Materials Science Engineer Jobs in Washington, DC

rePurpose Global helps brands meet their Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations across a fast-growing set of U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions, with expansion into global circular economy frameworks. Every defensible compliance filing relies on exact technical truth: precisely defining what a product is made of, then mapping those attributes directly into statutory rules. Dissecting complex BOMs, raw material specs, and material attributes across thousands of SKUs is the technical core of what we do.

As our Materials & Technical Compliance Engineer, you'll own that core. This is a hands-on material analysis role at heart: you'll break a product or packaging assembly down into its constituent materials, layers, and coatings; determine composition and weights - building the equivalent of a Full Material Disclosure (FMD) when suppliers can't provide one; and translate that into precise classification decisions grounded in the statutory text of each jurisdiction. You'll also help customers move their materials forward - modeling material switches, source-reduction options, and lower-fee alternatives grounded in design-for-circularity principles - and shaping the rules engine behind our proprietary compliance and material optimization platform. It's the meeting point of materials science, regulatory rigor, and applied analysis - engineered to flex across new physical material categories and regulatory regimes as they emerge.

You'll be the person who resolves the hardest classification and material questions no one else can, and who owns the classification logic that turns material facts into correct reports. You'll work alongside a product and engineering team who build the tools around this logic, serving as the technical authority who informs and grounds that work. Day-to-day, you'll own the technical calls that turn material facts into accurate, defensible reporting and audit-defensible filings.

• Analyze material composition & BOM structures. Break components down into their materials, layers, formulations, and coatings; determine resin, substrate, or compound types, percentages, and weights; and build defensible assumed compositions and material proxies when supplier specifications are incomplete or missing.

• Make classification determinations grounded in regulation. Translate material composition into correct reporting classifications for each jurisdiction, reading and applying the relevant statutory and program definitions rather than generalizing across programs.

• Model material recommendations for customers. Run material-switch, source-reduction, and fee-scenario analyses - identifying more recyclable, lower-fee, or reduced-material alternatives - and translate the tradeoffs (cost, physical performance, and eco-modulation rates) into guidance customers can act on.

• Own the classification logic. Author and maintain the classification configuration (the routing rules that map material attributes to reporting categories) across jurisdictions, and modernize it as regulation and materials evolve.

• Run rigorous quality control. Own schema conformance and a multi-pass QC process - checking for material and threshold errors, gaps, overlaps, and misroutes - and provide final technical sign-off on client deliverables.

• Resolve the hardest technical questions. Serve as the deepest tier of the technical queue for escalated composition, classification, exemption, and mapping questions.

• Shape our automated recommendation engine. Define the material science, threshold, and specification rules that power our platform's automated material suggestions and compliance routing.

• Bridge materials science and platform logic. Supply the physical material and regulatory requirements the product and engineering team build against, translating material properties into structured rules for our platform engine. (Supporting the build, not managing it.)

• Support bespoke material deep-dives. Serve as the home for in-depth, bespoke material analysis and technical recyclability/circularity evaluations for customers.

• A materials or engineering foundation. A degree and/or substantial hands-on background in a materials or engineering discipline - materials science, chemistry, plastics/polymer engineering, textile engineering, packaging science/engineering, industrial or mechanical engineering, or a related field.

• Material analysis ability. The ability to reason about what products and materials are made of - resins, laminates, coatings, composites, synthetics, or multi-layer assemblies - how those materials behave, and how to estimate composition and weight when data is incomplete.

• Analytical rigor and precision. Exceptional attention to detail and comfort owning precise, high-stakes analysis and quality-control work where small errors have real reporting and financial consequences.

• A strong interest in policy and research. The temperament to ground technical decisions in regulatory text, and the diligence to research and defend a determination rather than guess.

• Clear technical communication. The ability to translate material and regulatory analysis into requirements and explanations that product, engineering, and customer teams can act on.

These are a plus, not a requirement - we welcome strong candidates who bring the core profile above.

• Applied material domain expertise (strongly valued). Hands-on experience working with physical materials - as a raw material supplier, converter, chemical evaluator, or manufacturer - or deep familiarity with material characterization, specs, and processing methods. (Packaging expertise is a strong advantage given our immediate core, but candidates with polymer, textile, or chemical backgrounds are encouraged to apply.)

• Technical tooling & automation. Comfort with data analysis, ERP structures, or technical software, plus hands-on scripting or automation experience (e.g., Python, SQL) to build, test, and streamline the workflows that scale this analysis.

• EPR / sustainability exposure. Prior work in EPR, compliance, sustainability, or circular economy across the U.S. (e.g., state-level Producer Responsibility Laws), Canada (e.g., PRO programs), or Europe.

• Lifecycle or recyclability analysis. Familiarity with life-cycle assessment (LCA), design-for-recyclability/circularity protocols, or recycled-content evaluation.