Sr. Materials Engineer – Polymers 

INNOVATE WITHOUT BOUNDARIES! At Milwaukee Tool we firmly believe that our People and our Culture are the secrets to our success – so we give you unlimited access to everything you need to create disruptive new technologies and solutions on our electrical engineering teams. Our Engineering Team is responsible for giving life to the batteries, motors, and electronics that power solutions changing the lives of our users. Every developmental phase of these critical components happens in-house under the watch of this team. We continue to invest in electrical engineering resources to design and develop leadership in electronic capabilities; something unique within the industry. And we’re pushing the limits in firmware engineering, power electronics, embedded systems, machine learning, and the use of artificial intelligence.  

Behind our doors you’ll be empowered every day to own it, drive it, and do what it takes to design and develop the biggest breakthroughs in the industry. Meanwhile, you’ll have the support and resources of the fastest-growing brand in the construction industry to make it happen.  

Year after year, our team continues to make significant breakthroughs in the industry. We’re just getting started. To learn more about our story click HERE.  

The Sr. Materials Engineer will identify, develop, and support applications that are innovative & desirable for use in Power Tools and contribute to their long-term continuous improvement. 

As an engineer for Milwaukee Tool, you will be located at our Corporate & Global Design Headquarters in Brookfield, WI, and be part of a rapidly growing company. You will work in a fast-paced environment to innovate new products as a member of a cross-functional team. One of the most rewarding aspects of the job is seeing a product you designed from concept to production in the hands of professionals. Milwaukee Tool offers generous benefits including health, dental, vision, life insurance, and 401k matching, as well as providing an excellent working environment that includes an on-site cafeteria, state of the art fitness facility, recreational sports leagues, and company outings. 

You'll be DISRUPTIVE through these duties and responsibilities:

MATERIALS / ENGINEERING 

• Research & develop new polymer technologies (plastics, elastomers, composites, adhesives, and coatings), systems and manufacturing techniques 

• Apply knowledge & understanding to define high performance solutions  

• Identify engineering trends and drive strategies to guide the organization’s technical direction 

• Review intellectual property and technical publications to identify opportunities for development 

• Provide technical leadership, direction, guidance and engineering expertise to the organization 

• Provide analysis, expertise & recommendations for material selection, tooling, and processing 

• Perform root cause failure analysis of field & test failures 

• Self-motivation to lead material/process investigations to solve and/or prevent quality issues 

• Provide as-needed support to suppliers & production facilities for engineering builds, product launches, mass production, quality issues and continuous improvement activities  

• Recognize inefficiencies in materials applications and sponsor improvement and cost/weight-saving activities 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT 

• Independently schedule, develop agendas for, facilitate and document technical project meetings and formal presentations 

• Draw concise, logical, written conclusions from experiments and present recommendations to a variety of company levels and educational disciplines 

• Effectively identify and communicate issues to upper management in a clear, concise and timely manner while driving action based on urgency 

• Manage external relationships with university research teams, start-up companies, professional societies & associations and external testing experts 

• Mentor and train junior engineers in their design, material selection, and failure analysis 

 What TOOLS you’ll bring with you:

• BS in Materials Science/Engineering with polymers focus. Master’s degree preferred, but not required.  

• 8+ years hands-on, practical experience in polymer manufacturing, testing, R&D, and design. 

• Experience with various materials, manufacturing & applications - emphasis on plastics, elastomers, thermoset resins, adhesives & coatings. 

• Understanding & experience with rapid prototyping, injection molding & overmolding technologies 

• Excellent problem-solving skills and a hands-on attitude. 

• Excellent written & verbal communication skills 

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision 

• High proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, especially Excel and Power Point. 

• Ability to travel 10% of the time to suppliers, development partners, production facilities & conferences 

• Travel between local buildings (Menomonee Falls & Brookfield) for use of analysis equipment. 

• Experience with failure analysis & fractography  

• Preferred thermal analysis knowledge – TGA, DSC, DMA 

• Preferred compositional testing knowledge – FTIR, SEM/EDS, GCMS, XRF, MFR 

• Preferred mechanical testing knowledge – Tensile/Flex, Fatigue, Creep & Impact 

• Proficiency in CAD (NX, Fusion 360) and FEA (Ansys) software is preferred 

• Competency in Moldflow simulation is desirable, but not required.