Director Research Development & Innovation
Evonik Industries AG
This is a Full-time position in Atlanta, GA posted December 13, 2021.
Exploring opportunities.
Growing together.
VACANCY REFERENCE NUMBER 155583
Location: United States : Parsippany, NJ
Career Level: Senior professionals (> 5 years)
Business Line: Research, Development & Innovation
What we offer
You will work on exciting and challenging topics together with a team in an ultra-modern, innovative and creative environment.
Intensive on-the-job training with expert colleagues guarantees you will quickly become familiar with your duties and perform them independently.
Performance related pay and the opportunity for personal and professional development are of course part of the package.
Since 2009 Evonik Industries AG has been certified as a family-friendly company by the German Hertie Foundation.
The Director of Research, Development, & Innovation will support the RD&I organization in North America across the business line R&D groups and Creavis (Evonik’s innovation incubator) to build up a significant presence of R&D in the region.
You will be responsible for all technical scouting and evaluation of external opportunities for collaboration with academic institutions, government agencies and businesses related to focus business areas.
You will also support the Vice President RD&I North America to develop and implement the strategic plan for R&D that is supporting the businesses and creates the infrastructure to identify and initiate overarching innovation topics with building up of technical competencies.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Support the efforts in North America to implement the internationalization of the R&D organization in alignment with Evonik goals (business requirements, plans, facilities, recruitment and branding)
Build and maintain strong relationships with key opinion leaders, scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs in both internal and external settings
Identify, understand, and communicate new technologies, products, applications and startups to generate growth in Evonik, including applications in which Evonik may have neither previous involvement nor knowledge.
Identify public funding opportunities and decision makers, work with internal stakeholders to submit proposals to the agencies aligned with Evonik strategic goals
Identify the best Universities/Research hubs, build networks with the Universities, administration, & specialists.
Develop and maintain effective, long-term relationships with relevant University groups and represent Evonik in scientific and technical conferences, seminars and University events
Work with the leadership team to select and establish global technical competence center/s fitting the regional needs
Help develop an Open Innovation Culture in the region and build technical community.
Organize regional R&D Colloquim, Technical Days and Seminars
REQUIREMENTS
PhD in Chemistry, Material Science, Chemical Engineering, Biological Science
8
– 10 years’ experience in R&D or a technical commercial role preferred
Previous experience identifying, evaluating and executing external relationships and has a good understanding of business needs
Strong oral and written communication skills
Must be able to manage multiple projects simultaneously
Strong social and networking skills
Creative thinker with strong ability to “live in the world of ambiguity”.
Strong team player with a “can do” mentality, who is also self-motivated and pro-active.
Self-motivated and pro-active
Solid business analysis / scientific data analysis experience in chemical industry or consulting is desired
Your Application
To ensure the fastest process of your application and to protect the environment, please apply online via our careers portal at
VACANCY REFERENCE NUMBER 155583
Evonik Corporation is an equal opportunity employer.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other legally protected status.
Please note that Evonik will not accept any unsolicited application documents sent by staffing firms.
Evonik works in conjunction with preferred service providers and will not pay any fee to staffing firms in the absence of an appropriate framework agreement.
Should Evonik receive a candidate profile from a staffing firm with which it has no framework agreement, and should this candidate subsequently be considered in the recruitment process or offered employment, no claims from the staffing firm will be entertained in this regard.
