Researcher

With a strategy centered on people and sustainability, Braskem is engaged in contributing to the value chain to strengthen the Circular Economy. Braskem’s 9,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improving people's lives through sustainable solutions in chemicals and plastics. With its corporate DNA rooted in innovation, Braskem offers a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse industries, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, health and hygiene, and more. With 40 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Germany, Braskem exports its products to clients in over 70 countries.

Braskem America is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Braskem S.A. headquartered in Philadelphia. The company is the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, with six production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, as well as an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh and a New Renewable Innovation Center in Lexington, which focuses on leveraging groundbreaking developments in biotechnology and chemical catalysis. For more information, visit www.braskem.com/usa.

Department: Innovation & Technology

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Travel Involved: Less than 10%

Job Type: Hybrid 

Description:

Braskem is looking for a highly motivated Researcher to join the U.S. Polyolefin Catalysis team at the Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh. The role involves contributing to the discovery, development, and scale-up of heterogeneous polyolefin catalysts, translating business needs into innovative or improved catalyst solutions. Preference will be given to candidates with a strong background in Ziegler-Natta catalyst development and polymerization reaction engineering.

The candidate will work with the Global Catalysis team to understand business requirements and develop new catalyst programs to support product innovation, boost performance, or enhance existing technologies. Responsibilities include conducting freedom-to-operate (FTO) and technology landscape assessments to identify opportunities and inform catalyst discovery strategies.

The role requires hands-on catalyst synthesis, planning polymerization experiments, evaluating catalyst performance, and analyzing polymerization results and characterization data to understand structure-performance relationships and guide further development. Additionally, the researcher will assist in catalyst scale-up and technology transfer from laboratory to pilot and industrial stages, collaborating with global research, engineering, analytical, pilot, manufacturing, and external partners.

Key Responsibilities Include: 

• Demonstrate an uncompromising commitment to Braskem’s safety with strong knowledge of safe laboratory practices, including proper handling of hazardous, air-sensitive, and pyrophoric chemicals, chemical storage, waste disposal, and SDS requirements.