Job Summary
We are looking for a Senior Research Scientist to join our R&D team in Parsippany, NJ. You will work in a team focusing on developing innovative solutions for the roofing and waterproofing industry. This will include identifying development opportunities through market and customer insights, scaling and commercializing new products, as well as identifying new technologies relevant to business needs. The successful candidate will demonstrate proficiency in analysis, innovation and creative problem solving. Project assignments will be challenging, complex and demanding in nature and require a hands-on scientist to successfully execute multiple projects in parallel.
Essential Duties
- Plan and conduct research for the development and commercialization of new technologies and product concepts that provide differentiated performance in the marketplace
- Develop innovative solutions that enable improved performance, reduced cost and increased efficiency
- Be a key contributor within cross-functional teams across R&D, Marketing, Sales and Manufacturing to scale up quickly from the lab to commercial scale.
- Translate unmet customer needs into fitness-for-use criteria for specific applications and reduce these to fundamental material characteristics using knowledge of structure-property-processing relationships
- Maintain understanding and serve as a resource for internal and external customers on market specific product, process technology, external technical community trends and the competitive intellectual property.
- Provides technical support to Marketing, Manufacturing, Purchasing, and Sales.
- Ability to represent GAF and lead technical committees at key industry meetings and technical conferences.
- Produce timely project updates, develop presentations, and report out to internal and external stakeholders. Publish technical reports and conduct presentations on key projects regularly.
- Effectively coordinate and manage technicians in support of several simultaneous research programs.
- Mentor junior technical personnel
Qualifications Required
- Master’s degree Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemistry, or other relevant science discipline with 5 years of experience Required OR
- Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.) Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemistry, or other relevant science discipline with 3 years experience Preferred
- Minimum of 3 years of broad research experience in the formulation of industrial coatings, adhesives & polymer membranes/constructions with particular emphasis on:
- Lo-voc/100% solids chemistries & formulations (Urethanes, STP’s, 1&2K)
- Dry mix thermoplastic hot melts -maleic acid esters, tall oil or hydrocarbon based
- Methyl methacrylate (MMA)-based coating chemistries
- Capable of “end to end” technical development from concept to commercialization
- Proficiency in scaling up from the lab to pilot scale to full commercial process scale
- Expertise in use of design of experiment methodologies (DOE).
General Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Exercises judgment in selecting methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results.
- Strong critical thinking, strategic thinking, problem-solving, organizational and interpersonal skills
- Excellent planning, organizational and documentation skills coupled with effective teamwork and communication skills
- Experience managing staff technician(s)
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What We Do
GAF Energy is transforming the solar and roofing industries to generate energy from every roof. A Standard Industries company, GAF Energy works with North America’s largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer, GAF, to offer homeowners elegant, roof-integrated solar options through a national network of roofer partners. The company’s leading product, Timberline Solar™, incorporates the world’s first nailable solar shingle to create an attractive, durable, and reliable solar roof. GAF Energy’s products have received numerous awards and honors, including the Fast Company 2022 World Changing Ideas Award, the CES Best of Innovation Award, and a NAHB Best of IBS Award. GAF Energy develops and assembles its products at its R&D and manufacturing facility in San Jose, California.








