Global Technical Services Manager – Liquid Systems (Carbon Black – Inks & Coatings)

Overview

A global specialty chemicals organisation operating in advanced performance materials is looking to appoint a Global Technical Services Manager

• Liquid Systems to lead the technical interface between customers, R&D, and commercial teams across the inks, paints, and coatings sector.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership & Customer Engagement:

• Act as the technical expert for carbon black applications in inks, paints, and coatings
• Provide advanced troubleshooting on formulation challenges, including dispersion, flocculation, rheology, gloss, undertone, jetness and filterability
• Support customers with grade selection, formulation optimisation and performance improvement
• Lead technical discussions with senior customer stakeholders and formulation teams

Applications & Laboratory Excellence:

• Define best-practice dispersion techniques and application testing standards
• Establish consistent laboratory testing methodologies across application labs
• Build structured application datasets enabling faster technical recommendations
• Support technical validation during product qualification and scale-up

Product Development & Portfolio Support:

• Translate customer formulation challenges into clear R&D product development briefs
• Partner with research teams on surface chemistry, structure optimisation and dispersibility improvements
• Develop application maps and recommendation matrices for different coatings and ink systems

Quality & Manufacturing Interface:

• Lead technical investigation of customer complaints and root cause analysis
• Work with manufacturing teams on critical-to-quality parameters and process optimisation
• Improve product consistency and strengthen technical credibility with key accounts

Technical Market Representation:

• Represent the company at industry conferences, technical workshops and customer technology days
• Develop technical papers, presentations and knowledge tools supporting the commercial organisation

Team & Operational Leadership:

• Establish global technical services processes and KPIs
• Support the development of a high-performance technical applications team
• Manage application lab investments, budgets and technical priorities

Candidate Profile:

• Master’s or PhD in Chemistry, Materials Science, Polymer Science or Chemical Engineering
• 10+ years of experience in carbon black applications for inks, paints or coatings
• Deep expertise in dispersion science, rheology, colour science and application testing
• Experience supporting customer formulation development or application labs
• Strong understanding of regulatory compliance and product stewardship
• Ability to operate in senior customer-facing technical roles
• Fluent in German and English
• Willingness to travel across Europe

Nice to Have:

Experience with applications such as:

• Conductive coatings
• EMI shielding materials
• Battery coatings
• Digital inkjet systems