Principal Materials Engineer - Polymers (Advanced Engineering)

Principal Materials Engineer – Polymers (Advanced Engineering) 

Bring deep technical authority and first-principles rigor to define, mature, and scale polymer materials and processing approaches across Milwaukee Tool’s Hand Tools business unit (Hand Tools, Storage, PPE). 

As a Principal Materials Engineer, you serve as the subject matter expert in polymer systems, driving material selection, development, validation, processing, and manufacturability decisions for high-impact applications. You define material performance intent, develop validation strategies, and translate results into confident material decisions from early exploration through commercialization. 

You operate with high autonomy across Advanced Engineering (R&D) and platform development, independently progressing multiple material efforts in parallel. You also lead direct technical engagement with material suppliers and development partners to solve complex material challenges. 

This role emphasizes early-stage material exploration and innovation, requiring the ability to identify emerging material opportunities and generate insights before formal validation pathways exist. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Define material performance intent tied to end-use conditions, durability, and manufacturability requirements 

• Develop, qualify, and implement polymer systems (plastics, elastomers, coatings, adhesives, composites) from concept through production-ready specifications, ensuring alignment between design intent, tooling strategy, processing conditions, manufacturability, and field performance 

• Define and execute platform-level material strategies, enabling consistent performance and manufacturability across product architectures 

• Translate experimental and field data into material and process decisions by linking processing–structure–property relationships to end-use performance and failure modes, and by driving upfront analysis prior to tooling and trials 

• Scout and evaluate emerging polymer, elastomeric, and flexible material technologies — including startup platforms, university-derived materials, and supplier development pipelines — to expand the organization’s materials and processing capability roadmap 

• Design novel test methodologies where standard approaches fail to fully characterize material behavior; treat data exploration as a primary tool for surfacing material and process insights that drive early-stage decisions 

• Apply materials expertise across rigid and flexible polymer systems, including elastomeric components, overmolded interfaces, and protective padding or soft goods applications relevant to PPE and hand tool ergonomics 

• Lead direct technical engagement with global material suppliers and development partners to co-develop and mature advanced material and process solutions 

• Lead root-cause investigations for complex material failures, applying appropriate analytical techniques to identify failure mechanisms and translate findings into design, material, or process changes; maintain familiarity with relevant test methods and demonstrate willingness to work hands-on in the lab as needed 

• Drive corrective actions that prevent recurrence through changes in material selection, design, or processing conditions 

• Provide targeted support to high-impact production or field issues (~10%), focused on complex or ambiguous failures 

• Influence design, manufacturing, and sourcing decisions to ensure alignment between material selection, processing, and product performance 

• Apply strong working knowledge of DFM and tooling to polymer material selection—understanding how material, processing, and design impact tooling and vice versa, and using that understanding to influence manufacturability and development decisions 

• Develop sufficient fluency in injection molding simulation workflows (e.g., Moldflow, FEA, material models) to define meaningful inputs, interpret outputs, and drive targeted requests in partnership with dedicated simulation resources; direct simulation execution capability is preferred but not required 

• Document material intent, assumptions, tradeoffs, and risks in clear specifications and recommendations 

• Mentor engineers and elevate technical rigor in materials evaluation and decision-making 

• Operate across a wide range of polymer systems and applications, applying depth selectively where technical risk is highest 

Typical Advanced Engineering Flow 

• Discovery: Identify unmet performance needs; evaluate materials technologies and external capabilities 

• Definition: Translate application requirements into material performance intent, processing strategy, manufacturability considerations, and validation approach 

• Exploration: Develop and test material systems; iterate with suppliers and partners; explore process windows and tooling interactions; quantify tradeoffs and failure modes 

• Validation: Confirm performance, durability, and manufacturability; retire material and process risk 

• Commercialization: Deliver production-ready specifications, test methods, and supplier alignment; support launch as SME 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Polymer Engineering, or related field; advanced degree preferred 

• 10+ years of experience in polymer materials engineering across R&D, development, or manufacturing 

• Deep expertise in plastics, elastomers, thermosets, adhesives, coatings, and composite systems 

• Proven ability to solve complex technical problems and lead root cause analysis 

• Experience working directly with material suppliers and development partners 

• Strong ability to translate data into decisions and communicate clearly across functions 

• Strong working knowledge of polymer processing (e.g., injection molding, overmolding) and the interaction between material selection, tooling, and manufacturing outcomes 

• Working knowledge of injection molding simulation concepts sufficient to engage simulation resources effectively, interpret simulation outputs, and recognize where simulation-informed decisions add value; experience directly running Moldflow or similar analyses is preferred 

• Familiarity with polymer characterization methods and willingness to be hands-on in the lab are expected; experience independently operating polymer analysis equipment to support development and failure investigations is preferred