Manager, R&D

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOG), was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.  Apogee is a growing, profitable company with annual revenues approaching $1.5 billion.  We provide distinctive metal and glass solutions for enclosing commercial buildings, and glass and acrylic solutions for picture framing and display applications.  To Learn more visit www.apog.com

The Apogee Large Scale Optical segment has grown from $100M to $200M in revenue through a recent acquisition.  Our brands in the LSO portfolio develop and manufacture high-performance coated materials for a variety of applications, including wall décor, museums, graphic design, architectural interiors, digital display, and industrial flooring markets.  We are the global leader in anti-reflective, conservation grade electrostatic dissipative, high-definition, and abrasion resistance coatings, that provide protection, innovative designs, and exceptional durability.

Position Summary

RDC Coatings is a division of Apogee’s Large Scale Optical (LSO) business segment. It is where the technology for energy cured industrial coatings is developed and produced. What makes our coatings successful in not our size but our team’s passion for creating solutions where no one else can, it is how we win.

Our R&D team is an extension to our technical service and sales team bringing customized solutions to customer’s coatings line needs.

In this position the R&D manager will lead a group of six or more chemists and technicians with a hands-on approach while managing priorities in alignment with business growth goals.  The R&D manager will report directly to the division’s R&D Vice President.

R&D Manager Responsibilities: 

• Work closely with segment leadership to establish R&D goals and priorities.

• Manage and develop technical team with varying levels of experience and education

• Oversee NPI related process and content activity for the LSO segment.  Fine tune and execute against a stage gate process.

• Support the team in generating reports and discussing project status on technical learnings, coaching, trouble shooting, and root cause analysis.

• Initiate, drive, and support continuous improvement eliminating waste and variation in processes.

• Maintain a deep understanding of our coatings, processes, and capabilities.

• Develop and leverage strong relationships with industry partners and technology leaders to keep current on industry trends.

• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Technical Service to develop product specification documents.

• Help to develop and maintain electronic project documentation (TaskRay)

• Help to create a system to manage internal and external insights and information.

• Support and drive compliance to Apogee’s safety standards and initiatives

• Develop and manage department budget

• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time

Required Skills

• Previous experience with new product introduction (NPI) processes

• Hands-on solution-oriented leadership style with an entrepreneurial spirit and sense of urgency

• Demonstrated team leadership and development

• Excellent problem solving and root cause identification

• Demonstrated experience managing projects with a disciplined process across functional areas and delivering outcomes on time with expected results.

• Strong communication skills

• Experience with or knowledge of wet coating and application methods (for example:  roll, spray, dip, spin, etc.)

• Knowledge and experience with film characterization and surface analysis techniques

• Computer literacy with proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office and database information flow

• Budget and forecast management

Education and Experience: (minimum requirements)

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field (master’s preferred)

• Previous R&D experience in coating formulation

• 5 years of work experience in a technical area

Apogee and our brands are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.