Sr. Product Development Engineer

Location

With a population of more than 77,000, Baytown, Texas, is located in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, just east of Houston, the nation's fourth largest city. Those who live and work in Baytown will find an area rich in history, as well as opportunities for outdoor activities due to its proximity to scenic waterways, namely Galveston Bay, the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou.

Founded in 1919, ExxonMobil's Baytown Complex is located on approximately 3,400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel, about 25 miles east of Houston. Employing a workforce of more than 8,500, it is comprised of four manufacturing sites, including one in nearby Mont Belvieu, and a global technology center. These include the Baytown Refinery, one of the largest refineries in the United States, and the Baytown Olefins Plant, one of the largest ethylene plants in the world.

Its scope of products includes fuels, lube oils, and chemical compounds used in a diverse range of products, from auto battery cases, diapers and tire inner tubes to pharmaceutical uses, food packaging, trash bags and more.
The Baytown area sites are highly integrated, which makes the plants and products more efficient as we develop technologies to make cleaner fuels and work together to operate more safely and reliably.

Learn more about what we do in Baytown here.

What role you will play in our team

Help grow our ProxximaTM polyolefin thermoset system business.  These resin formulations are based on cyclic C5 monomers and other proprietary monomers and additives. Our catalyst formulations have strong foundations in Nobel Prize-winning technology developed by Professor Robert Grubbs and his research team. This powerful combination produces polymers that have the capability to outperform today’s thermoset composite solutions across a broad set of everyday applications such as wind turbine blades, electric vehicle parts, construction, and anticorrosion coatings.

Your role is to develop new ProxximaTM polyolefin thermoset products exhibiting differentiated performance in target applications. Core to this role is the ability to develop structure-property relationships between additives (monomer, rubber, plasticizers, diluents, catalyst, formulations, processing, cure state, etc.)  and ultimate performance. This is a great chance to help shape the future of polyolefin thermosets and develop the governing understanding for product in a growing business.

Your office is at the Baytown Technology and Engineering Complex located in Baytown, Texas.  However, a significant part of your time will be spent collaborating with commercial colleagues located at the ExxonMobil Campus in Spring, Texas, as well as occasionally traveling in North America and internationally to support customer trials.

What you will do

• Develop fundamental understanding of polymer product relationships between molecular structure, processing, and properties aimed at developing new products and applications.

• Writing technical reports, white papers, articles for publication, collateral, and/or patents.

• Progress new projects to commercialization using rigorous stage / gate process.

• Provides expertise and consults for major troubleshooting and quality improvements of commercial operation at customers and Proxxima manufacturing sites.

• Support process development through product structure – property relationship development, seeking to optimize process/plant performance.

• Strong interface with the Business team, Process Engineering and Manufacturing groups.

• Identify and acquire capital equipment / technology required to scale-up products from laboratory / pilot scale to commercial applications.

About you

Minimum Skills and Qualifications

• Minimum B.S., preferably, M.S. or Ph.D. in Polymer Science, Materials Science, Chemistry, or Chemical Engineering 

• 5-10 yrs. industrial work experience developing polydicyclopentadiene (poly DCPD) thermoset formulations or similar high Tg thermosets

• Demonstrated expertise in statistics, analytical techniques and problem solving

• Proficient in use of computers and possess excellent administrative and organizational skills 

• Strong interpersonal, analytical and communication skills

• Must be hands on and willing to conduct own lab work with limited technician support

• Good team player and self-motivated

Preferred Qualifications / Experience

• Fundamental understanding of thermoset polymer structure-property relationships

• Fundamental understanding of performance enhancing additives such as rubbers and plasticizers 

• Fundamental understanding in polymerization reaction kinetics, particularly those related to ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) or general chain growth polymerization

• Knowledge of major thermoset markets and applications

• Knowledge of common thermoset processing and conversion technologies such as reaction injection molding, vacuum and high-pressure resin transfer molding, pultrusion, filament winding, and spray coatings

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• Good team player

• Knowledgeable of Intellectual property assessment/procurement

Your benefits

An ExxonMobil career is one designed to last. Our commitment to you runs deep: our employees grow personally and professionally, with benefits built on our core categories of health, security, finance, and life.

We offer you: 

• Pension Plan: Enrollment is automatic and at no cost to you. The basic benefit is a monthly annuity to be paid to you in retirement for the rest of your life. 

• Savings Plan: You can contribute between 6% and 20% of your pay and are encouraged to enroll right away. If you contribute at least 6% to your savings plan, the Company will contribute a 7% match. 

• Workplace Flexibility: We have several programs such as “Flex your Day”, providing ad-hoc flexibility around when and where you work, as well as longer-term programs such as leaves of absence and part-time work.

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans. 

• Culture of Health: Programs and resources to support your wellbeing. 

• Employee Health Advisory Program: Provides confidential professional counseling for you and your family, including tools and resources promoting mental health and resiliency at no additional cost to you. 

• Disability Plan: Income replacement for when you cannot work due to illness or injury occurring on or off the job. Enrollment is automatic and at no cost to you.

• More information on our Company’s benefits can be found at www.exxonmobilfamily.com

• Please note benefits may be changed from time to time without notice, subject to applicable law.

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