Senior Manager, Product Development

Company Overview Why Choose Us?

Novolex is a leading manufacturer of food, beverage, and specialty packaging that supports multiple industries including food service, restaurant delivery and carryout, food processing, grocery and retail, and industrial sectors. Novolex manufacturing and sourcing expertise spans a diverse range of substrates including resin, paper, molded fiber, aluminum and more. We provide customers a broad array of stock and customized solutions with 120 product categories, 250 brands and over 39,000 SKUs.

The Novolex sustainability vision is built upon three pillars: our products, our operations and our people. Each is critically important to our growth and future as a business. These pillars form the foundation of our company-wide commitment to sustainability, helping us achieve our ambitious goals through our wide-ranging initiatives.

The Product Development Engineer for Industrial Flexible Films leads the design, development, and commercialization of blown polyethylene film products serving industrial applications. This role owns the technical work from concept through scale-up, translating customer and market needs into manufacturable film structures, driving performance and cost improvements on existing products, and advancing sustainability goals through PCR integration and mono-material recyclable designs. The engineer works hands‑on at lab, pilot, and commercial scale, and partners closely with Product Management, Operations, Quality, Procurement, and Sales to bring robust products to market on time and within cost targets.

This is a remote position with travel requirements, ideal candidates would be west‑coast based due to sites being supported within this role.

Product & Process Development

• Develop new and improved blown film products for industrial applications (e.g., stretch hood, shrink film, heavy‑duty FFS sacks, lamination and converting films, agricultural and construction films).
• Design multilayer coextruded film structures, including resin and additive selection, layer architecture, and gauge optimization to meet mechanical, optical, and sealing requirements.
• Develop and optimize blown film extrusion processes; establish and document operating windows, and lead scale‑up from lab/pilot to commercial lines.
• Lead down gauging and cost‑out programs that preserve or improve performance (puncture, dart, tear, tensile, elongation, holding force, seal integrity).

Sustainability & Innovation

• Integrate post‑consumer recycled (PCR) content into industrial film structures while maintaining performance and processability.
• Advance mono‑material PE designs and design‑for‑recyclability in line with recognized protocols (e.g., APR / Recy Class).
• Evaluate emerging resins, additives, and film technologies for application fit and competitive advantage.

Testing & Characterization

• Define test plans and interpret results across mechanical, optical, thermal, and sealing properties.
• Apply structure–property relationships and polymer rheology to diagnose issues and guide formulation and process decisions.
• Use Design of Experiments (DOE) and statistical methods to drive efficient, data‑based development.

Commercialization & Customer Support

• Run trials at internal sites and customer/converter locations; support form‑fill‑seal, slitting, printing, and lamination processes.
• Provide technical support to Sales and customers, including troubleshooting field performance.
• Manage projects through the stage‑gate process, with clear documentation, timelines, and cross‑functional alignment.

Cross‑Functional & Documentation

• Partner with Product Management on product roadmaps, specifications, and business cases.
• Collaborate with Operations and Quality on manufacturability, specifications, and qualification.
• Maintain thorough technical records; contribute to IP, specifications, and knowledge capture.

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Polymer/Plastics Engineering, Materials Science, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in polyethylene film extrusion, flexible packaging, or converting [adjust…