Senior R&D Product Development Manager

Job Description

The Senior R&D Product Development Manager leads multi-million-dollar programs from concept through commercialization, driving cross-functional integration and customer collaboration to accelerate material innovation. The role ensures strategic alignment of research initiatives with business growth objectives, balancing technical rigor with market impact across global teams and external partners.

Program Leadership & Governance:
Lead and govern multi-million-dollar R&D programs across global teams from concept through commercialization, ensuring compliance, risk mitigation, financial stewardship, and delivery of stage-gate milestones.

Innovation Pipeline & Portfolio Management:
Prioritize and advance high-value material development projects aligned to strategic growth objectives; shape portfolio decisions and resource allocation based on business value and technical feasibility.

Cross-functional Integration:
Collaborate with product development, engineering, manufacturing, and quality to accelerate scale-up, improve process capability, and optimize production efficiency. Leverage expertise and business background to execute deliverables to accelerate innovation and drive momentum.

Customer & Partner

Collaboration:

Serve as the primary R&D liaison for key customer accounts and external partners; drive joint development initiatives and oversee third-party laboratory trials (planning, raw material sourcing, and hands-on testing).

Stakeholder Engagement:
Provide clear, executive-ready updates on program status, risks, and milestones; influence strategic decisions through data-driven insights.

Vendor & Partner Management:
Build and manage relationships with suppliers, research institutions, and technology partners to enable innovation and de-risk development.

Continuous Improvement:
Enhance R&D processes, tools, and ways of working to improve speed, efficiency, and scalability across programs.

Key Qualifications

• Education:
  
  Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Marketing, or a related field (Master's or Ph.D. a plus).
• Experience:
  
  7+ years leading complex R&D programs from concept through commercialization, including experience in cross-functional integration and customer collaboration. Proven record of launching multiple successful new products.
• Stage-Gate Expertise (Required):
  Demonstrated application of Stage-Gate governance in R&D and commercialization, including planning, gate readiness, and milestone delivery.
• Program Management
  
  Skills:
  
  Ability to manage multi-million-dollar programs with strong governance, risk mitigation, financial acumen, and strategic prioritization.
• Technical Acumen:
  Strong understanding of material science and engineering principles, including scale-up and process optimization for commercialization.
• Leadership:
  Proven leadership and team management experience, with the ability to inspire, influence, and motivate cross-functional and geographically dispersed teams.
• Communication:
  Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex information clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Customer & Partner Engagement:
  Proven ability to build and maintain strategic relationships with key customers and external partners to drive joint development initiatives.
• Problem-Solving:
  Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to anticipate and resolve challenges in a dynamic research environment.
• Software Proficiency:
  Proficiency in project management and collaboration tools (MS Office, Teams) and data analysis platforms (Excel, Tableau, Sigma) for informed decision-making.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP or similar project management certification.
• Experience with Agile methodologies in R&D settings.
• Extensive experience with new product commercialization.
• Knowledge and experience driving projects using the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) methodology.
• Experience leveraging digital tools and data analytics to optimize R&D processes and portfolio decisions.

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 change maker, 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…