Senior Material Specialist

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

Senior Material Specialist

About Millboard

Millboard is a leader in premium outdoor living solutions, producing high-performance decking and cladding used worldwide. Innovation, craftsmanship, and sustainability are central to everything we do. Our Materials function plays a critical role in ensuring our products remain best-in-class through advanced material development, testing, and compliance expertise.

About the Opportunity

We are looking for a Senior Material Specialist to lead Millboard's material development and testing activities. This role is essential in ensuring that our materials, formulations, and processes meet the highest performance, sustainability, and compliance standards.

As a senior technical authority, you will drive innovation in material development, support NPD programmes, and uphold product integrity through advanced analysis, specification control, and strategic problem-solving. You will collaborate closely with Production, NPD, Engineering, and external testing bodies to ensure our materials align with current and future business needs.

What You'll Be Doing

In this role, you will take ownership of advanced materials work including:

• Developing and managing material specifications and testing protocols for raw materials and composite formulations
• Approving supplier materials and ensuring alignment with Millboard standards
• Leading complex material investigations and root-cause analysis for quality or performance concerns
• Implementing corrective and preventive actions across material systems
• Managing fire classification readiness, including documentation, sample preparation, and liaison with external fire-testing partners
• Driving material innovation projects - evaluating new polymers, fillers, additives, paints, and more for performance, cost, and sustainability benefits
• Providing technical leadership for NPD trials and scale-up activities
• Ensuring formulations meet durability and aesthetic targets
• Maintaining calibration and compliance documentation; supporting internal and external audits
• Mentoring junior team members and ensuring adherence to SOPs, best practices, and ISO-aligned processes
• Reporting material performance trends and recommending strategic improvements to senior leadership

What We're Looking For

• Degree or higher qualification in Materials Science, Polymer Chemistry, Coatings, Paint Technology, or a related discipline
• Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence and guide cross-functional teams
• Analytical thinker with proven ability to resolve complex technical challenges
• Resilient, solutions-focused, and able to deliver high-quality outputs within a dynamic environment

Experience, Knowledge & Skills

• Minimum 5 years' experience in materials development, QA, or R&D within composites, polymers, or coatings
• Strong understanding of mechanical, thermal, and fire performance testing
• Familiarity with Euroclass / SBI fire testing standards (advantageous)
• Expertise in data analysis, laboratory practices, and statistical process control
• High proficiency in Microsoft Excel and technical documentation

Success Measures

• Zero critical material-related non-conformances during production and audit cycles
• On-time delivery of material development programmes and compliance submissions
• Documented improvements in cost, performance, or sustainability through material innovation
• Meeting test turnaround times for materials and in-process inspections (e.g., % completed within 24-48 hours)
• High data accuracy: zero critical errors in logs and ≥98% right-first-time results

Why Join Millboard?

• Lead the direction of material innovation within a growing premium brand
• Work across laboratory, production, and external testing environments
• Collaborate with talented specialists across NPD, Engineering, and Quality
• Influence sustainability, performance, and product advancement
• Join a company that values innovation, continuous improvement, and team growth

Ready to Lead Material Innovation?

Apply now and help us shape the next generation of high-performance products at Millboard.