Durban: Lead Materials Scientist – Advanced Materials R&D

Placements24; Durban; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement savings plan

Access to advanced labs

Job summary

Our client in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, seeks a Senior Materials Scientist to lead R&D on advanced materials for aerospace, energy and biomedical applications. You will conceptualize, synthesize, characterize, and test new compositions, and guide projects from idea to scale-up.

The role requires PhD and 6+ years of hands-on research, with SEM/TEM/XRD/XPS/DSC expertise and experience in CVD, PVD or additive manufacturing. Mentoring and collaboration are key parts of the role.

Qualifications

• PhD in Materials Science, Metallurgy, Chemical Engineering or related discipline.
• 6+ years hands-on research in synthesis and characterization.
• Experience with advanced characterization equipment (electron microscopy, spectroscopy, thermal analysis).

Responsibilities

• Lead R&D projects to create novel materials with enhanced properties.
• Plan, conduct, and analyze experiments using SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, and DSC.
• Synthesize and process materials using CVD, PVD, and additive manufacturing.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to scale lab discoveries to industrial processes.
• Develop and optimize material testing protocols to evaluate performance.
• Troubleshoot material-related issues in product development and manufacturing.
• Author technical reports, papers, and patent applications.
• Mentor junior scientists and technicians.
• Stay abreast of trends in materials science and nanotechnology.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Problem solving

Independent work

Communication skills

Technical writing

Education

PhD in Materials Science or related

Tools

Electron microscopy

XRD

SEM

XPS

Thermal analysis

Computational modeling

Job description

Our client in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, seeks a Senior Materials Scientist to lead R&D on advanced materials for aerospace, energy and biomedical applications. You will conceptualize, synthesize, characterize, and test new compositions, and guide projects from idea to scale-up.

The role requires PhD and 6+ years of hands-on research, with SEM/TEM/XRD/XPS/DSC expertise and experience in CVD, PVD or additive manufacturing. Mentoring and collaboration are key parts of the role.