Market Development Specialist

Overview

Title: Market Development Specialist
Location: Pasadena, TX

Who we are:

Kuraray America, Inc. (KAI) is a global leader in specialty chemical, fiber, and resin production with operations in 32 countries and more than 11,000 employees. Kuraray is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuraray Company, Ltd., based in Tokyo, Japan.

Why Kuraray:

Kuraray is building a better tomorrow, today. Our team members share values such as integrity, excellence, teamwork, and accountability, and benefit from competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for growth.

We are seeking a Market Development Specialist to drive the growth of EVAL and PLANTIC across the Americas within our Technical Service & Development (TS&D) organization. This hybrid role integrates polymer technical service, food science, and market development expertise. The Specialist will engage with brand owners to showcase the sustainable advantages of EVAL and PLANTIC, guiding them through the evaluation process to commercialization in innovative food packaging or other industrial applications.

Success requires a strong foundation in materials and polymer processing, flexible packaging structure development, food stability testing, and the ability to assess packaging performance—particularly in meeting or exceeding brand expectations for recyclable solutions compared to traditional, non-recyclable high-performance laminates. The primary objective is to identify new market opportunities, support product launches, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to advance innovation, sustainability, and growth, with a strong emphasis on food packaging.

Technical and Environmental Support

• Grow the value of EVAL and Plantic products by representing the company in industry associations, positioning them as strong solutions in various aspects of the circular economy.
• Collaborate with the marketing communications team to create appropriate commercial communications, targeted advertising, and other promotional tactics to position EVAL as the barrier leader in all segments.
• Coordinate the approvals of such public communications locally with the KAI EVAL leadership team and globally with the corresponding counterparts in Kuraray Japan.
• Conduct extrusion trials on pilot scale equipment to process EVOH in the form of film or cast samples.
• Execute manual or coordinate automatic form, seal, and fill packaging to test the performance of the elucidated prototypes.
• Interpretation of results regarding oxygen and moisture barrier, mechanical properties, and sealing curves.
• Generate application data, technical reports, and training materials for customers and internal stakeholders.

Market & Business Development

• Research global market trends, consumer demands, benchmark studies, recycling standards, and sustainability drivers.
• Support new product introductions with market analysis and application demonstrations in the form of customer presentations.
• Identify new market opportunities for EVAL and PLANTIC in food and pharma packaging as well as in industrial applications, with a focus on food packaging.
• Work closely with TS&D to develop solutions with Sales to close opportunities and with Marketing Communication teams to celebrate successes when pursuing new market opportunities.
• Collaborate with the value chain (brand owners, converters, processors, machine and resin suppliers, and food manufacturers) to develop case studies that demonstrate the value proposition of EVAL and PLANTIC.

Food Science & Innovation

• Design food stability experiments using EVAL and PLANTIC packaging technologies to demonstrate benefits compared to traditional packaging.
• Apply food science expertise to evaluate product aging and redesign packaging to optimize shelf-life performance and/or quality preservation.
• Report results of the food stability tests as tools for market development when facing customers or brand owners.

Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration

• Travel (30-40%) to customer and brand owner sites, conferences, and international meetings.
• Present technical findings, trial outcomes, and market insights to internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead projects through influence, collaborating with cross-functional multicultural teams including R&D, Sales, Marketing, and technical teams to drive commercialization.
• Contribute to product innovation, circular economy, and sustainability initiatives.
• Use data analysis tools to evaluate product performance, market impact, and customer or brand owner ROI.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Food Technology, Chemical Engineering, Polymer Science, Plastics Engineering, Materials Science, or Mechanical Engineering.
• Minimum of 7 years in packaging, food applications, or medical packaging sectors.
• Knowledge of plastic materials, converting processes (extrusion, lamination, printing), and food science.
• Fluent in English and Spanish.
• Experience with brand owners, converters, technical sales and/or technical…