Plastics & Compounding Engineer

Job Description

About the Role

We recycle, blend, and compound plastic resins — primarily polypropylene — and sell the output to manufacturers who depend on consistent, spec-meeting material every time. The Plastics & Compounding Engineer is the technical backbone of that promise. You own our formulas and specifications, drive the cost of our products down without compromising what the customer requires, and develop new blends when a customer brings us a problem we have not solved before.

This is a cross-functional role with real ownership. You will work daily with quality, manufacturing, purchasing, and sales — not as a support function, but as the technical authority who connects raw material selection, formulation, and process execution to business outcomes. And you will spend real time on the production floor. If you are more comfortable in front of a spreadsheet than next to an extruder, this is not the right fit.

Responsibilities

Formula & Specification Ownership

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• Own all approved product formulas and specifications — maintain them, control changes to them, and ensure manufacturing is running what is written.
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• When a raw material source is lost or disrupted, find and qualify a replacement that maintains product performance and customer requirements; manage the transition without dropping a shipment.
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• Approve new formulations before they enter production; ensure every formula has a clear material spec, bill of materials, processing window, and release criteria.
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• Maintain technical documentation that is accurate, current, and usable on the floor — not just filed away.
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Cost Engineering

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• Continuously evaluate formulas for cost reduction opportunities — finding lower-cost raw material combinations that still meet the customer's performance requirements.
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• Work with purchasing to understand material availability, pricing, and sourcing options; translate that into actionable reformulation projects with clear ROI.
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• Balance cost, performance, and processability in every formulation decision — a cheaper formula that causes line problems or customer complaints is not a win.
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New Product Development

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• When a customer brings a requirement we have not met before, own the development process from concept to approved production formula — material selection, trial design, testing, scale-up, and documentation.
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• Work with sales to understand customer application requirements, processing conditions, and performance targets well enough to design the right solution the first time.
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• Plan and execute lab and production trials with clear objectives, documented results, and defined next steps every time.
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Manufacturing & Quality Partnership

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• Work with manufacturing to ensure formulas are being followed correctly and that the process is capable of producing them consistently.
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• When a raw material in a formula causes equipment problems — feeding issues, screen pack fouling, throughput loss, extrusion instability — own the troubleshooting and drive the solution, not just the diagnosis.
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• Partner with quality on test methods, release criteria, nonconforming material investigations, and customer complaints; be the technical voice in those conversations.
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• Analyze process and test data to identify root causes; implement corrective actions that stick and do not reopen.
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• Approve deviations from approved formulas or specifications when production conditions require it — assess the risk, document the decision, and ensure the deviation does not compromise customer requirements or product integrity.
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Equipment & Training

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• Evaluate new processing technology and testing capabilities; support commissioning and validation when assigned.
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• Train production, quality, and sales teams on polymer fundamentals, material handling, processing controls, and test interpretation.
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Qualifications

Required

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• Bachelor's degree in plastics engineering, polymer science, materials science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, or chemistry.
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• 3+ years of experience in plastics compounding, extrusion, formulation development, or a closely related manufacturing role.
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• Practical knowledge of polypropylene, polyethylene, recycled resins, and common additives — how they behave, how they fail, and how to reformulate around a problem.
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• Experience owning or maintaining product formulas or specifications in a production environment.
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• Ability to interpret and apply material test data: melt flow, density, moisture, ash content, color, tensile, flexural, and impact.
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• Strong root cause problem solving — disciplined trial planning, data-based decisions, and follow-through to implementation.
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• Comfortable on the production floor; willing to spend meaningful time at the equipment during trials, startups, and troubleshooting.
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Preferred

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• Experience with post-consumer, post-industrial, off-grade, or wide-specification recycled feedstocks.
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• Familiarity with compounding and extrusion equipment: screw design, die considerations, feeding and blending, pelletizing, and conveying.
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• Experience with cost-driven reformulation or raw material substitution projects.
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• Experience supporting customer technical service for extrusion or injection molding applications.
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• Statistical analysis, design of experiments, Lean, Six Sigma, or ISO-based quality systems.
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