Chemical / Materials Engineer – Space Solar
About The Position
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 Chemical / Materials Engineer on the Starlight team, you will work alongside our senior chemists on the materials and chemistries behind our solar cells and encapsulation systems. You'll support development, characterization, and scale-up work across cell chemistry, polymer encapsulation, and barrier systems — running experiments, building process workflows, and translating bench-scale chemistry into stable, reproducible manufacturing.
Requirements
- 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 (internship and academic research applicable)
- 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
Nice To Haves
- Master's degree in a relevant discipline
- Direct experience with thin-film PV, OLED, OPV, or related solution-processed optoelectronic materials
- Hands-on experience with polymer chemistry — encapsulants, adhesives, barrier films, or bonded joints
- Experience with solution-processed deposition methods (spin coating, blade coating, slot-die coating) or polymer curing and lamination
- Proficiency with common characterization techniques — XRD, XPS, FTIR, DSC, TGA, SEM, AFM, photoluminescence, IV, EQE
- Experience translating bench chemistry to larger-area or pilot-scale processes
- Familiarity with glovebox operations, cleanroom protocols, and chemical safety
- Experience using Python, MATLAB, or comparable tools for data analysis
- Exposure to aerospace, space, or other high-reliability hardware environments
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 techniques such as 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
Benefits
- Competitive salary plus equity package
- PTO
- health/dental/vision coverage
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
