Technical Lead, Raw Materials

When Alfred Fain founded a small Rhode Island tire store in 1924, at the time no one could have predicted how Teknor Apex would become an international custom compounder sought out by companies around the world. After a nearly hundred-year journey that’s carried us through acquisitions and expansion, we now have nine U.S. locations, as well as operations in Belgium, Singapore, Germany, and China.

Job Description

The Technical Lead, Raw Materials, leads technical execution of raw material initiatives in support of Teknor Apex’s raw material strategy across its plastics compounding businesses. This role manages a small technical team while directly driving high-impact projects to identify, evaluate, approve, and implement alternate and next-generation raw materials that improve cost, supply security, performance, compliance, safety, and sustainability. The position partners closely with Technical, Procurement, Manufacturing, Quality, Regulatory, EHS, Product Stewardship, and business teams to convert raw material opportunities into measurable business results.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical project pipelines for the evaluation and implementation of alternative, replacement, and next-generation raw materials across Teknor Apex’s compounding businesses.
• Directly manage high-impact raw material evaluation, qualification, approval, and implementation projects as a hands-on working manager.
• Lead, coach, and develop the raw materials technical team while setting priorities, providing technical guidance, and ensuring strong execution.
• Standardize and improve raw material evaluation protocols, specifications, testing plans, documentation, and manufacturing implementation processes.
• Review SDS, technical data sheets, supplier documentation, regulatory information, and related records to assess risk, suitability, and implementation requirements.
• Oversee laboratory testing, validate data quality, interpret results, and translate findings into clear recommendations for stakeholders and leadership.
• Partner with Procurement and suppliers to identify alternatives, reduce single-source risk, improve cost and quality, strengthen supply security, and advance innovation.
• Collaborate with R&D, Manufacturing, Quality, Regulatory, Product Stewardship, and EHS to ensure materials meet technical, operational, regulatory, environmental, and safety requirements.
• Manage raw material deactivation, consolidation, rationalization, specifications, project metrics, reporting, and leadership communication.
• Exercise assigned approval authority for vendors, quality-related raw material and product decisions, raw material development projects, direct reports’ technical reports, and direct reports’ expense reports.
• Stay current on new material technologies, relevant AI tools and methods, competitive activity, and intellectual property trends through supplier engagement, conferences, seminars, and trade shows, and guide evaluation or adoption where appropriate.
• This description is a summary of principal responsibilities and is not intended to include all duties that may be assigned.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong technical knowledge of polymers, plastics compounding, additives, fillers, elastomers, or related raw material technologies
• Good understanding of polymer structure–property–processing relationships and how raw material selection influences formulation performance, manufacturability, and end-use properties.
• Sound technical judgment with the ability to balance performance, cost, supply risk, compliance, safety, sustainability, and business impact.
• Ability to coach technical talent, set priorities, build accountability, and drive execution through a small team.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to interpret complex mechanical, physical, rheological, thermal, and analytical data used to characterize plastics and raw materials.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical findings into clear recommendations for cross-functional stakeholders and senior leadership.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and the ability to manage multiple priorities, timelines, stakeholders, and implementation risks.
• AI-Enabled Technical Problem Solving - Ability to lead the practical adoption of AI tools, models, and agents to accelerate technical brainstorming, improve problem-solving speed and accuracy, strengthen decision-making, and raise the team’s overall effectiveness.

Education and Work Experience Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in plastics, polymers, chemical manufacturing, compounding, materials engineering, product development, technical service, raw material management, or a related technical function preferred.
• Prior people leadership, project leadership, technical team leadership, or supervisory experience preferred.
• Bachelor's degree in Polymer Science, Materials Science, Polymer/Plastics Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.

This description is a summary of principal responsibilities and is not intended to include all duties that may be assigned.
Teknor Apex is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any protected status under state or federal laws. Must be 18 years of age or older to work at Teknor Apex