Company Overview

Surrey Nanosystems is a company at the forefront of light suppression technology, specialising in the development and commercialisation of Vantablack™ coatings. This ultrablack coating enhances performance, efficiency and functionality across various sectors such as aerospace, defence, automotive and art.

Main purpose of the role:

To lead a team of Research and Development Chemists in the formulation of functional coatings and to provide the associated technical support to manufacturing and sales teams.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Lead technical team in the development of wet coatings for stray light suppression in aerospace, automotive and other demanding application segments

• Develop and maintain IP related to stray-light suppression coatings, together with the product development roadmap

• Generate technical and support documentation for Products, ensuring they contain necessary technical, usage and application specifications

• Build a high-performing technical team, that is driven by the Company strategy.

• Aid in the product refinement process of existing products and formulations

• Provide functional leadership for new product introduction

• To document and protect the key aspects of the Intellectual Property retained by SNS.

• To develop and enhance the skills of the technical team and to become a member of the core management team.

• Management of formulation and synthesis of wet paints for use in target applications

• Management of budgets and timescales for delivery of new products

• Development and implementation of test programs for product use validation.
• Partake in customer interaction through specification development and application support phase.

Key Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Essential for the Role

Key Skills and Ability

• Management of formulation and synthesis of wet paints
• Management of timescales for delivery of new products
• Ability to design and implement test programs for products used in specific markets.
• Ability to effectively interact with customers through specification, development, and execution
• Strong leadership skills
• Ability to enhance and develop the skills of the technical team
• Ability to manage budgets
• Produce reports and presentations

Essential

Education and Qualification

• Degree qualified in Materials Science/Chemistry

Knowledge

• Clear knowledge of the product development process and the ability to implement a structured approach
• Good understanding of process control techniques
• Strong knowledge in regulatory requirements, ideally from a global perspective.

Desirable

• Good understanding of multi-component systems and automated application technologies
• Broad exposure to, and understanding of application-specific requirements for aerospace and automotive coatings, including chemical resistance (e.g. atox,vUV), radiation hardness and environmental/mechanical resilience (adhesion, cohesion, shock and vibrations, thermal/humidity cycling)

Experience

Essential

• 10+ years coatings industry experience, with a minimum of 5 years product development team leadership
• Experience with manufacturing teams and the scale-up process, from the lab to the factory.

Desirable

• Experience with Silicone Resins would be a particular advantage

Personal Attributes

• Hands-on practical approach
• Positive and pro-active.
• Logical and structured thinker
• Be comfortable with dealing with complex multi-dimensional problems
• Strong leader who can influence change where necessary
• Self-starter and results focused.
• Solution not problem focused.
• Excellent communicator