Kiilto has been shaping the future since 1919, and this is your chance to be part of it. We are looking for an RDI Manager for the fireproofing business area at our research, development and innovation (RDI) unit in Lempäälä. You will be the recognised expert and responsible for the RDI activities in flame retardants, and a key contributor to growing our business in fireproofing. You will manage and work with development projects in close co-operation with internal stakeholders and customers, with a hands on attitude. To thrive in this role, you will collaborate fluently in diverse business environments, and you can turn ideas into industrially working concepts. Understanding of industrial processes, fire behaviour, and wood or wood-based fibre materials is considered an advantage.
You will be a perfect fit for the Kiilto community if you have most of the following strengths:
- Can do attitude – You are willing to put yourself at stake and give your very best, be it a customer meeting or a trial, formulating a flame retardant or working in the lab.
- Technical skills – We would prefer experience in developing flame-retardant solutions for industrial applications and understanding of fire safety standards.
- Education – You have Master’s degree or equivalent in material science or chemistry.
- Start-up spirit – You are capable of producing innovative ideas and developing them into practical applications.
- The customer is king – A customer-oriented attitude makes you successful in implementing new solutions, spiced up with commercial understanding.
- Willingness to travel – You are willing and ready to travel to meet international stakeholders.
- Language skills – You are fluent in English and preferably also in Finnish.
- Passion for the environment – You want to make choices for a better future and to take sustainability into consideration in each action you take.
Imagine a typical day as RDI Manager, Fireproofing, at Kiilto
It is Monday morning, and you arrive at the office and check your weekly calendar. You have some internal project meetings, internal info sharing meetings, raw material supplier meetings, and customer meetings scheduled during the week. On Wednesday, you will have a co-innovation meeting in your team to produce ideas for one new product project that is starting. On Thursday, you will have a fireproofing trial at a customer in Sweden, and your day will start with a planning meeting together with the solution manager and sales manager to make a trial plan for the coming trial. After that, you will have morning coffee in the lab with your colleagues and you have a nice break full of laughter. After coffee, you will have a short discussion with the production manager about developing the production process for one product that is under your responsibility. Then you head off to lunch in the factory restaurant, where you meet people from different functions and have various discussions.
After lunch, you will have a team meeting with the fireproofing team, where you go through the weekly tasks and lab work results, and make plans for new tests. You will plan and give tasks to the team members. The meeting is followed by some lab work together with your lab assistant, where you do small flame testing for a new flame retardant formulation on paper. Today, the result is not successful, so you decide to make some new formulations to be tested after coffee, and you use the rest of the day for information searching and new version development. You have an exciting new idea while doing the research, and you visit your colleague’s office to further develop that idea with them. Just before you leave the office, a sales manager calls you. One customer has a new product, and they would need a recommendation on which flame retardant they should select. You agree to a research request, so you will do some additional testing in the lab before providing the recommendation. After the workday, you head off for a gym class organised by Kiilto.
The content of the days varies, and you can decide how you reach your targets. In addition, the decision to work at the office or remotely from home is for you to make, although sometimes it is good to be present with your colleagues and follow what is happening in the lab.
A workplace that cares
We are a family-like community with over 900 professionals of different backgrounds in 10 countries. Our work atmosphere is easy-going, positive, and we also genuinely care about the well-being of our employees. As proof of this, we have received multiple awards as the most active workplace in Finland.
In addition, we care about you by providing the following:
- Possibility of hybrid work and daily internal meeting-free zones.
- A rare combination of stability and great growth: Kiilto has been awarded for its long-term success and growth in Kauppalehti's Success-list. Kiilto’s achievement of being included among both the 10-year Enduring Achiever and Growth companies is extremely rare: well under one percent of Finnish limited liability companies reach both.
- Thanks to our low, agile organizational structure, you have a genuine opportunity to innovate and develop operations and create initiatives.
- We take well-being seriously! We are the most active workplace in Finland, offering a wide range of opportunities to maintain your well-being through break-up sessions, fitness testing, hobbies, and supported sport events.
- Access to target bonus, incentive fund, and initiative bonus.
- You have great opportunities to further train yourself within the company. We offer you internal training programmes and education.
- On top of these, we offer our employees for example extensive occupational health care, e-pass, care services if your child is ill, occupational physiotherapy services, lunch benefits, and bicycle benefit or shared electricity bikes.
In case you got this far, continue reading for just a bit more
Do you want to be part of our community in Lempäälä? Please apply here and also attach your salary request and CV. The last day to apply is 15 January 2023.
For further details on the position, please call Head of RDI Soilikki Kotanen at +358504862833 either on 3 January between 10-14 (EET), 4 January between 8-16 (EET) or 5 January between 12-14 (EET).
We operate in compliance with Kiilto's recruitment process and treat all contacts concerning the post with absolute confidentiality. We will send video interview questions to selected applicants. We ask applicants to reserve 23, 24 or 25 January for a possible job interview. The selected candidate will need to pass a health check, which includes drug testing.
Kiilto Oy is part of Kiilto, a family-owned company from Finland, with over a hundred-year history and a vision looking ahead to 2080. We develop, produce and market chemical industry solutions in four business areas: construction, industrial adhesives and fireproofing, professional hygiene, and consumer goods. The key principles underlying our operations are environmental leadership, closeness, and commitment to the future. We operate in 10 countries and employ around 900 people. In 2021 group's net sales amounted to 261 M€. www.kiilto.com