New Product Development / R&D Engineer, Controlled Environment

Benefits/Perks for US Office/Remote Employees (2024)

• Environment: For applicable positions, we offer hybrid work & provide a one-time stipend to enhance your remote work capabilities. While in the office, the dress code is business casual.
• Paid Time Off: 17 days PTO + 3 sick/personal days; 12 holidays; 8 hours Volunteer Time Off; 2 weeks parental leave (new parents within 6 months of the birth or adoption of a child, after 2 months of employment). Finished your 40 hours? At 2:00 on Friday, leave for the weekend!
• Tuition Reimbursement after 6 months of employment
• Referral Bonus
• 401(k): We match 100% of the first 3% you contribute, and 50% of the next 2%. You are always 100% vested in all contributions to the plan.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Call the EAP 24/7 for confidential assistance with nearly any personal matter you may be experiencing. You and your family have access to five free consultations with a licensed clinician per issue per calendar year. Financial & legal counseling is also available free of charge.
• Insurance Summary (FTE 30+ hours/week): Medical 4 plan options through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBS); Dental Low or High PPO options through BCBS; Vision contributions covered by the company with coverage through BCBS; Flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care (HSA for high deductible plan); Basic life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) at 2.5x your annual earnings; Short & long-term disability if you have a qualified disability due to accident or illness & first 4 weeks of STD paid at 100%; MDLIVE 24/7, on-demand, virtual visits with a board-certified doctor or nurse practitioner for minor illnesses, as well as board-certified psychiatrists, psychologists, and other licensed clinician; Health Advocate to assist with enrollment questions, complex conditions, find specialists, address eldercare issues, clarify insurance coverage, work on claim denials, and help negotiate fees for non-covered services.

The R&D Manager leads and owns products of a defined product portfolio or a key competence area in all R&D-related aspects with minimum management oversight. In the area of controlled environment, he/she executes significant and radical key innovation projects for the assigned strategic PMSs globally and executes product upgrades and maintenance by incremental innovation for all other PMSs . The R&D Manager is recognized inside and outside the company as a leading expert in his/her field. Full responsibility on all R&D aspects for NPD (New Product Development from idea generation through complete Stage-Gate-Process and post launch), product upgrades and optimization, and repair projects. He/she supports the strategic development of the R&D organization.

Responsibilities:

• Manage and drive complex R&D projects from ideation to market implementation in a multifunctional project team involving internal and external partners.
• Own the product specifications, testing methods, and testing plan for full technical product validation.
• Plan and coordinate product testing for technical claim support, benchmark, and competitor analysis.
• Contribute to idea creation activities and proactively scout, identify, and drive new technology, product, and process opportunities. This includes monitoring of competition landscape.
• Own and manage an existing product portfolio related to quality, regulatory compliance, cost saving, supply chain, production initiatives, and IP environment.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor or Master degree in an engineering field (Mechanical Engineering preferred).
• 8+ years of experience in product development, preferably in globally operating manufacturing companies within the controlled environment industry.
• Skilled in 3D CAD programs (SolidWorks preferred). This role involves design work.
• Experience in project management with track record of successfully completed complex projects. MS Project exposure a plus.
• This role has complete technical responsibility for R&D innovation side (prototyping, testing, manufacturing). Must have stage gate experience within NPD, having a proven track record taking products from idea to launch.
• Experience with manufacturing processes involving plastics and metal in particular (textiles a plus).
• Proven leadership skills.
• Ability to travel to suppliers/end users (10-15% travel).

Freudenberg Household Products (FHP) is the consumer products and professional cleaning product division of the Freudenberg Group – a multi-billion dollar, multi-national, privately held organization headquartered in Germany. The Freudenberg Group employs some 50,000 people in 60 countries worldwide and generates sales of over 10 billion euros. Freudenberg has businesses in the automotive, medical device, battery and fuel cell division and focuses on continuously developing new technology in every sector.

In some parts of the world, our division is known as Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions (FHCS) and has individual operating companies in many countries, employing more than 3,200 people and hosting a distribution network in 35 countries. Our vision, making our world cleaner, includes a mission of providing superior home and cleaning products that are built to last for consumer households and professional cleaners.

O-Cedar is the well-established brand of FHCS in the United States. The products have more than 115 years of history in the US market and O-Cedar is the number one brand in the durable floor cleaning category in the US. O-Cedar products can be found in many retailers such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Costco and Amazon. In Canada, the brand is known as Vileda. It is the strength of our leading brands such as Vileda and O-Cedar that we continuously reinvent our solutions to make the consumers’ lives easier.

Our Vileda Professional team develops and manufactures leading edge cleaning solutions for professional users in various application areas, such as Healthcare, Controlled Environment, and General Building Cleaning. With over 50 years in the business, we know what needs professional users in different environments have. We offer solutions that help them to clean faster, more effectively, and at lower total costs. Based on sustainability principles, innovation in cleaning has always been a main focus in the daily work of Vileda Professional.

One of our core values is embracing a culture of diversity and inclusion. Our most important asset is our people, of all ages and genders, with their different cultural backgrounds and talents. Promoting our employees and inspiring them to take on the multifaceted tasks at Freudenberg in the long-term – this is the key to our success. We are devoted to our employees’ well-being and personal development. We embrace all forms of diversity and inclusion and show understanding and respect in our dealings with each other. We promote a multi-cultural environment where employees work together in worldwide teams to reach their full potential and enrich our culture. Our goal is and will always be to mirror this diverse and inclusive culture in our organization.

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