Development Chemist

Overview

In this hands-on role you will develop and improve automotive coating products, from formulations through to production support. You’ll work across the full development cycle, conducting lab tests, trials, and scale-up while ensuring quality and regulatory alignment. The position sits in a small, specialist team focused on primers, basecoats and clearcoats for automotive applications. You’ll collaborate with production and customers to translate lab work into market-ready solutions, making a tangible impact on product performance and customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities

• Formulate and develop automotive coatings and related products.
• Modify formulations to meet specifications and performance targets.
• Select and evaluate raw materials and assess their impact on stability and performance.
• Conduct lab testing, evaluation, and performance testing.
• Carry out stability checks and quality assurance for consistency.
• Develop and validate test methods aligned with customer and regulatory requirements.
• Apply coatings and assess performance under various conditions.
• Perform lab and customer-site product trials.
• Investigate issues and support technical problem solving.
• Prepare technical reports and development documentation.
• Support transfer of new formulations to production and provide technical support during scale-up.
• Collaborate with production, customers, and other technical teams to implement improvements.
• Ensure compliance with health, safety, quality, and regulatory standards.
• Stay updated on industry standards and technical developments.

Key requirements

• Degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or related discipline.
• Experience or strong understanding of coatings technology and product development.
• Practical laboratory experience in formulation, testing or development.
• Strong attention to detail and methodical testing approach.
• Ability to interpret technical data and produce clear documentation.
• Good communication skills and ability to work with production teams and customers.
• Hands-on across the full product development process.

• Practical and hands-on
• Problem solving orientation
• Attention to detail
• Coatings formulation
• Laboratory testing and performance evaluation
• Product development and scale-up

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