Application Development Specialist – Residential Construction

Experience level: Mid-senior
Experience required: 5 Years
Education level: Bachelor’s degree
Job function: General Business
Industry: Chemicals
Compensation: $91,000 - $130,000  
Relocation assistance: No
Visa : Only US citizens and Greencard holders

OVERVIEW

We are seeking for a Applications Development Specialist for our Water & Protection’s (W&P) Shelter business that combines market-leading brands (including Corian® Design, Great Stuff™, Styrofoam™ and Tyvek®) into one customer-centric line of business. Performance Building Solutions (PBS), as business unit within S&C Shelter, is a leading global provider of value-added solutions in the areas of weatherization, air sealing, thermal comfort and fire protection systems for the building and construction market. PBS is an active leader in advancing building science, developing solutions to improve construction productivity and fostering the use of more sustainable and resilient building materials and practices.

 The Applications Development Team plays a key role in developing and executing test plans to expand viable applications for existing products, to qualify new products and to demonstrate products meet building code requirements. The team works closely with Strategic Marketing, Tactical Marketing, the Building Knowledge Center (BKC) and the Advocacy teams to address complex customer inquiries and to develop advantaged industry positions for PBS.

RESPONSIBILITES

• The Applications Development Specialist actively engages with key industry stakeholders to understand discontinuities in the market and works in close collaboration with strategic and tactical marketing to outline PBS advantaged technology approaches that can bridge the discontinuities.
• Has a rich, technical background, including knowledge in construction practices, building physics, building code and engineering often serving as an internal subject matter expert advising project teams.
• Draws upon his/her diverse technical background to propose novel approaches to solve discontinuities and unmet needs in the market that bring value to PBS.
• In addition to responsibility for helping to build PBS’s innovation pipeline, the Application Development Specialist supports existing products and customers addressing field issues, answering technical inquires, conducting building science research and representing PBS at technical seminars and tradeshows.
• Has some general business acumen as well.
• Must have strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to process and effectively communicate both technical and business information across a spectrum of stakeholders. The ability to prioritize work in alignment with business needs is critical to success.  A strong customer mindset and the ability to communicate up and across the organization are essential.
• This role will have a strong focus on residential construction and work in close connection with the Residential Application Development Leader.  This R&D role requires significant external engagement.
• The role is Midland based.  It can be done from a virtual office assuming a ~ 25% minimum physical presence in Midland to ensure critical internal collaboration, ideation and hands on lab work is achieved.

SPECIFIC RESPOSIBILITES INCLUDE

• Build PBS’s new product development pipeline:
• Partner with strategic marketing to outline domain strategy, where and how to play
• Partner with tactical marketing to identify line extensions, technical marketing communications and external partnerships that facilitate sales growth in areas of focus for the business
• Partner with business Fellows in new product/application development ideation
• Generate differentiated innovation concepts based on real building challenges and market discontinuities; translate experience with on site and factory construction into ‘real’ opportunities based on industry pain points
• Leverage external and internal networks to generate new product ideas, champion initiatives and commercialize technologies
• Provide residential construction subject matter expertise to project teams
• Utilize a deep working knowledge of building science, the construction process and practices, residential building and energy codes and industry trends to advise teams
• Maintain a strong external network of builders, contractors, building science experts, building code officials, etc. to exchange ideas, stay relevant and maintain a strong customer mindset; leverage this industry understand back into the internal organization to guide teams
• Serve as a consultant to PBS R&D, strategic marketing, tactical marketing, BKC and sales teams providing expertise in residential construction practices
• Lead research programs and new product and application development projects
• Progress PBS’s position in the residential construction industry as an innovation and building science thought leader; represent PBS in external forums (i.e., technical conferences, standards committees, etc.)
• Engage in PBS’s Residential Building Science Research
• Identify and gain business approval for relevant, value added residential building science research (internal or external)
• Conduct residential building science research; experimental design, test analysis & documentation (internal and external)
• Support new product development teams by helping design and facilitate field trials.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree, in a technical field.
• Relevant residential construction industry experience, 5 year minimum
• Demonstrated understanding of the scientific method
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Fluency in English language

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Residential Construction Industry Experience: Deep working knowledge of building science, construction process and practices, building and energy codes, building envelop design and industry trends.
• Project Management: Experience with designing and implementing research projects as well as executing product development projects using a stage gate review process.
• Mentor: Ability, patience, and willingness to teach and coach team members with less experience in residential construction.
• Initiative: An affinity for action. The ability to sort through undefined spaces, define appropriate strategy and tactical actions and implement a plan resulting in a positive business outcome.
• Customer Centric: Ability to positively respond to customer needs in a timely, professional manner and to forge trusting, comfortable customer relationships with construction trades, general contractors, building code officials and building envelop science experts.
• Communication Skills: Ability to distill large amounts of information into ‘bytes’ that are appropriate for target audience, clearly articulating your position to achieve desired outcomes. Comfortable with sharing technical information in large industry forums and smaller, intimate job site audience