High-Performance Polymer Development Engineer

SpaceX; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term incentives

Discretionary bonuses

401(k) retirement plan

Medical, vision, and dental coverage

Paid parental leave

3 weeks paid vacation

10+ paid holidays per year

Sick leave

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Polymer Development Materials Engineer to lead development of advanced polymeric materials such as adhesives, paints, coatings, and emulsions for SpaceX hardware. You will partner with customers to define criteria, drive formulation, coordinate testing, and scale materials into manufacturing.

The role requires strong ownership, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to deliver high-performance materials for demanding programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Polymer Science, Materials Science and Engineering.
• 2+ years of professional experience in polymeric material formulation, chemical synthesis, polymer chemistry or a non-metallic materials engineering role.

Responsibilities

• Define material requirements with engineers and translate design criteria into technical targets.
• Own technical decision-making to deliver materials meeting design requirements.
• Investigate material failures and drive learnings to accelerate progress.
• Lead polymeric material development efforts across projects.
• Mentor lab technicians in formulation, testing, and process development.
• Collaborate with production to scale materials into manufacturing.
• Design experiments, analyze data, and plan next actions.
• Oversee scale-up from concept to production readiness.
• Coordinate with labs for testing and interpretation of results.
• Support process scale-up and manufacturability improvements.
• Maintain technical documentation of decisions and results.

Skills

Polymer formulation

Chemical synthesis

Polymer chemistry

Non-metallic materials

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemistry/Polymer Science

Master's or PhD in related discipline

Tools

FTIR

NMR

GPC

DSC

TGA

Job description

SpaceX is seeking a Polymer Development Materials Engineer to lead development of advanced polymeric materials such as adhesives, paints, coatings, and emulsions for SpaceX hardware. You will partner with customers to define criteria, drive formulation, coordinate testing, and scale materials into manufacturing.

The role requires strong ownership, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to deliver high-performance materials for demanding programs.