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Polymer Director Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Starpath

Polymer Chemist - Space Solar

Hawthorne, CA · On-site

$125K - $200K/yr

Polymer Chemist - Space Solar Position Details Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA Employment ... Direct experience formulating or qualifying encapsulation systems for moisture- and oxygen ...

ENTEK INTERNATIONAL LLC

Polymer Scientist

Lebanon, OR

$115K - $130K/yr

Interfaces with key customer(s) and provides direct technical service support as required ... Strong background in porous materials and polymer science Critical technical, professional, and ...

ENTEK

Polymer Scientist

Lebanon, OR · On-site

$115K - $130K/yr

Interfaces with key customer(s) and provides direct technical service support as required ... Strong background in porous materials and polymer science Critical technical, professional, and ...

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$117.5K

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How much do polymer director jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 29, 2026, the average yearly pay for polymer director in the United States is $117,480.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $80,000.00 and $157,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the typical challenges faced by a Polymer Director, and how are they addressed within an organization?

Polymer Directors often face challenges such as managing cross-functional teams, ensuring regulatory compliance, and staying ahead of emerging material technologies. They must balance research and development priorities with production timelines, cost constraints, and quality standards. To address these, organizations typically provide support through robust project management resources, ongoing professional development, and collaboration with R&D, quality assurance, and manufacturing teams. Successful Polymer Directors leverage their expertise and leadership to innovate solutions while ensuring product performance and reliability.

What is a Polymer Director job?

A Polymer Director is a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing polymer research, development, and production within a company. They manage teams of scientists and engineers, ensuring innovation, quality, and efficiency in polymer formulations and applications. Their duties often include strategic planning, project management, regulatory compliance, and collaboration with stakeholders to drive business growth. This role is critical in industries such as plastics, coatings, textiles, and biomedical materials.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Polymer Director position, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Polymer Director, you need an advanced understanding of polymer science, material properties, and process engineering, often backed by a graduate degree in chemistry, materials science, or chemical engineering. Familiarity with laboratory instrumentation, analytical software (such as LIMS), and regulatory compliance certifications (like ISO standards) is highly valuable. Leadership, strategic planning, and strong communication skills are critical to effectively manage teams and collaborate with other departments. These skills and qualifications enable a Polymer Director to drive innovation, ensure product quality, and successfully lead complex projects in a highly technical field.

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Polymer Director jobs near you
Infographic showing various Polymer Director job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 6% As Needed, 7% Full Time, 76% Part Time, 10% Contract, and 1% Nights. Highlights an 88% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 11% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $117,480 per year, or $56.5 per hour.
Polymer Chemist - Space Solar

Polymer Chemist - Space Solar

Starpath

Hawthorne, CA • On-site

$125K - $200K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO

Posted 6 days ago

Key responsibilities

  • Develop, formulate, and qualify polymer encapsulants, edge seals, barrier films, and adhesives for perovskite solar hardware.

  • Engineer moisture and oxygen barrier systems with ultra-low water vapor and oxygen transmission rates to protect perovskite cells.

  • Characterize polymer materials and bonded joints using techniques such as FTIR, DSC, TGA, WVTR/OTR, and lap shear/peel testing.

Job description

Polymer Chemist - Space Solar
Position Details
Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA
Employment Type: Full-time
Department: Starlight Solar
Travel: Occasional
About Starpath
Starpath develops and manufactures the technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars. Today, we are building robotic systems that locally produce the essential commodities a lunar civilization will require at extreme scale: water, power, and oxygen. Our ultimate goal is to build and operate a self-sustaining city on Mars.
The Role
The Starlight team is focused on dramatically improving space solar power to support Starpath's core mission and the greater space economy. Starlight manufactures the lowest cost and highest performance space solar ever, which will power the majority of new satellites built on Earth and all of Starpath's equipment on the Moon and Mars.
As a Polymer Chemist on the Starlight team, you will own the polymer materials, encapsulation systems, and barrier chemistries that protect our perovskite solar cells from the space environment. You'll drive the formulation, qualification, and integration decisions that determine how well our arrays survive moisture, oxygen, thermal cycling, UV, and radiation across years on orbit - while staying compatible with the underlying perovskite chemistry.
Responsibilities
  • Develop, formulate, and qualify polymer encapsulants, edge seals, barrier films, and adhesives for perovskite solar hardware
  • Engineer moisture and oxygen barrier systems with ultra-low water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and oxygen transmission rate (OTR) to protect perovskite cells
  • Develop low-temperature curing and lamination processes compatible with perovskite-cell processing constraints
  • Drive root-cause investigations on bonding, outgassing, delamination, and ingress-driven degradation across manufacturing and qualification testing
  • Characterize polymer materials and bonded joints using techniques such as FTIR, DSC, TGA, WVTR/OTR, and lap shear/peel testing
  • Evaluate polymer and encapsulation performance under space environments - vacuum outgassing (ASTM E595), thermal cycling, UV, atomic oxygen, and ionizing radiation
  • Translate bench chemistry into stable, high-yield production processes in partnership with cell, panel, and manufacturing engineering
  • Push back on unnecessary complexity - simplify chemistries, reduce cure times, and cut overhead wherever it doesn't add value

Required Qualifications
  • Master's or PhD in polymer chemistry, chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, or a related discipline
  • 3+ years of hands-on experience with polymer encapsulants, adhesives, or barrier films for sensitive optoelectronic or electronic devices (graduate research applicable)
  • Demonstrated ability to connect polymer chemistry and processing to device-level reliability outcomes

Preferred Qualifications
  • PhD in a relevant discipline with a focus on encapsulation, barrier materials, or polymer chemistry for optoelectronic devices
  • Direct experience formulating or qualifying encapsulation systems for moisture- and oxygen-sensitive devices (perovskite PV, OLED, OPV, or flexible electronics)
  • Hands-on experience with ultra-low WVTR/OTR barrier materials, including multilayer and inorganic-organic hybrid barrier stacks
  • Familiarity with low-temperature cure systems - UV, moisture cure, low-temperature thermal - compatible with perovskite processing constraints
  • Experience with surface preparation, adhesion science, and bond strength testing
  • Knowledge of space-grade material requirements - low outgassing (ASTM E595), UV stability, atomic oxygen resistance, and radiation tolerance
  • Experience scaling polymer processes from bench to high-rate production
  • Exposure to aerospace, space, or other high-reliability hardware environments

Compensation & Benefits
  • Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA
  • Competitive salary plus equity package; compensation scales with candidate experience
  • PTO & health/dental/vision coverage included

EAR REQUIREMENTS:
  • To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Equal Opportunity
Starpath is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

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