Research and Development Leader

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The NA Product Innovation Leader is accountable for leading the North American product innovation agenda for Owens Corning’s Nonwovens business. This role delivers new products and solutions, productivity, supply security, operations support, technical differentiation, and core business growth by integrating strong material science, process understanding, application knowledge, product design fundamentals, and disciplined execution.

The leader partners with Key Account Managers, customers, Sales, Product Management, Operations, Sourcing, Legal, Manufacturing, Global Innovation, Roofing, and Enterprise R&D teams to translate customer needs, key account priorities, operational needs, and business strategy into differentiated products, technical solutions, and measurable business outcomes.

The role will leverage existing laboratory, pilot, and customer mimic capabilities to accelerate learning, testing, prototyping, scale-up, customer trials, plant trials, and commercialization. The leader is also accountable for protecting Owens Corning innovations through strong IP discipline and for applying AI, analytics, modeling, automation, and knowledge management tools wherever appropriate to improve innovation speed, quality, and repeatability.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Commitment to Safety

• Create and maintain a culture where safety is the first priority and all incidents are preventable.
• Ensure safe execution of laboratory work, pilot trials, customer mimic activities, plant trials, field support, and customer-facing technical engagements.
• Drive compliance with Owens Corning safety procedures, product stewardship requirements, environmental standards, and corporate policies.
• Lead Design Hazard Eliminations, safety observations, risk reviews, safety huddles, and continuous safety improvement actions.
• Engage the team in safety and wellness management while reinforcing accountability for safe innovation execution.

Lead NA Product Innovation Strategy and Portfolio

• Develop and execute the North American product innovation strategy aligned with core business growth, profitability, customer value, manufacturing capability, productivity, and supply resilience objectives.
• Build and manage a focused product innovation portfolio across New Product Development, product improvements, productivity, supply security, operations support, and technical capability development.
• Deliver $20MM of core business growth in the region during the next LRP cycle through disciplined product innovation and commercialization execution.
• Establish product roadmaps, resource plans, success criteria, learning plans, technical milestones, launch metrics, and governance routines.
• Lead product innovation governance through PRBs, Stage-Gate, VelOCity, project reviews, customer readiness reviews, plant trial reviews, and executive updates.
• Prioritize resources toward the most valuable customer, key account, operational, and business opportunities.

Drive New Product Development with KAMs and Customers

• Partner closely with Key Account Managers, Sales, Product Management, Marketing, and priority customers to identify unmet needs, pain points, and growth opportunities.
• Translate customer and key account requirements into product design specifications, FFUs, technical success criteria, development plans, and commercialization roadmaps.
• Lead development and commercialization of new products, product improvements, and technical solutions that strengthen customer partnerships and improve Owens Corning’s competitive position.
• Integrate application knowledge, material science, product design, process understanding, manufacturing capability, and customer value propositions into product development choices.
• Lead technical execution from concept through feasibility, lab testing, pilot trials, customer trials, plant trials, qualification, launch, and post-launch performance tracking.
• Establish and communicate KPIs for new product launches, customer adoption, launch quality, value creation, and growth impact.

Provide Operations Support and Manufacturing Partnership

• Serve as a technical partner to Operations, Manufacturing, Quality, Sourcing, and Supply Chain to support plant performance, product quality, startups, trials, and customer issue resolution.
• Lead root-cause investigations and technical problem solving for product, process, raw material, and performance issues affecting customers or operations.
• Provide technical expertise during plant upsets, line trials, startup activities, product transitions, raw material changes, and customer quality investigations.
• Translate lab, pilot, and mimic learnings into manufacturing-ready solutions that improve execution, reduce risk, and support commercialization.
• Ensure technical documentation, trial plans, learning summaries, and handoffs are clear, complete, and actionable for plant and commercial teams.

Enable Productivity through Innovation

• Identify and prioritize productivity opportunities with Operations, Sourcing, Finance, Product Management, Quality, and Commercial teams.
• Lead innovation-driven cost reduction projects through product design changes, formulation optimization, raw material substitution, process improvements, and qualification programs.
• Ensure productivity solutions protect customer value, product performance, quality, manufacturability, and product stewardship expectations.
• Develop test methods, qualification plans, technical risk assessments, and validation approaches for productivity projects.
• Establish and communicate KPIs for productivity pipeline, savings delivery, technical readiness, launch quality, and business impact.

Strengthen Supply Security and Raw Material Resilience

• Develop and execute technical strategies to reduce single-source material risk and strengthen supply resilience.
• Lead alternative raw material qualifications, dual sourcing, supplier risk mitigation, and accelerated material substitution programs.
• Partner with Sourcing, Supply Chain, Operations, Quality, Product Stewardship, and Legal to ensure technically sound and commercially viable supply security solutions.
• Use lab, pilot, mimic, and plant validation methods to de-risk raw material changes and protect product performance.
• Maintain clear project plans, qualification criteria, technical documentation, and stakeholder communication for risk mitigation projects.

Leverage Lab, Pilot and Mimic Capabilities to Accelerate Innovation

• Leverage existing North American laboratory, pilot line, and customer mimic capabilities to improve innovation speed, technical learning, and decision quality.
• Partner with lab and pilot line leaders to prioritize resources for NPD, productivity, supply security, operations support, customer trials, and scale-up needs.
• Build rapid prototyping, experimentation, test method development, application mimic, and scale-up approaches that enable faster go/no-go decisions.
• Advance use of structured testing, reliable data management, technical learning records, and repeatable experimental workflows.
• Ensure lab, pilot, and mimic outputs are connected to product requirements, manufacturing readiness, customer validation, technical databases, and IP strategy.

Protect Innovation through Strong IP Discipline

• Develop and execute IP strategies that protect Owens Corning’s product innovation and strengthen competitive differentiation.
• Partner with Legal and IP teams to identify, document, protect, and leverage inventions, trade secrets, know-how, product features, formulations, process improvements, and differentiated technical capabilities.
• Use IP landscaping, competitive monitoring, and technical benchmarking to inform product strategy, project direction, and freedom-to-operate awareness.
• Drive invention disclosures, patent filings, trade secret discipline, and documentation of defensible technical advantages.
• Ensure appropriate IP governance and confidentiality practices across product development, customer engagement, supplier work, lab/pilot trials, and technical documentation.

Enable AI-Driven Product Innovation and Digital Capabilities

• Leverage AI, analytics, modeling, automation, knowledge management, and digital tools to accelerate product innovation where appropriate.
• Apply AI-enabled approaches to literature review, patent landscaping, formulation learning, experimental planning, technical data mining, customer insight synthesis, project knowledge capture, and productivity opportunity screening.
• Establish or improve data systems that connect customer requirements, lab results, pilot data, plant trial outcomes, product performance, IP learning, and project decisions.
• Partner with digital and data science teams to improve decision quality, cycle time, technical productivity, and repeatability of learning.
• Ensure responsible use of AI consistent with Owens Corning policies, confidentiality, IP protection, data governance, and ethical standards.

People and Organization Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop 5 direct reports, including 4 Band 5 and 1 Band 6 team member.
• Build a high-performing team culture focused on safety, customer value, technical rigor, accountability, speed, collaboration, inclusion, and measurable business results.
• Drive talent development, succession planning, capability building, performance management, and leadership growth across the product innovation team.
• Strengthen capabilities in product development, material science, application knowledge, project management, scale-up, data analysis, AI-enabled learning, IP discipline, and manufacturing partnership.
• Establish clear roles, operating rhythms, expectations, project ownership, decision rights, and development plans aligned with business objectives.

Industry Leadership and External Collaboration

• Represent Owens Corning in relevant technical forums, industry associations, supplier discussions, customer engagements, and external innovation networks.
• Build partnerships with suppliers, universities, research institutions, startups, and technical experts to expand capability and accelerate innovation.
• Monitor emerging technologies, product trends, regulatory changes, substitute materials, and external capabilities relevant to North American Nonwovens.
• Translate external learning into actionable product innovation, productivity, supply security, and customer value opportunities.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree or higher in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, Polymer Science, Analytical Chemistry, Macromolecular Science, or a related technical discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in nonwovens, product development, innovation, technology development, process engineering, materials science, or related technical fields.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical product development programs with measurable business impact.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience leading scientists, engineers, product developers, or technical professionals.
• Strong experience leading cross-functional projects in a manufacturing or industrial business environment.
• Ability to travel up to 25% to support customers, plants, suppliers, production trials, external partnerships, and industry events.

Experience

• Experience within Nonwovens, Building Materials, Roofing, Composites, Specialty Materials, or Industrial Manufacturing.
• Strong background in new product development, product design, product qualification, commercialization, productivity, supply security, and operations support.
• Experience partnering with Key Account Managers, commercial teams, customers, operations, sourcing, quality, legal, and manufacturing stakeholders.
• Expertise in glass fiber, wet-laid processes, coatings, binders, material characterization, testing, formulation, pilot trials, plant trials, risk mitigation, and scale-up.
• Demonstrated success protecting innovation through IP strategy, invention capture, patent filings, trade secret discipline, or freedom-to-operate awareness.
• Experience with AI-enabled innovation, digital transformation, analytics, modeling, automation, technical databases, or knowledge management systems is preferred.
• Experience leveraging lab, pilot, and customer mimic capabilities to accelerate technical learning and commercialization is preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Product innovation leadership and execution discipline.
• Strong technical depth in materials, products, processes, testing, and manufacturing scale-up.
• Customer-focused innovation and value creation mindset.
• Strong commercial acumen and ability to connect technical work to revenue, EBITDA, productivity, supply resilience, and customer value.
• Portfolio and project management expertise, including Stage-Gate, PRB, VelOCity, technical roadmaps, learning plans, and KPI dashboards.
• Strong operations partnership, root-cause problem solving, trial planning, technical documentation, and handoff discipline.
• IP strategy, technical differentiation, confidentiality, and product stewardship awareness.
• Data-driven decision making, AI-enabled learning, analytical problem solving, and technical storytelling.
• People leadership, talent development, coaching, performance management, and succession planning.
• Stakeholder management and ability to influence across functions and levels.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity, balance competing priorities, and drive results with urgency and discipline.

Personal Characteristics

• Customer- and results-oriented leader with strong accountability for outcomes.
• Collaborative enterprise partner who builds trust across technical, commercial, manufacturing, and functional teams.
• Curious technical innovator with a bias for learning, experimentation, simplification, and disciplined commercialization.
• Talent builder who develops future leaders, technical experts, and high-performing product innovation teams.
• Sound judgment, adaptability, resilience, and ability to lead through ambiguity and shifting priorities.

SUCCESS MEASURES

• Delivery of $20MM of core business growth in North America during the next LRP cycle.
• Successful launch and commercial adoption of new products, product improvements, and customer-specific solutions.
• Productivity benefits delivered through product design, material substitution, process optimization, and qualification programs.
• Supply security benefits delivered through alternative raw material qualifications, dual sourcing, and risk mitigation projects.
• Improved operations support through faster issue resolution, stronger root-cause analysis, better trial execution, and improved technical handoffs.
• Increased speed and effectiveness of innovation through effective use of lab, pilot, mimic, rapid prototyping, and technical data capabilities.
• Strengthening of Owens Corning’s IP position through invention disclosures, patent activity, trade secrets, and IP-informed project strategies.
• Effective use of AI and digital tools to improve innovation productivity, technical learning, and decision quality.
• Development of a highly engaged, capable, and high-performing product innovation team.
• Achievement of safety, quality, stewardship, compliance, and governance objectives.

About Owens Corning  

Owens Corning is a branded building products leader with three complementary market-leading businesses providing roofing, insulation, and doors primarily for residential markets in North America and Europe. The company operates with an integrated go-to-market strategy and a unique set of OC Advantages™ – including its iconic brand, unparalleled commercial strength, leading technology, and winning cost position – to help customers win and grow in the market. Owens Corning is committed to helping build better and achieve more through winning partnerships, leading performance, and engaging people. Founded in 1938 and headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Owens Corning is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: OC). For more information, visit www.owenscorning.com. 

Owens Corning is an equal opportunity employer. Except in limited circumstances such as formal apprenticeship programs, Owens Corning does not employ anyone under the age of 18.