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Development Engineer
NC - Charlotte
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Opportunity Snapshot
This position offers you the opportunity to expand your technical expertise and learn state of the art technologies as you drive new specialty thermoplastic polymer products through commercialization and launch. We take a proactive approach to helping our people develop professionally, and your success in this role could set you up to pursue multiple career paths in our organization. While other manufacturing sectors are contracting, we're on a "rising tide" -- Polypore International, our parent corporation, posted sales of $310.0 million for the first six months of 2008, up 19% from the same period last year -- and as the tide rises, so does the whole boat and everyone on board.
You'll combine your product and process development savvy in managing projects, both coordinating among multiple participants and making hands-on contributions yourself. To be a good fit for this opportunity you will have working knowledge of both mechanical and chemical engineering as well as industrial and/or military experience with thermal plastics (polypropylene, polyethylene). You'll need strong decision making skills and a demonstrated ability to produce hard deliverables against a timeline, whether the projects were internal or external. We're looking for a professional who relishes getting up each morning and taking on the day's challenges in order to move the project to the next level.
Celgard is a recognized global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing battery separators that are used in high performance lithium battery markets. Celgard battery separators are polypropylene and/or polyethylene electrolytic membranes that offer excellent product uniformity, strength, chemical stability, and energy performance. We have posted double-digit growth year over year for the past several years. We have aggressive strategic plans to double sales, revenue, and our bottom line over the next five years, backed by strong cash flow and a highly profitable business model.
What Else You'll Bring to the Table
In addition to the qualifications detailed above, you'll need:
A master's in Engineering or Engineering Technology; at the same time, we also will consider candidates with a bachelor's degree as long as they also have significant, relevant experience.
Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills.
A demonstrated ability to lead a multi-discipline team.
Strong problem solving fundamentals.
A goal oriented, results driven approach.
The ability to represent the company in negotiations with vendors.
Preferred but not required:
Experience in plastics film or web manufacturing.
ISO experience.
Relationships with blown film and web handling equipment suppliers.
Experience with computer modeling.
An international background.
You also will need to be willing and able to travel domestically and internationally about 10% of the time. International travel primarily will be to China, Japan, and Korea.
What's in It for You
No slowing here -- Celgard and Polypore International, Inc, our $537 million parent corporation, continue to grow, as our product line is used in a diverse number of applications (many in growth markets) including laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, medical devices, and various military applications. In addition:
In May 2008 we acquired a new technology along with production facilities in Korea, so that we now have the broadest portfolio in our industry.
The emerging market for technology related to electric and hybrid vehicles will only accelerate our growth over the next five to ten years.
Across our organization we are investing in process and infrastructure improvements to support our growth, such as expanding our Charlotte facility by 110,000 square feet and implementing an entirely new ERP.
Career development -- Celgard dynamically stewards its resources, particularly our most important resource: our people. Because of our unique market niches and proprietary technologies, we prefer to promote from within whenever possible. In fact, this position is open because the incumbent has been promoted (that individual will help transition current projects to you). Assuming you deliver results, we'll support you in your career aspirations within Celgard and Polypore.
High impact -- other companies may be satisfied with tweaking an existing line for individual customers, but we are proactive about strategically developing new products and product improvements. You'll work with a high performance development team that is motivated to deliver.
Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive salary and bonus incentive program, we offer a comprehensive benefits package.
More About Your Role
If you're a good fit for this position, you already know most of what this job entails. However, to be sure we're providing a complete picture, here are some details.
Reporting to the Business Manager, you will provide direction to a mechanical design resource who will support you with design, problem solving, fabrication, and more. We follow a four-phase development program -- discovery, validation, commercialization, and launch -- and your mission will be to drive projects through the final two phases. At any given time you'll be managing two or three projects, and projects can be as short as 3 months or as long as 30 months.
One of your first objectives will be to get up to speed on our technologies, which span polymer chemistry as well as both mechanical and chemical engineering. With that under your belt, you'll lead multi-discipline teams to achieve aggressive timelines. This will include establishing deliverables and schedules, and then keeping the process moving forward.
This is a broad role, but it boils down to one key thing: getting things done, whether you do it yourself or coordinate with others. We are very much a matrixed organization, and pivotal to your success will be your ability to take advantage of the broad resources available, enabling others to make significant contributions but ensuring that it all comes together. For example, in the morning you may spend time in the machine shop grinding out a widget and then in the afternoon sit down with a chemist to address temperature issues and control.
Keys to Success
To excel in this role you will be strongly goal oriented and motivated to get the job done, including making solid decisions even when all the information is not available, and occasionally investing some evening or weekend hours. Because we are an international corporation, you'll need to leverage your communication abilities to bridge cultural differences.
If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the minimum qualifications, we want to hear from you!
Who We Are
Proprietary Celgard trilayer membranes are a leading industry standard in rechargeable lithium battery applications. They are typically used in electronic applications such as notebook computers, cellular telephones, digital cameras, and other high performance devices.
In addition, Celgard is the global leader in supplying battery separators for disposable lithium batteries used in photographic equipment, medical devices, and various military applications. Other energy storage technologies that use Celgard battery separators include vented nickel-cadmium aircraft batteries, zinc-air hearing aid batteries, and supercapacitors.
Celgard is part of Polypore International, Inc, a global high technology filtration company specializing in microporous membranes. Polypore's flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes are used in specialized applications that require the removal or separation of various materials from liquids, primarily in the ultrafiltration and microfiltration markets. Based in Charlotte, NC, Polypore International, Inc has manufacturing facilities or sales offices in nine countries serving six continents.
Opportunity Snapshot
This position offers you the opportunity to expand your technical expertise and learn state of the art technologies as you drive new specialty thermoplastic polymer products through commercialization and launch. We take a proactive approach to helping our people develop professionally, and your success in this role could set you up to pursue multiple career paths in our organization. While other manufacturing sectors are contracting, we're on a "rising tide" -- Polypore International, our parent corporation, posted sales of $310.0 million for the first six months of 2008, up 19% from the same period last year -- and as the tide rises, so does the whole boat and everyone on board.
You'll combine your product and process development savvy in managing projects, both coordinating among multiple participants and making hands-on contributions yourself. To be a good fit for this opportunity you will have working knowledge of both mechanical and chemical engineering as well as industrial and/or military experience with thermal plastics (polypropylene, polyethylene). You'll need strong decision making skills and a demonstrated ability to produce hard deliverables against a timeline, whether the projects were internal or external. We're looking for a professional who relishes getting up each morning and taking on the day's challenges in order to move the project to the next level.
Celgard is a recognized global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing battery separators that are used in high performance lithium battery markets. Celgard battery separators are polypropylene and/or polyethylene electrolytic membranes that offer excellent product uniformity, strength, chemical stability, and energy performance. We have posted double-digit growth year over year for the past several years. We have aggressive strategic plans to double sales, revenue, and our bottom line over the next five years, backed by strong cash flow and a highly profitable business model.
What Else You'll Bring to the Table
In addition to the qualifications detailed above, you'll need:
A master's in Engineering or Engineering Technology; at the same time, we also will consider candidates with a bachelor's degree as long as they also have significant, relevant experience.
Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills.
A demonstrated ability to lead a multi-discipline team.
Strong problem solving fundamentals.
A goal oriented, results driven approach.
The ability to represent the company in negotiations with vendors.
Preferred but not required:
Experience in plastics film or web manufacturing.
ISO experience.
Relationships with blown film and web handling equipment suppliers.
Experience with computer modeling.
An international background.
You also will need to be willing and able to travel domestically and internationally about 10% of the time. International travel primarily will be to China, Japan, and Korea.
What's in It for You
No slowing here -- Celgard and Polypore International, Inc, our $537 million parent corporation, continue to grow, as our product line is used in a diverse number of applications (many in growth markets) including laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, medical devices, and various military applications. In addition:
In May 2008 we acquired a new technology along with production facilities in Korea, so that we now have the broadest portfolio in our industry.
The emerging market for technology related to electric and hybrid vehicles will only accelerate our growth over the next five to ten years.
Across our organization we are investing in process and infrastructure improvements to support our growth, such as expanding our Charlotte facility by 110,000 square feet and implementing an entirely new ERP.
Career development -- Celgard dynamically stewards its resources, particularly our most important resource: our people. Because of our unique market niches and proprietary technologies, we prefer to promote from within whenever possible. In fact, this position is open because the incumbent has been promoted (that individual will help transition current projects to you). Assuming you deliver results, we'll support you in your career aspirations within Celgard and Polypore.
High impact -- other companies may be satisfied with tweaking an existing line for individual customers, but we are proactive about strategically developing new products and product improvements. You'll work with a high performance development team that is motivated to deliver.
Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive salary and bonus incentive program, we offer a comprehensive benefits package.
More About Your Role
If you're a good fit for this position, you already know most of what this job entails. However, to be sure we're providing a complete picture, here are some details.
Reporting to the Business Manager, you will provide direction to a mechanical design resource who will support you with design, problem solving, fabrication, and more. We follow a four-phase development program -- discovery, validation, commercialization, and launch -- and your mission will be to drive projects through the final two phases. At any given time you'll be managing two or three projects, and projects can be as short as 3 months or as long as 30 months.
One of your first objectives will be to get up to speed on our technologies, which span polymer chemistry as well as both mechanical and chemical engineering. With that under your belt, you'll lead multi-discipline teams to achieve aggressive timelines. This will include establishing deliverables and schedules, and then keeping the process moving forward.
This is a broad role, but it boils down to one key thing: getting things done, whether you do it yourself or coordinate with others. We are very much a matrixed organization, and pivotal to your success will be your ability to take advantage of the broad resources available, enabling others to make significant contributions but ensuring that it all comes together. For example, in the morning you may spend time in the machine shop grinding out a widget and then in the afternoon sit down with a chemist to address temperature issues and control.
Keys to Success
To excel in this role you will be strongly goal oriented and motivated to get the job done, including making solid decisions even when all the information is not available, and occasionally investing some evening or weekend hours. Because we are an international corporation, you'll need to leverage your communication abilities to bridge cultural differences.
If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the minimum qualifications, we want to hear from you!
Who We Are
Proprietary Celgard trilayer membranes are a leading industry standard in rechargeable lithium battery applications. They are typically used in electronic applications such as notebook computers, cellular telephones, digital cameras, and other high performance devices.
In addition, Celgard is the global leader in supplying battery separators for disposable lithium batteries used in photographic equipment, medical devices, and various military applications. Other energy storage technologies that use Celgard battery separators include vented nickel-cadmium aircraft batteries, zinc-air hearing aid batteries, and supercapacitors.
Celgard is part of Polypore International, Inc, a global high technology filtration company specializing in microporous membranes. Polypore's flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes are used in specialized applications that require the removal or separation of various materials from liquids, primarily in the ultrafiltration and microfiltration markets. Based in Charlotte, NC, Polypore International, Inc has manufacturing facilities or sales offices in nine countries serving six continents.
Celgard LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.
