Research Scientist

Baltimore, MD - USA

Monthly Salary: Not Disclosed

Posted on: 8 hours ago

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Usalco is a leading U.S. provider of specialty water treatment chemistries services and digital solutions serving municipal industrial and specialty markets across North America. The company operates a nationwide manufacturing and distribution footprint with 34 strategically located facilities including 27 manufacturing plants and 7 terminals enabling reliable local supply to customers across the United States. Usalco products help treat drinking water for more than 130 million people supporting public health regulatory compliance and environmental sustainability.

Our Research & Development organization is based at Usalcos flagship Baltimore Research & Technology Center a stateoftheart facility dedicated to advancing coagulation science developing nextgeneration water treatment solutions and translating laboratory innovation into fullscale commercial impact.

Position Summary

Usalco is seeking a Research Scientist to serve as a senior technical contributor within our R&D organization. This role is ideal for an experienced industrial chemist who thrives in a labbased applied research environment and has a strong track record of originating leading and translating research into commercialized water treatment products and process improvements.

The successful candidate will act as a technical authority in their domain leading research projects from concept through commercialization and serving as a companywide resource for process optimization troubleshooting and advanced chemical problem solving.

Reporting to: Senior Research Director
This is an individual contributor role with technical leadership responsibilities and no direct people management.

Key Responsibilities

Originate and lead applied research programs aligned with business needs from earlystage concept development through laboratory validation scaleup support and product launch/commercialization with clear ownership to drive projects to achieve defined technical and business goals
Own project execution by defining workplans milestones and deliverables and maintaining timeline accountability typical of an applied R&D organization focused on practical scalable solutions
Design execute and interpret laboratory experiments involving inorganic and aluminumbased chemistries with emphasis on water treatment performance stability and manufacturability
Serve as a lead chemist supporting companywide process optimization troubleshooting and rootcause analysis across manufacturing sites and customer applications
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior scientists chemists and analysts including experimental design guidance and data interpretation
Translate fundamental chemistry insights into practical scalable solutions that improve product performance reliability cost or sustainability
Collaborate crossfunctionally with Operations Technical Service Product Management and Sales to support product launches customer trials and technical issue resolution
Author and review technical documentation including experimental reports internal technical guidance and intellectual property disclosures
Maintain high standards for laboratory safety data integrity and regulatory compliance consistent with Usalcos safetyfirst culture
Stay current with emerging regulatory drivers and industry trends (e.g. PFAS DBPs LCRI) relevant to water treatment chemistry

Required Qualifications

PhD in Chemistry (or closely related field)
Minimum 10 years of technical experience in an industrial or applied research environment
Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex technical projects with limited supervision
Strong experimental skills and comfort working in a handson laboratory setting
Proven record of translating research outcomes into commercial or operational impact
Experience developing and launching products in the water treatment industry (municipal and/or industrial) including supporting customer trials and commercial readiness
Willingness and ability to work onsite at Usalcos Baltimore Research & Development Center

Preferred Qualifications

Familiarity with a formal New Product Development / StageGate process is preferred
Deep experience with inorganic and aluminumbased coagulant chemistries (e.g. PAC ACH alum sodium aluminate); coagulantspecific chemistry experience is a plus
Specific experience addressing contaminants of concern in the water treatment industry (e.g. PFAS and related emerging issues) is considered a plus
Background in inorganic process chemistry and chemical manufacturing considerations
Experience in municipal or industrial water treatment including coagulation contaminant removal or process optimization
Familiarity with analytical techniques commonly used in water treatment R&D (e.g. jar testing ICPOES TOC UVVis stability studies)
Prior experience acting as a technical expert supporting manufacturing plants or customerfacing teams

Why Join Usalco

Work in a modern wellequipped R&D facility focused on realworld impact
Lead chemistry that directly supports clean water sustainability and public health
Operate on a technical career ladder that values depth expertise and influence
Collaborate with experienced scientists engineers and field experts across the organization
Competitive compensation aligned with seniorlevel technical contribution

USALCO is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex gender identity sexual orientation race color religion national origin disability protected veteran status age or any other characteristic protected by law. As a general policy USALCO does not offer employment visa sponsorships upon hire or in the future.