Director of Research and Development

Find out more about this role by reading the information below, then apply to be considered. Purpose: The Director of Research and Development at Home Legend positively influences profitability, sustainability, customer satisfaction, and ultimately strives to unify scalable business innovations that enable Home Legend to continuously provide quality flooring products at a highly competitive price. The ideal candidate puts ideas into action by leveraging cross-functional stakeholder engagements and conscientious consumer, competitor, and market analyses to effectively advance new product development. This position is based in the Continental United States and frequently travels both nationally and internationally. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Leadership Establishes an adaptable framework for innovative research and development (R&D) that incorporates a profitable, sustainable, and customer-centric approach Develops immediate, mid-term, and long-term R&D financial goals designed to effectively enhance the organizational mission and productivity drivers Guides global collaboration across business units as well as with industry partners and all other stakeholders to incorporate wide-scale R&D considerations and full-cycle project management Directs, develops, and empowers the R&D team to achieve targets by maximizing and practically applying combined knowledge and expertise across human, social, and scientific disciplines Research & Process Development Conducts consumer analyses to confirm needs, trends, values, and correlating influences Tracks the evolution of direct and indirect competitors to understand their market impact; continuously explores Home Legends opportunities to pursue value-added differentiation Investigates additional internal and external factors that challenge Home Legends positive market influence such as economic, legal, and ethical considerations Identifies and evaluates emerging technologies and environmentally sustainable solutions Adopts R&D modeling and experimentation methods that optimize return on investment Collects, organizes, interprets, and reports R&D results Continuously reevaluates the effectiveness of potential and adopted innovative solutions Product Development Determines how products can be efficiently sourced, manufactured, designed with a balance between meaningful functionality with aesthetic design, how they can maintain reasonable quality, sustainability, and be reliably delivered to customers Establishes and directs the utilization of calculative testing methods for developing product designs; guides testing, information gathering, and reporting processes Ensures flooring system attributes are understood and evaluated; attributes include material properties, chemical processes, composition potential, production technologies, compliance requirements, direct and indirect costs, and inherent risks Collects, organizes, interprets, and reports testing results to qualify product solutions; formulates and submits proposals and technical specifications Develops a framework for the implementation of the approved innovative solutions Job Skills: Excellent analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills Ability to navigate innovation ecosystems to source quality support for R&D processes Fundamental understanding of the flooring supply chain environment Ability to apply strong technical knowledge of flooring materials, design, production techniques, performance testing, and sustainability to help launch new products and improve existing offerings Strong understanding of environmental certifications and supply chain compliance standards High-caliber global business acumen with the ability to balance innovation, cost, and feasibility Excellent leadership, communication, time management, and cross-functional collaboration skills Experience in sectors undergoing digital or business model transformations Education and Experience: Bachelors or Masters degree in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field 7-10 years of R&D experience in flooring industry 5+ years in a leadership role managing technical teams and cross-functional collaboration Experience working in a medium-sized and/or entrepreneurial environment is highly valued Physical Requirements: Ability to frequently travel nationally and internationally