Materials Scientist, Polymers
Description
About 1X
1X builds humanoid robots for the home that take on chores and everyday tasks, giving people back their time. That is harder than it sounds: it means advancing robotics, AI, and manufacturing at the same time, at scale, in a machine safe enough to live with a family. We have been working on this since 2014. We believe the hardest research is behind us and the hardest execution is ahead.
Our flagship product, NEO, is a home robot built to move, learn, and work alongside people, and it is shipping, not just demoing. If you want to see important work reach the public, join us as we work to safely create broad abundance.
About the Team
The Materials Science team develops the polymers, fibers, elastomers, adhesives, coatings, and functional materials that determine how durable, efficient, safe, and manufacturable our robots are. We move quickly from the lab into robot systems and work closely with mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and systems engineers.
Your Charter
Lead polymer-chemistry and polymer-physics R&D on novel tendon materials, protective coatings, and load-bearing composites for humanoid robots. You will work alongside engineers to invent and evaluate new tendon approaches, develop the coatings and jackets that protect them, build and run the equipment used to make high-performance polymers and fibers, characterize what you make, and carry the best candidates into production. Focus areas include strength and stiffness, creep, flex and bend-over-sheave fatigue, adhesion, abrasion, friction, and long-term aging.
Key Outcomes
Develop novel tendon materials and architectures that outperform current solutions in strength, creep resistance, and fatigue life.
Develop polymer coatings and jackets for tendons, fibers, and load-bearing composites that improve adhesion, abrasion and wear resistance, friction, and flex durability.
Set up and operate processing equipment to make high-performance materials in-house, such as twin-screw extrusion and compounding, compression molding, coating lines, fiber spinning and drawing, and lab-scale polymerization reactors.
Connect chemistry, processing, and polymer physics to measured tendon performance, and build structure-process-property-performance models that guide design decisions.
Characterize materials, coatings, and tendon constructs using tensile, creep and stress-relaxation, cyclic and flex fatigue, abrasion, adhesion, DMA, DSC, TGA, FTIR, rheology, and microscopy.
Investigate rope, coating, and composite failures, identify root causes, and implement chemistry- and physics-driven fixes.
Establish lab procedures, test methods, and documentation that support manufacturing readiness, supplier transfer, and IP development.
Key Competencies
Deep grounding in polymer chemistry together with a strong command of polymer physics to understand how high-performance materials function.
Working knowledge of coating formulation, surface preparation, and adhesion, and how they interact with the substrate underneath.
Hands-on skill with polymer synthesis, compounding, and processing equipment, and the judgment to choose the right process for a target property.
Creativity in proposing and testing unconventional material and structural approaches to tendons, coatings, and load-bearing parts.
Data-driven mindset: designs rigorous experiments and uses the results to refine materials and processes.
Collaborate well with chemists, materials scientists, and mechanical, manufacturing, and systems engineers.
Own research from the first concept through production and thrive in a fast-paced environment.
Minimum Requirements
MS in chemistry, polymer science/engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, or a closely related field.
3+ years of hands-on R&D experience developing high-performance polymers, polymer coatings, fibers, or polymer composites.
Strong working knowledge of polymer physics and how it governs mechanical behavior under sustained and cyclic load.
Experience operating one or more types of polymer processing or coating equipment (e.g., extrusion, compounding, fiber spinning/drawing, coating, or molding).
Knowledge of polymer synthesis and formulation.
Experience with DMA, DSC, TGA, FTIR, rheology, and mechanical testing, including creep and fatigue.
Experience with design of experiments (DOE) and statistical analysis.
Preferred Skills
PhD in chemistry, polymer science/engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, polymer physics, or an MS of similar background with 5+ years of relevant industry experience
Experience with high-performance fibers and ropes for actuation or load bearing.
Experience building or modifying lab and pilot-scale processing lines.
Experience developing coatings, surface treatments, or sizings for fibers, ropes, or composites.
Experience scaling materials from the lab to pilot or high-volume manufacturing.
Experience working with suppliers and documenting inventions and patents.
Demonstrated ability to design and deliver highly innovative solutions.
What Does a Successful 1X Team Member Look Like?
Successful team members are builders who move quickly and take full ownership of their work. They treat time as irreplaceable, follow through on what they commit to, and hold themselves to high standards without being asked. They push each other to get better, honestly and respectfully.
Successful materials scientists at 1X combine scientific rigor with an engineering mindset. They enjoy inventing new materials and attacking hard, cross-disciplinary problems, and they turn lab results into scalable technology that makes our robots stronger, longer-lived, and more capable. They are comfortable designing experiments, building and running equipment, analyzing complex data, troubleshooting manufacturing issues, and bringing new materials into production.
Compensation Range
$200,000 – $248,000 annual salary, based on experience, plus equity.
Benefits
Medical, dental, and vision coverage
PTO, holidays, and parental leave
401(k) with company match
FSA/HSA
Commuter benefits
Disability and life insurance
Employee Assistance Program
Onsite snacks and catered lunches
Equal Opportunity Employer
1X is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.