Director R&D - Discovery & Innovation

DESCRIPTION

Driven by a commitment to research, quality, and service, PDI provides innovative products, educational resources, training, and support to prevent infection transmission and promote health and wellness. Encompassing three areas, our Healthcare, Sani Professional and Contract manufacturing divisions, we develop, manufacture, and distribute leading edge products for North America and the world. We have several locations across the US and are looking for new Associates to join our team!

The R&D Director, Discovery & Innovation is responsible for building and leading PDI's future-facing innovation engine. This role identifies, sources, evaluates, and accelerates early-stage technologies, materials, platforms, academic research collaborations, and supplier-driven innovations that feed the long‑term R&D pipeline.

This leader drives external innovation engagement, emerging technology scouting, academic and institutional partnership development, and platform exploration to create a robust pipeline of differentiated scalable opportunities aligned to PDI's strategic growth priorities.

The R&D Director also supports downstream product development projects by providing specialized technical capabilities, external expertise, and access to advanced research partners when unique scientific or technology needs arise.

The R&D Director serves as the architect of upstream innovation, translating insights, foresight, academic and industry partnerships, and external collaborations into validated concepts and feasibility programs that can transition effectively into Product Development Delivery.

This role is accountable for creating a sustainable and repeatable discovery and early innovation model that strengthens PDI's long‑term competitive advantage.

• Build and maintain a strong external innovation ecosystem including suppliers, startups, academic institutions, and technology partners
• Identify emerging technologies, materials, and platforms with potential application to PDI products and markets
• Establish strategic supplier, partner, and academic research relationships that provide early access to differentiated technologies
• Lead technology landscaping and external benchmarking to identify white space opportunities

• Translate external technologies and insights into structured, platform‑aligned innovation concepts
• Lead early‑stage feasibility programs to evaluate technical viability, scalability, risk, and potential value
• Develop proof‑of‑concept prototypes and learning plans that reduce uncertainty before formal product development
• Ensure strong technical and commercial rationale for concepts entering the R&D pipeline
• Lead and deploy Discovery & Innovation team capabilities to support product development projects when specialized expertise or advanced external resources are required.

• Lead and manage external Requests for Proposals (RFPs), from opportunity definition through proposal evaluation, to accelerate exploration of new technologies and solution pathways.
• Partner with suppliers, academic groups, and external developers to deliver early prototypes and demonstrators
• Ensure structured evaluation, learning capture, and decision‑making from externally driven innovation programs

• Lead trend analysis and foresight activities across science, technology, regulation, and customer needs
• Translate macro trends and market signals into actionable innovation opportunity areas
• Develop opportunity maps and innovation themes that guide strategic R&D focus areas

• Establish governance processes for early‑stage innovation projects, including stage gates and decision criteria
• Define, implement, and actively track innovation pipeline health metrics, feasibility cycle times, and concept conversion rates, providing handson analysis and leadership oversight to drive timely, databased decisions.
• Ensure disciplined execution and documentation to support downstream…