Polymer Development Materials Engineer — Scale-Up Leader

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

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term incentives

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Medical coverage

Vision coverage

Dental coverage

401(k) plan

Disability insurance

Paid parental leave

Paid vacation

Paid holidays

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Materials Engineer in Polymer Development to lead end-to-end development of advanced polymer materials for spacecraft hardware. You will define material targets, drive formulation, test, and scale materials into manufacturing while collaborating across engineering and production teams.

The role requires a strong technical ownership mindset, 2+ years in polymer materials, and a track record of delivering high-performance solutions 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 develop materials meeting or exceeding design requirements.
• Investigate material failures and derive actionable learnings to accelerate progress.
• Serve as technical expert and project owner for polymeric material development.
• Mentor project specialists in formulation, testing, and process development.
• Collaborate with engineering and production to scale materials into manufacturing.
• Lead iterative development cycles with experiments, data analysis, and next actions.
• Drive projects from concept through qualification and production scale-up.
• Plan and interpret characterization and performance testing with labs.
• Support production to improve manufacturability and high-volume production.

Skills

Polymer formulation

Materials development

Cross-functional leadership

Project management

Analytical testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemistry

Master's degree in Chemistry/Polymer Science

PhD preferred

Tools

FTIR

TGA

DSC

DMA

NMR

GPC

GC

MS

Job description

SpaceX is seeking a Materials Engineer in Polymer Development to lead end-to-end development of advanced polymer materials for spacecraft hardware. You will define material targets, drive formulation, test, and scale materials into manufacturing while collaborating across engineering and production teams.

The role requires a strong technical ownership mindset, 2+ years in polymer materials, and a track record of delivering high-performance solutions for demanding programs.