Portfolio Operations Associate Jobs in Cleveland, OH

The Associate Director, Global Testing, Certifications & Qualifications leads the global capability for testing strategy, certification execution, product qualification, technical approvals, and testing-data management for the Protective Coatings Business. This role builds the systems, governance, external partnerships, and budget discipline needed to support innovation, commercialization, specification positioning, market access, and long-term portfolio value. Passive Fire Protection will be the initial area of focus, with processes and tools designed to scale across the broader Protective Coatings portfolio.
The position works across R&D, Engineering, Product Management, Technical Service, Commercial, Marketing, Digital & IT, regional teams, and external testing organizations to ensure testing investments are prioritized, executed, documented, and leveraged globally.
This position can be worked remotely.
Job duties include contact with other employees and access confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company's staff, employees, and business relationships.
Responsibilities
1. Global Testing, Certifications & Qualifications Strategy
• Set the global testing, certification, and qualification strategy for the Protective Coatings Business.
• Build testing and qualification roadmaps aligned with portfolio priorities, market needs, customer requirements, and growth opportunities.
• Prioritize testing and certification investments based on business value, market access impact, risk, cost, and speed to commercialization.
• Improve testing efficiency, reduce cycle time, and increase reuse of existing test data, approvals, and certification assets.
2. Testing Program Leadership
• Own the global portfolio of testing programs supporting product development, certification maintenance, product qualification, portfolio expansion, and market access.
• Develop annual testing plans and budgets with R&D, Product Management, Engineering, Commercial, and regional teams.
• Manage regional and global testing budgets, including prioritization, cost tracking, spend visibility, and alignment to business priorities.
• Coordinate internal and external testing activity to ensure schedule discipline, clear ownership, and consistent execution.
• Drive consistent methods, documentation standards, reporting practices, and governance across regions.
3. Passive Fire Protection Focus Area
• Lead testing, certification, approvals, and assessment activities supporting the Passive Fire Protection portfolio.
• Manage fire testing programs supporting intumescent coatings and related fire-protection systems.
• Maintain, extend, and leverage fire approvals, certifications, test reports, and technical assessments globally.
• Partner with Engineering, Product Management, Technical Service, and Commercial teams to translate fire test data into practical technical, customer, and business decisions.
• Establish repeatable practices and systems that can be leveraged across additional Protective Coatings technologies.
4. Product Development & Commercialization Support
• Define testing, qualification, certification, and validation requirements early in development programs.
• Support product launches, specification approvals, portfolio extensions, and customer qualification needs.
• Leverage existing test data, certifications, approvals, and technical assessments to accelerate commercialization.
• Reduce time-to-market through disciplined testing strategies, clear requirements, and early alignment with business priorities.
5. Testing Data & Knowledge Management
• Lead development of a centralized global database for testing results, certifications, approvals, assessments, qualifications, and technical validation data.
• Partner with R&D, Engineering, Technical Service, Product Management, Digital & IT, regional teams, and external partners to establish a scalable knowledge platform.
• Create governance processes to ensure records, reports, approvals, and assessments are consistently captured, maintained, and accessible globally.
• Improve visibility and use of historical testing data to reduce duplicate work, accelerate development, support certification extensions, and improve customer responsiveness.
• Develop reporting capabilities for certification status, testing schedules, approval coverage, upcoming renewals, testing spend, and strategic certification gaps.
6. External Testing Organization Management
• Develop strong working relationships with external laboratories, certification organizations, testing partners, and assessment bodies.
• Coordinate external testing programs, assessments, certification activities, schedules, and execution priorities.
• Evaluate testing partners based on quality, responsiveness, technical capability, cost effectiveness, and business value.
• Partner with regional leaders and external organizations to manage testing costs, improve budget visibility, and optimize global testing spend.
7. Process Excellence
• Develop standardized global processes for testing, certifications, approvals, and qualification activities.
• Improve visibility of testing schedules, certification status, project priorities, and testing spend across the business.
• Support implementation of digital tools and systems that improve speed, efficiency, governance, and business responsiveness.
Qualifications
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
• Must be legally authorized to work in the country of employment without needing sponsorship for employment work visa status now or in the future (e.g., OPT, CPT, H1B, EB-1,etc.)
• Bachelor's degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math field.
• Must be at least 18 years of age.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in testing, product qualification, certifications, coatings technology, fire protection technologies, engineering support, laboratory operations, or related technical disciplines.
• Experience managing testing programs involving external laboratories and certification organizations.
• Strong understanding of Protective Coatings technologies and testing methodologies.
• Knowledge of testing and certification processes associated with industrial coating systems and passive fire protection products.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional projects involving R&D, Engineering, Technical Service, Product Management, and Commercial teams.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Master's degree
• Prior experience leading a testing and/or certification lab
Travel Requirements: 50%
This position is not eligible for sponsorship for work authorization now or in the future, including conversion to H-1B visa.
Successful candidate will be required to sign an Employee Restrictive Covenant Agreement where permitted by law.
About Us
At Sherwin-Williams, our purpose is to inspire and improve the world by coloring and protecting what matters. Our paints, coatings and innovative solutions make the places and spaces in our world brighter and stronger. Your skills, talent and passion make it possible to live this purpose, and for customers and our business to achieve great results. Sherwin-Williams is a place that takes its stability, growth and momentum and translates it to possibility for our people. Our people are behind the strength of our success, and we invest and support you in:
Life ... with rewards, benefits and the flexibility to enhance your health and well-being
Career ... with opportunities to learn, develop new skills and grow your contribution
Connection ... with an inclusive team and commitment to our own and broader communities
It's all here for you... let's Create Your Possible
At Sherwin-Williams, part of our mission is to help our employees and their families live healthier, save smarter and feel better. This starts with a wide range of world-class benefits designed for you. From retirement to health care, from total well-being to your daily commute-it matters to us. A general description of benefits offered can be found at http://www.myswbenefits.com/. Click on "Candidates" to view benefit offerings that you may be eligible for if you are hired as a Sherwin-Williams employee.
Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case and will impact where actual compensation may fall within the stated wage range. The wage range listed for this role takes into account the wide range of factors considered in making compensation decisions including skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. The wage range, other compensation, and benefits information listed is accurate as of the date of this posting. The Company reserves the right to modify this information at any time, with or without notice, subject to applicable law.
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws including with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act where applicable.
Sherwin-Williams is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, age, pregnancy, genetic information, creed, marital status or any other consideration prohibited by law or by contract.
As a VEVRAA Federal Contractor, Sherwin-Williams requests state and local employment services delivery systems to provide priority referral of Protected Veterans.
Please be aware, Sherwin-Williams recruiting team members will never request a candidate to provide a payment, ask for financial information, or sensitive personal information like national identification numbers, date of birth, or bank account numbers during the application process.