Polymer Research Scientist — Innovate & Scale New Polymers

Placements24; East London; Hybrid; ZAR 850,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Conference attendance

Advanced lab facilities

Generous leave

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking an innovative Materials Scientist to lead polymer research and development at their Queenstown R&D facility. The role focuses on designing, synthesizing, and characterizing advanced polymeric materials with unique properties to drive product innovation.

You will work in a dynamic team environment, contributing to projects that enhance material performance. A PhD or MSc in related fields is required, with hands-on polymerization and analytical instrumentation experience.

Qualifications

• PhD or MSc in Materials Science, Polymer Science, Chemistry, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Design and synthesize novel polymers with tailored properties for specific applications.
• Characterize polymers using analytical techniques including GPC, DSC, TGA, FTIR, and microscopy.
• Investigate structure-property relationships to optimize material performance.
• Develop and scale-up polymerization processes with reproducibility and efficiency.
• Collaborate with engineering and product development teams to integrate new materials into next-generation products.

Skills

Polymer synthesis

Polymer characterization

Analytical instrumentation

Polymer processing

Team collaboration

Education

PhD in Materials Science

MSc in Polymer Science or Chemistry

Tools

GPC

DSC

TGA

FTIR

Microscopy

Job description

Placements24 is seeking an innovative Materials Scientist to lead polymer research and development at their Queenstown R&D facility. The role focuses on designing, synthesizing, and characterizing advanced polymeric materials with unique properties to drive product innovation.

You will work in a dynamic team environment, contributing to projects that enhance material performance. A PhD or MSc in related fields is required, with hands-on polymerization and analytical instrumentation experience.