Technical Manager, Vinyl

When Alfred Fain founded a small Rhode Island tire store in 1924, at the time no one could have predicted how Teknor Apex would become an international custom compo under sought out by companies around the world. After a nearly hundred-year journey that’s carried us through acquisitions and expansion, we now have nine U.S. locations, as well as operations in Belgium, Singapore, Germany, and China.

Throughout this global expansion Teknor has remained a privately held company, and today Fain’s grandson sits at the helm, maintaining the family’s tradition of fostering deep employee and customer relationships. These relationships are what allow us—together—to deliver customized compound solutions and help our customer’s create better products.

“Manufacturing is a team sport and we work together to achieve our goals.” ~Jon Fain

This role leads the technical engine for the Vinyl business segment, bringing together core R&D, product development, technical service, process support, and customer support to deliver business results. As a member of the business team, this leader sets technical priorities, aligns department goals with business strategy, and ensures resources are focused on the work that matters most. The role provides clear direction to technical teams, supports customers through complex issues, and drives product development from concept through scale‑up and manufacturing.

Success requires strong ownership, sound judgment, and the ability to solve technically complex problems while keeping safety, quality, budget, regulatory needs, and business impact in focus.

• Represent Technical function on the business team, partnering with the Business Manager to align technical priorities with strategic goals of vinyl business and foster strong relationships with strategic customers, suppliers, and other external partners.
• Lead Product development, technical service, and core R&D activities by setting clear objectives, priorities, and expectations for execution, collaboration, and performance.
• Direct team activities to ensure product development, technical service, and core R&D work is completed on time and deliver measurable business impact.
• Lead resolution of complex customer technical issues by challenging chosen pathways and applying strong judgment, analytical thinking, and cross‑functional collaboration; create or adapt policies, procedures, and precedents when complex problems require new solutions.
• Coordinate product scale‑up and ensure new products are ready for effective, reliable manufacturing.
• Establish, maintain, and use systems and dashboards to track and analyze technical performance indicators, identify trends and gaps, and implement improvements that strengthen capability, responsiveness, and reliability.
• Stay current on exploration of new material technologies, relevant AI tools and methods, emerging applications and processes, competitive activity, and intellectual property trends; use those insights to identify practical opportunities for innovation, technical problem‑solving, and business growth.
• Manage, coach, and develop department employees, ensure fair and consistent people practices, including performance evaluations, promotions, salary adjustments, hiring support, disciplinary actions, project assignments, and day‑to‑day accountability.
• Partner closely with Regulatory to manage product safety and regulatory issues, while supporting intellectual property management for the business segment.
• Ensure company safety procedures are followed and own budget responsibilities for the department.
• Identify and plan department resources, including personnel, equipment capabilities, and support needed to meet business and technical goals.
• Communicate timely,…