waste reduction, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction. 
• Sustainability:
  o    You will follow the Avient Protective Materials Sustainability Team where you will build a strong understanding of different emission scopes. You will work with mapping downstream emissions for different technology options. You will work closely across functions such as operations, innovation and sales to assess how reuse and recycling technologies impact greenhouse gas emissions along the value chain. 
• Sustainability abroad:
  o    You will follow the Avient Colorants Sustainability Team in Pogliano, Italy to gain experience with Product Carbon Footprint calculations, methodology and certification as well as Life Cycle Analysis. It provides valuable hands-on experience with different processes, technologies and ways of working while encouraging cultural and cross-functional understanding. The insights and best practices gained can then be transferred back and add value in the future role.

Selection process:
 

• Initial phone screens will take place between 1st April – 30th April 2026
• Recruitment Events take place between 18th May – 1st July 2026

Program start and end:
 

• Start date 1st October 2026 in Heerlen/Geelen, Netherlands. 
• The Program will end in 2028 in Heerlen/Geelen, Netherlands. 

• Bachelor’s or Master degree in Environmental Engineering or Engineering. 
• Fresh graduate or up to 2 years of experience including internship or student assignments.
• Desire to learn and make a difference into the Polymer/Chemical Industry. 
• Good spoken and written communication skills.
• Good active listening skills.
• Ability to work independently and within a team environment.
• Languages: English and Dutch fluent.
• EU Category B Driving License.

Our purpose at Avient Corporation is to be an innovator of materials solutions that help our customers succeed, while enabling a sustainable world.

Innovation goes far beyond materials science; it’s powered by the passion, creativity, and diverse expertise of 9,000 professionals worldwide. Whether you’re a finance wizard, a tech enthusiast, an operational powerhouse, an HR changemaker, or a trailblazer in materials development, you’ll find your place at Avient.

Join our global team and help shape the future with sustainable solutions that transform possibilities into realities. Your unique perspective could be the key to our next breakthrough!

We believe that all of our global employees are leaders and that the six most important behaviors for driving our strategy and culture are the same no matter if an employee is a leader of self, a leader of others, or a leader of the business.

By playing to win, acting customer centric, driving innovation and profitable growth, collaborating seamlessly across Avient, and motivating and inspiring and developing others and yourself you will accelerate your ability to achieve Avient’s strategic goals, to meet our customer needs, and to accomplish your career goals.

At Avient, we believe a wide variety of thoughts, ideas and backgrounds gives us the creativity to be successful in a rapidly changing world.  In support of this, we stress equality of opportunity for all qualified individuals in accordance with applicable laws. Decisions on hiring, promotion, development, compensation or advancement are based solely on a person’s qualifications, abilities, experience and performance.