Polymer & materials engineer careers

Polymer and materials engineers turn polymer science into products, formulating compounds, dialing in processing, qualifying materials, and solving failures across rubber, plastics, composites, coatings, and adhesives. Here is what the role pays, the skills employers ask for, and where the work is, computed live from every open listing we track.

4,081Open roles tracked

$115KMedian salary

The field spans several adjacent roles: formulation chemists design the recipe, process engineers scale it onto production equipment, R&D scientists push new chemistry, quality and applications engineers keep it performing in the field. Most polymer engineers move fluidly between these as they grow, which is why the skill set rewards both hands-on lab work and systems thinking.

Degree level shapes the entry point more than the ceiling. A BS or MS gets you onto the bench fast; a PhD opens research-led roles and tends to track higher on pay. But years of hands-on formulation or processing intuition, the kind that is hard to learn from a textbook, is what employers consistently pay a premium for.

Salary by career level

Director+ $185–256K

Staff/Principal $160–210K

Senior $120–162K

Manager $116–165K

Mid-level $93–125K

Postdoc $79–97K

Entry level $74–110K

Technician $52–75K

Most-requested skills

SPC 2%

DOE 2%

FTIR 2%

SEM 1%

DSC 1%

GD&T 1%

TGA 1%

failure analysis 1%

Where polymer engineers work

Aerospace 15%

Chemicals 14%

Automotive 10%

General manufacturing 9%

Energy 8%

Medical devices 8%

Semiconductor 7%

Defense 6%

Material specializations

Coatings/films 21%

Thermoplastics 20%

Composites 17%

Electronic materials 11%

Adhesives/sealants 8%

Thermosets 8%

Elastomers/rubber 8%

Biomaterials 3%

Salary by career level

Most-requested skills

Where polymer engineers work

Material specializations

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