Sr. Materials Scientist

Role details

Safety & Laboratory Management

• Maintain laboratory activities in accordance with established safety, quality, and operational requirements.
• Promote a safe, clean, organized, and compliant laboratory environment consistent with Elinor protocols.

Material Characterization & Quality Control

• Lead analytical testing and qualification of incoming raw materials, including resins, polymers, binders, solvents, pigments, extenders, and functional additives.
• Establish and execute protocols for evaluating aging, volatile, and humidity-sensitive chemical inventory.
• Review CoAs, technical data, material submittals, and manufacturer certifications against internal specifications.
• Evaluate materials for degradation, contamination, cross-linking, phase separation, moisture ingress, and other quality concerns.
• Investigate batch failures, nonconforming materials, and off-spec product performance.
• Oversee incoming material inspection, testing documentation, and traceability records.

Independent Analytical & Failure-Mode Evaluation

• Perform advanced analytical testing using FTIR, UV-Vis, DSC, TGA, rheology, GC/MS, microscopy, spectroscopy, and environmental/mechanical methods.
• Lead coating and material failure investigations to identify root causes and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Develop and refine analytical methods to ensure consistency, repeatability, and scientific rigor.

Stress Testing & Reliability Assessment

• Lead thermal cycling, humidity, UV, abrasion, chemical resistance, accelerated aging, and other reliability testing.
• Interpret analytical and performance data and provide recommendations for formulation, process, and product improvements.

Quality Oversight & AS9100 Independence

• Maintain required independence from formulation, product modification, and disposition decisions in accordance with AS9100 requirements.
• Generate and communicate objective analytical findings, quality assessments, and technical recommendations.
• Provide independent analytical evidence supporting corrective-action and nonconformance investigations without exercising disposition authority.

Technical Leadership & Collaboration

• Serve as a technical resource for material performance, degradation, substrate interactions, analytical methods, and quality-control matters.
• Collaborate with scientists, managers, leadership, and customers on analytical investigations, testing programs, and quality requirements.
• Mentor scientists and technicians in analytical techniques, data interpretation, and quality-control practices.
• Prioritize and lead multiple QC evaluation programs and cross-functional analytical initiatives.

Documentation & Compliance

• Develop and maintain QA/QC SOPs, controlled documents, testing records, and supporting documentation to ensure traceability and audit readiness.

Other Duties

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Elinor Coatings, LLC accelerates custom development of chromate-free anti-corrosion and specialty coatings and metal protection systems for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). We pioneer metal-rich solutions for aluminum, magnesium and titanium and the latest universal primers to protect against galvanic corrosion where steel and lightweight substrates meet. We address the toughest corrosion issues and provide longer-lasting readiness for vehicles, communication systems, superstructures, weapon systems and general deployment with agile surface solutions in convenient packaging designed for safer, cleaner, hassle-free application on land and at sea in all types of climates.

Benefits

• Paid time off
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• 401(k) matching

Job Type: fulltime

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Education

Master's degree

Work location: On-site

Research Park. 1805 NDSU Research Park Dr N, Fargo, ND, 58102