Senior Chemist

For more than 65 years, Dober has built practical, high-impact chemistry, software, and automation solutions by starting with the customer's problem, not a product on a shelf. Our team develops advanced coolant and heat transfer chemistries that protect everything from heavy-duty engines to the precision cooling loops inside today's data centers, alongside water treatment, agronomy, and laundry technology platforms (including our Spindle software and robotics division) that help customers run smarter and more sustainably.

That problem-first mindset is why global OEMs, blenders, and technical teams turn to us when the questions get hard, and it's part of why Dober was named a Crain's 2025 Best Place to Work in Chicago. Here, curious, hands-on scientists and engineers get real ownership of the problems they solve and the customers they support.

Dober is seeking a Coolant/Corrosion & Scale Chemist to join our laboratory team as we continue to expand our product line and expertise on coolant chemistry, corrosion inhibition, and heat transfer fluid performance.

This role owns the deep technical knowledge behind Dober's global coolant additives portfolio and supports the company's growing position in data center and advanced thermal management applications. It is both an expert bench-and-field scientist role and a trusted technical resource for customers, partners, and internal commercial and manufacturing teams.

The ideal candidate combines a strong foundation in corrosion science and inhibitor formulation chemistry with hands-on experience in glycol-based heat transfer fluids. We recognize that deep expertise in heavy-duty engine cooling and deep expertise in data center / precision cooling rarely reside in the same person; the priority is a scientist who understands the shared fundamentals
-corrosion, inhibitor chemistry, materials compatibility, and fluid testing - well enough to lead confidently in one domain and grow into the other.

• Serve as the company's technical authority on corrosion mechanisms: galvanic, crevice, pitting, cavitation, and concentration-cell corrosion across the mixed-metal systems found in coolant and heat transfer applications.
• Partner with R&D team on advancing chemistry across OAT, NOAT, HOAT, and inorganic (IAT) packages: formulation, performance evaluation, failure-mode analysis, and technology selection based on system metallurgy, fluid-life requirements, and customer specifications.
• Participate in laboratory testing of coolant performance across the full parameter set: freeze/boil protection, corrosion inhibition, pH and reserve alkalinity, conductivity, thermal stability, microbial stability, and materials compatibility.
• Evaluate raw materials and formulation components - organic acids, carboxylates, silicates, nitrites, phosphates, hybrid blends, biocides, and dyes - for performance, compatibility, and regulatory suitability.
• Interpret and apply industry test methods and standards, including ASTM corrosion and coolant methods (e.g., D1384, D3306, D6210, D8040), reserve alkalinity (D1121).

• Act as the technical escalation point for the coolant additives for customers and internal teams turn to when questions require genuine application depth.
• Provide authoritative, application-specific technical support to global coolant blenders and OEM accounts, reinforcing Dober's institutional knowledge advantage in heavy-duty and conventional coolant markets.
• Investigate and resolve field performance concerns, contamination events, and product quality issues with documented root-cause analysis and corrective action.

• Evaluate, and support inhibited water-glycol heat transfer fluids for direct-to-chip (DTC) liquid cooling, facility cooling loops, and HVAC applications, using ethylene glycol and propylene glycol systems.
• Apply corrosion and inhibitor expertise to precision cooling requirements: high-purity / deionized makeup water, chloride and sulfate control, pH buffering, cold-plate and quick-disconnect material compatibility, microbial control, and re-inhibition over long service life.
• Support technical evaluation and product positioning against thermal-performance and corrosion criteria relevant to mission-critical cooling loops.

• Support scale-up, production trials, batch manufacturing root-cause…