Company Information

Spectrum Brands Holdings (https://www.spectrumbrands.com/)  is a global consumer products company offering a broad portfolio of leading brands focused on driving innovation and providing exceptional customer service. The Company is a leading supplier of residential locksets, residential builders’ hardware, plumbing, shaving and grooming products, personal care products, small household appliances, specialty pet supplies, lawn and garden, home pest control products, and personal insect repellents. Helping to meet the needs of consumers worldwide, our Company offers a wide portfolio of market-leading, well-known and widely trusted brands including Kwikset^®, Weiser^®, Baldwin^®, National Hardware^®, Pfister^®, Remington^®, George Foreman^®, Russell Hobbs^®, Black+Decker^®, Tetra^®, Marineland^®, GloFish^®, Nature’s Miracle^®, Dingo^®, 8-in-1^®, FURminator^®, IAMS^® and Eukanuba^® (Europe only), DreamBone^®, SmartBones^®, Digest-eeze^™, Healthy-Hide^®, Littermaid^®, Spectracide^®, Cutter^®, Repel^®, Hot Shot^®, Black Flag^® and Liquid Fence^®. Based in Middleton, Wisconsin, Spectrum Brands generated fiscal 2018 net sales of approximately $3.8 billion.

The Home & Garden business unit of Spectrum Brands is based in St. Louis, Missouri with distribution, manufacturing and sales offices throughout the US. We are a leading supplier of consumer products nationally for the home, lawn and garden, insect and weed control markets. We deliver groundbreaking products of exceptional value and top-notch quality to consumers with our well-recognized brands including Spectracide®, Hot Shot®, Cutter®, Repel®, Black Flag®, Garden Safe®, EcoLogic® and Liquid Fence®.

Job Summary

The Formulation Chemist II is primarily responsible for providing product development and testing activities for the Home & Garden R&D department. This position will focus on supporting our outdoor control products such as liquid, aerosol or granule insecticides and other pesticides. This position will also assist in troubleshooting existing products or manufacturing issues and provide technical expertise and support to manufacturing, marketing and sales.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Formulation and product development of EPA registered pesticides to meet business objectives for outdoor controls products in the consumer market. 
• Conduct studies under Good Laboratory Practices (GLP).
• Ensures technical information meets the highest scientific standards, and provides quality technical results, data interpretation and summarization to support and reinforce product positioning and business recommendations developed from these results.
• Reformulation of existing products to keep pace with a changing marketplace.
• Perform and monitor storage stability studies.
• Collaborate with Marketing and the New Product Development team to establish working timelines and develop innovative products.
• Log and compile stability data into cohesive reports.
• Assist in the maintenance and entries of R&D data bases.
• Maintain a detailed laboratory notebook for all projects.

Required Skills

• Knowledge of laboratory operations, equipment, and safety requirements.
• Good understanding of principles of formulation development and testing.
• Good understanding of inert ingredient uses and interactions.
• Strong understanding of GLP requirements.
• Ability to work independently with little supervision.
• Ability to think creatively and overcome obstacles.
• Excellent oral and written communication, and presentation skills, flexibility in shifting among projects.
• PC skills (spreadsheet, word processing, presentations).
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Ability to research and write scientific substantiation documents.
• Ability to work well in a team environment.
• Ability to communicate effectively with all levels within the organization.
• Ability to effectively manage project timelines and project resources.

Education and Experience Profile

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Chemistry, or a related science field. Or Master’s degree in a related field.
• 3-5 years of experience in product development or formulation of herbicide, insecticide and/or fungicide products in consumer or turf and/or ornamentals markets.

Work Environment:

• 50-60% lab environment
• 30-40% office environment
• 5-10% travel

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this job/classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Spectrum Brands is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.