Full job description

Job DescriptionAbout Us:

ITW Car Care is a division of Illinois Tool Works (ITW), specializing in automotive aftermarket products. The division offers a diverse portfolio of brands such as Rain-X wiper blades, visibility enhancing products, and water repellent treatments, including our 2-in-1 Glass Cleaner. Black Magic to support all your wheel and tire needs including Tire Wet.

Summary:

The ideal candidate will bring a blend of technical and formulation expertise in aftermarket car care product development and strategy. Under the technical collaboration and/or direction of an R&D Leadership, the candidate will develop multiple projects in a fast-paced innovative environment. They are responsible for research, development, technical evaluation and testing of the formulations. This position requires a creative individual with a passion for technical learning and curiosity. The Senior Lead Chemist will spend approximately 50% of their daily activity working at the lab bench to create new products and solve complex technical problems to support the ITW Global Brand’s business strategies.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Translates customer needs/consumer paint points into effective product designs and customer-driven innovation strategies by partnering with Marketing & Technical Service/Application Engineering.
• Identifies, plans, recommends and completes major technical programs leading to innovative applications or extensions of existing and new technologies that have significant impact on the organization.
• Collaborate with various raw material suppliers/cross functional teams to research, develop and create differentiated products and solutions using surfactants, silicone fluid and its derivatives, polymers, and solvents.
• Lead formula development & manage technical aspects of assigned projects within ITW’s stage-gate process in conjunction with a project manager.
• Clearly identify project goals, product design requirements, technical approach, test strategy, and conduct laboratory evaluations, comparison testing and issue final comprehensive reports.
• Conduct patent searches to monitor competitive innovations and generate intellectual property in own area of development in the form of patents, formulation know-how, and trade secrets.
• Support the scale-up of formulations from lab scale to mid- and full-size manufacturing batches. Coordinate and work with internal departments on the technology transfer for scale-up, and commercialization, and determine the appropriate design and product specifications to maximize ease of manufacturing and customer applications. Knowledge of ISO practice/requirements for manufacturing scaleups will be added advantage.
• Provide short- and long-term support for current products to maintain ITW’s reputation for quality and performance by qualifying alternative sources of raw materials and validating performance.
• Manage multiple projects/tasks independently and as part of a team and fully utilize analytical laboratory equipment.
• Understand, follow and stay abreast of important safety, health, environmental, quality and regulatory requirements affecting this industry.
• Minimal business travel required (< 10%)
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline; Master’s degree or higher preferred.
• 3–5 years of hands-on formulation and product development experience, preferably in consumer-packaged goods, automotive care, coatings, or related applied chemistry industries.

Additional qualifications to help you succeed in the role:

• Strong understanding of formulation chemistry, ideally including surfactants, silicones, polymers, solvents, or related functional systems.
• Experience in physical and chemical characterization of surfaces.
• Demonstrated ability to independently design and execute formulation experiments and interpret technical data.
• Experience with product performance testing, stability evaluation, and comparative benchmarking.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects in a dynamic, fast-paced R&D environment.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a structured, data-driven approach to technical decision-making.
• Effective collaborator with experience working in cross-functional, product development teams.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate technical results, insights, and recommendations to diverse stakeholders.
• High attention to detail, strong ownership mindset, and demonstrated ability to deliver consistent experimental execution.

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person