R&D Process Development Engineer at Numat in Chicago, IL

Job description

• Title: R&D Process Development Engineer
• Location: Chicago, IL
• Compensation: Competitive salary and equity package
• Benefits include: Family Health, Dental, Vision; Flexible PTO, FSA Benefits, 401K Savings Plan, Paid Parental Leave, and Long-term Disability Insurance
• Reports to: R&D Director
• This is an early-career R&D role for an engineer who wants to learn how new materials become real products — by owning problems and solving them. You'll join our development group, working across both of our technology areas — fabrics and adsorbents — alongside the scientists and engineers building Numat's current and next-generation products.
• The work is experimental at its core. You'll design and run experiments and DOEs that reduce product and process variability, work out how process settings and raw-material variation drive each product's critical quality attributes (CQAs), and help carry our technology from lab and pilot scale toward robust, repeatable processes ready for commercial production.
• You'll work hands-on with our pilot and process equipment. Expect to design experiments, run the equipment, interpret the data, and build the technology transfer packages that carry your findings forward.

Responsibilities

• You will work on a varied set of instrumentation/projects and have a diverse set of responsibilities including:
• Design and run experiments that move the technology forward
• Plan, design, and execute experiments and DOEs that reduce product and process variability across fabrics and adsorbents.
• Develop and mature our processes from lab and pilot scale toward robust, repeatable commercial production; contribute to demonstration runs and process-capability assessment.
• Identify sources of variation, form and test hypotheses, and drive corrective and improvement actions.
• Analyze the data and turn it into clear conclusions — including how process settings and raw-material variation drive each product's critical quality attributes (CQAs): the few measurable properties that determine whether the product performs.
• Help define and hold the process windows and specifications that keep output consistent.
• Document processes and findings so they transfer cleanly out of R&D and into manufacturing.
• Run the pilot line equipment
• Support running Numat's pilot processing equipment — the pilot spunbond and pilot meltblown nonwoven lines and the lamination machine — including setup, development runs, changeovers, and routine adjustments.
• Support producing in-house nonwoven and laminated material on this equipment for current- and next-generation development.
• Cut, prepare, and condition swatches and test articles to defined, repeatable methods.
• Run our in-house performance proxy test; capture, record, and report results cleanly.
• Perform small-scale lamination property testing, and prepare and support material for pilot and external production runs.
• Manage samples, data, and inventory
• Prepare, document, and ship samples to external testing partners, and receive and reconcile samples coming back from external trials.
• Build and improve the workflows, data capture, and methods that make the group's development work faster and more repeatable.
• Enter test and run data accurately and on time so the engineers and technologists work from clean information.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in chemical, materials, or mechanical engineering, or a related physical science; recent graduate or early-career (~0–5 years).
• R&D experience highly preferred — an internship, co-op, or industry role in a research & development or product/process development environment, where you designed experiments and learned from the results.
• Demonstrated self-direction — clear evidence you've owned something end to end (an internship or capstone project, something you built, a problem you chased without being told to).
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with a working foundation in statistics, DOE, or data analysis.
• Genuine interest in hands-on experimental work — comfortable on the floor around process equipment, not only at a desk.
• A clear communicator who documents and organizes work well, with good judgment about when to decide and when to ask.
• Ability to walk or stand for prolonged periods; ability to bend, stoop, reach and lift up to 50 pounds.
• Exposure to any of: nonwovens, textiles, membranes, lamination, or coating; or particle/granulation, chemical synthesis, or adsorbent materials.
• Familiarity with DOE / data-analysis tools (e.g., Minitab, JMP, Python).
• Willingness to travel occasionally to external production and testing partners.

Skills

Required

• Hands-on experimental work
• Clear communication and documentation
• Good judgment