Principal Materials Engineer - Polymers (Advanced Engineering)

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
• 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
• 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

Benefits

Additional Information

Job Description: 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.

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