Space Solar Materials Engineer — High-Impact & Growth

starpath.space; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

Retirement plans

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Starpath Robotics in Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA, seeks a Chemical / Materials Engineer to advance space solar technologies. You will work with senior chemists on chemistries behind solar cells and encapsulation, translating bench-scale chemistry into stable manufacturing.

The role emphasizes experimental work, materials characterization, and process scale-up, with opportunities to contribute to high-reliability aerospace applications and a mission-driven culture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, applied physics, or a related discipline.
• 1+ years of hands-on experience with thin-film photovoltaic, optoelectronic, polymer, or related materials.
• Working knowledge of materials characterization techniques and the ability to interpret chemical, thermal, and electrical data.
• Demonstrated ability to run experiments, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions from bench work.

Responsibilities

• Support development and optimization of chemistries and processes across cell materials, polymer encapsulation, and barrier systems
• Run experiments, characterize materials, and analyze data to inform chemistry and process decisions
• Build and maintain lab workflows, sample tracking, and characterization pipelines that support fast iteration
• Perform materials and device characterization using XRD, XPS, FTIR, DSC, TGA, SEM, photoluminescence, IV, and stability/degradation testing
• Partner with senior chemists on root-cause investigations connecting chemistry to device and encapsulation performance
• Support scale-up of bench-level chemistry into stable, reproducible processes on the manufacturing line
• Contribute to environmental stability strategies — moisture, oxygen, thermal, UV, and radiation tolerance
• Maintain lab safety, chemical inventory, and contamination control practices
• Push back on unnecessary complexity — simplify chemistries, reduce process steps, and cut overhead wherever it doesn't add value

Skills

Lab experiments

Materials characterization

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, applied physics, or related

Master's degree preferred

Tools

XRD

XPS

FTIR

DSC

TGA

SEM

Python

MATLAB

Job description

Starpath Robotics in Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA, seeks a Chemical / Materials Engineer to advance space solar technologies. You will work with senior chemists on chemistries behind solar cells and encapsulation, translating bench-scale chemistry into stable manufacturing.

The role emphasizes experimental work, materials characterization, and process scale-up, with opportunities to contribute to high-reliability aerospace applications and a mission-driven culture.