R&D Scientist – Synthetic Polymer Chemist

Overview

You will design and develop advanced polymer materials for Electrolube coatings, potting compounds, and thermal interface materials. You will advance polyurethane and UV-curable chemistries from concept to commercialisation, ensuring alignment with customer, manufacturing, and business goals. In a cross-functional R&D context, you drive innovation, scale-up, and continuous improvement to deliver high-performance materials for electronics applications. This role offers the chance to impact product performance and support global growth with cutting-edge chemistries.

Pay / Benefits

• salary starting from 48,770 per annum
• performance related bonus
• pension
• life assurance
• health cash plan
• training and development

Responsibilities

• Design, synthesize, and develop novel polymer systems for coatings, potting compounds, encapsulants, and TIMs
• Formulate and optimize polyurethane, UV-curable, and other thermoset technologies for target applications
• Lead lab-scale projects from concept to scale-up and commercialisation
• Develop new resin chemistries to achieve adhesion, flexibility, hardness, chemical resistance, and environmental durability
• Conduct formulation studies and performance testing to understand structure-property relationships
• Troubleshoot formulation, processing, and manufacturing challenges through scientific analysis
• Collaborate with application engineers, manufacturing, quality, and customers to meet market needs
• Evaluate new raw materials, technologies, and suppliers to drive innovation
• Support scale-up activities including pilot trials, process validation, and manufacturing implementation
• Generate technical reports and development summaries to communicate progress
• Ensure safety and regulatory compliance in all lab work
• Provide polymer chemistry expertise across the business

Key requirements

• PhD, MSc, or Bachelor in Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science, Organic Chemistry, or related field
• Proven industrial experience in synthetic polymer development and formulation
• Strong background in polyurethane chemistry and formulation
• Hands-on experience with UV-curable materials (acrylates and/or cationic)
• Experience in coatings, potting compounds, encapsulants, adhesives, sealants, TIMs, or related polymers
• Knowledge of polymer synthesis, curing mechanisms, and characterization methods
• Experience taking products from lab development through scale-up to manufacturing
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication for technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to manage multiple projects in cross-functional teams
• Experience with Lean and continuous improvement initiatives
• IT literate with MS Office; capable of handling experimental data and reports
• DOE and statistical analysis experience desirable
• Knowledge of electronics protection and thermal management materials; regulatory awareness desirable

• Excellent communication
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Problem-solving mindset
• Polymer synthesis and formulation
• Polyurethane chemistry
• UV-curable systems (acrylate and/or cationic)

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