RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Deep in the heart of our laboratories, they reinvent matter and create new technologies that allow us to dream big for the future! Meet the people who are passionate about progress in all its forms: our Research & Development team.
Our incredible team draw on the best of science to find concrete solutions to tomorrow’s biggest challenges. They are constantly rethinking our products to make them ever more environmentally friendly. They are, quite simply, Creators of well-being!
See the job vacancies in Research & Development
We design, produce, and distribute innovative materials to tackle the challenges facing the world: the need to house, transport, and care for 10 billion people by 2050, while also protecting the planet.
Innovating across the globe requires cross-functional collaboration on Research and Development. Eight Saint-Gobain research centers across Europe, Asia, and America design innovations for all of our customers around the world.
Our multidisciplinary research teams (with experts in mechanics, materials science, physics, chemistry, optics, mathematics, etc.) work passionately to improve existing materials and solutions, and invent and develop new products and services every year. We develop nearly 400 new patents every year.
Anticipating future skills needs and exploring new technical fields, while safeguarding the future of our planet, is all part of our DNA. Accordingly, new skills are continually being developed in fields such as data science or electronics, and research programs are being launched targeting connected objects, robotics, and additive manufacturing.
As a Data Scientist, you’ll be dealing with the major challenges related to the Group’s digital transformation. Your responsibilities will include Industry 4.0 projects (improving industrial production, optimizing the supply chain) and assignments related to commercial data (e.g., algorithms for e-commerce and digital market development platforms).
Your day-to-day responsibilities
Data!
You’ll collaborate with the Group’s departments and entities to scope their needs and conduct projects on topics as varied as production, supply chain logistics, marketing, and commercial development.
You’ll conduct analyses and construct models that use machine learning, deep learning, or optimization techniques. You’ll build models and incorporate them into application prototypes. You’ll communicate with the other teams to share your analyses and results.
Your tools
Python, R, and C++ programming languages, English, and your knowledge of industrial/operational issues. You will need to be on the lookout for new machine learning methods, and enjoy sharing them with the members of the team.
You will be in charge of scoping and managing resources and deadlines for the studies you’ll be running. You enjoy collaborating internally with R&D centers, plants, industrial departments, and marketing, and externally with startups, or during data science conferences and meetups.
You must hold a doctorate or engineering degree in mathematics, statistics, or physics from a university or French grande école, and have solid training in data analysis and machine learning.
As a Research Engineer, you’ll be in charge of designing and developing new products to support the construction, mobility, healthcare, and manufacturing industries, in an effort to ensure durability and performance.
Your day-to-day responsibilities
Finding the best trade-offs between energy savings, durability, and aesthetic appeal.
You’ll perform in-depth work by making samples, developing characterizations, and conducting simulations. You’ll interact with the teams on a national or international level in order to validate concepts, scale up the products developed, and improve existing products.
Your tools
Your tools will differ depending on the material you’re working on in your lab. That means you’ll need independence, organization, and scientific curiosity in order to tackle all of the challenges you’ll encounter.
An analyst at heart, your holistic approach, initiative, and communication skills (both written and spoken) allow you to publish your research results with ease. You are curious, and love digging up new trends and new projects to launch.
You hold a doctorate in engineering from a university or French grande école. You have developed advanced skills in your area of expertise. You are very internationally oriented, and have very good English skills.
As a Process R&D Engineer, you will organize, manage, and analyze industrial trials designed to optimize current processes and create new ones.
Your day-to-day responsibilities
Conducting Research & Development projects.
In collaboration with the Group’s various cross-functional research centers, you’ll develop a better understanding of the operations you work under (e.g., glazing, gypsum, etc.) by performing tests, characterizations, and trials on pilot plants in the lab. You’ll analyze and summarize the results, then communicate them to the other teams.
Your tools
You’ll spend about 70% of your time in the lab, while the rest will be spent providing technical support to the plants to improve their key performance indicators: product quality, output, and energy efficiency.
You are methodical and results-oriented. Your independence and proactiveness will lead you to success. Your ability to teach, interact, and work with other stakeholders in a multicultural environment will allow you to guide the plants through their development.
As a general engineer (a doctorate would be a plus), you have solid technical and scientific skills in chemistry and materials sciences.
You have prior experience in an industrial environment, and your R&D approach is strongly results-driven.
You are fluent in English.
As a Research Technician, you’ll help formulate new laboratory-scale and factory-scale products, while optimizing the corresponding processes.
Your day-to-day responsibilities
Developing experimental protocols and providing a healthy dose of curiosity!
You’ll formulate new products, test their performance, and analyze their physical and chemical properties in order to develop new processes for construction materials (e.g., 3D-printed mortars) for the mobility, healthcare, and manufacturing industries.
Your tools
The lab and its equipment. You will be responsible for performing maintenance, training users, implementing improvements, and ensuring that health and safety rules are followed.
You love to experiment on your own, with curiosity and thoroughness. Your critical mind when analyzing tests, as well as your initiative when it comes to proposing new ideas, allow you to work on a variety of different projects.
You must have a vocational degree in physical chemistry, chemical formulation, or materials science, as well as prior experience in man.
Our employees testify
Cyril, R&D Project Manager - France
Research & Development jobs are, by definition, exciting jobs. My greatest satisfaction? Seeing one of my ideas brought to life on a production line!
Marion, R&D Engineer - USA
The dynamic in my job that keeps me highly motivated, day after day, is this constant exchange of ideas between engineers from all over the world: each one contributes his or her small stone to this immense edifice of innovation.
Passionate About Science
Seven employees of Saint-Gobain Research Paris share their passion for science and research in this series entitled "Passionate About Science".
Discover the 7 videosFind out more about the other sectors
SUPPLY CHAIN
These jobs help manage all of the links in the supply chain, and are involved in all of the Group’s operations: in our plants and in our distribution chains. These jobs are essential for delivering quality service and products.
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INFORMATION SYSTEMS
With more than 160,000 email addresses, 120,000 computers, and 40 SAP applications, we have nearly 2,900 IT professionals around the world working in real time on our information systems.
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TECHNICAL PRODUCTION
1 in 4 Saint-Gobain products sold today did not exist five years ago. Once these products are conceived and designed, the technical and production teams take over. Without them, no product would ever get made.
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