Chemical / Materials Engineer – Space Solar

Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), California, United States; onsite with occasional travel

Salary: $125,000–$160,000 per year plus equity

Company

hirify.global develops and manufactures robotic systems and technologies for producing water, power, and oxygen on the Moon and Mars.

What you will do

• Develop and optimize chemistries and processes for solar-cell materials, polymer encapsulation, and barrier systems.
• Run experiments, characterize materials, analyze data, and support chemistry and process decisions.
• Build lab workflows, sample-tracking systems, and characterization pipelines.
• Investigate root causes linking chemistry to device and encapsulation performance.
• Scale bench-level chemistry into stable, reproducible manufacturing processes.
• Support environmental stability strategies covering moisture, oxygen, thermal, UV, and radiation exposure.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, applied physics, or a related field.
• At least 1 year of hands-on experience with thin-film photovoltaics, optoelectronics, polymers, or related materials; internships and academic research count.
• Working knowledge of materials characterization and interpretation of chemical, thermal, and electrical data.
• Ability to run experiments, analyze data, and draw conclusions from bench work.
• Must meet U.S. export-control eligibility requirements: U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or eligible to obtain the required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Nice to have

• Thin-film PV, OLED, OPV, solution-processed optoelectronic materials, or polymer chemistry experience.
• Experience with spin coating, blade coating, slot-die coating, polymer curing, or lamination.
• Proficiency with XRD, XPS, FTIR, DSC, TGA, SEM, AFM, photoluminescence, IV, or EQE.
• Experience with pilot-scale processes, gloveboxes, cleanrooms, Python, MATLAB, or high-reliability aerospace hardware.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on space-solar technology supporting lunar, Martian, and satellite applications.
• Collaborate with senior chemists and manufacturing teams.
• Maintain a strong focus on lab safety, chemical inventory, contamination control, and process simplification.
• PTO and health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Competitive compensation with an equity package.