Principal/Senior Scientist, Formulation/Coating

Title: Principal/Senior Scientist, Formulation/Coating 

Report: Senior R&D Leader 

Location: Wilmington, DE 

Position Type: Full Time, Exempt 

Travel: Occasional 

About AirJoule, LLC 

Are you passionate about making a difference in the fight against climate change? Then AirJoule is the place for you We are a joint venture between GE Vernova and Montana Technologies, and a leader in the global sustainability transition. Our revolutionary atmosphere water harvesting technology enables transformative HVAC products that help our customers save money on their energy bills while reducing their environmental impact. The same core technology also enables atmospheric water harvesting products that create clean, abundant, and decentralized water for industrial, commercial, and humanitarian purposes. If you are a highly motivated and experienced individual who wants to make a real-world impact, we encourage you to apply 

Position Summary 

AirJoule is seeking a Principal Scientist or Senior Scientist to join the formulation technology team and lead the proprietary coating development. This product is the core component of our AirJoule® technology to produce pure water from the air with much less energy consumption. This assignment will be located at AirJoule’s new R&D center in Wilmington, DE. The scientist should be familiar with coating formulations, characterizations, tests, and application processes. Expertise in building structure-property relationships and understanding fundamental mechanisms is needed. The person in this role will focus on new product development, interact with suppliers, support manufacturing scale-up, and engage with various stakeholders. 

Key Responsibilities 

To perform in this position successfully, an individual must be able to perform each key responsibility satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Other duties may be assigned to meet business needs. 

• Lead and manage projects to design, formulate, test, and apply the new coatings that meet technical requirements, such as water-harvesting capacity, durability, stability, rheology, film thickness, etc. 
• Create and manage product portfolios for current customers and envision future markets.  
• Screen raw materials, define characterization methods, and build structure-property relationships based on deep understandings of chemistry and physics. 
• Manage project timelines and deliverables, including goals definition, stage-gate reviews, progress updates, technical reports, and internal and external meetings and presentations. 
• Work with cross-functional teams to understand the overall AirJoule equipment and technology, and to ensure the coating material has adequate properties and satisfies the end-user specifications. 
• Optimize the formulation compositions and lab-scale coating process; support the manufacturing team to enable process scale-up and quality control. 
• Involve in business team’s strategy and customer’s interaction to promote new technology.  
• Monitor the technology landscape, including reviewing past patents, conducting competitive analysis, and generating new patents. 
• Lead the IP strategy project, including working with consultant, lawyer, scientists, and leadership to produce technologies review, identify white space, and plan a new patent pathway. 
• Supervise and mentor junior team members to execute on designs, including formulation, application, and tests. 
• Uphold a safe, respectful, collaborative, inclusive, and appreciative team environment. 
• Be a stakeholder in lab management, including equipment, chemicals, SOPs, safety, housekeeping, quality, and audit. 

Education and Experience Requirements 

• The candidate possesses an advanced degree in Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Material Science, or related field. PhD is preferred. 
• Industrial R&D experience in the field of coatings, adhesives, emulsion/waterborne polymers, pigment dispersions, or composites is required. Experience with dip coating, curtain coating, E-coat, or powder coating process is preferred. 
• 5+ years’ industrial R&D experience preferred. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities 

• Strong project management skills with experience of developing new/upgrade products. 
• Experience of successfully commercializing new/upgrade products.  
• Management or supervisory experience leading a technical team.  
• Experience in milling sorbent materials/pigments/fillers/slurry, formulating coatings, controlling compositions, paint stability and rheology, measuring water vapor sorption kinetics, and general materials characterization and testing. 
• Understanding of dip coating, curtaining coating, powder coating, and other coating application processes. 
• Expertise in experimental design, characterizations, structure-property relationship establishment, and FMEA analysis. 
• Skilled at using statistical tools to optimize the formulation and drive decision-making. 
• Skilled at initiating projects, setting targets, brainstorming and screening ideas, developing and optimizing formulations, working with operation team for scale-up and quality control, and engaging in customer trial and improvement. 
• Familiar with the Stage-Gate project management process.  
• Proactive in working cross-functionally and aligning progress with all stakeholders, including technologists, operations, quality, and business teams. 
• Experience in writing claims, publishing patents, reviewing competitive IPs, and engaging in new IP strategy. 
• Ability to stay abreast of industrial trends and technology innovations, and scout new ideas. 
• Champion lab management responsibilities, including equipment setup and maintenance, chemicals inventory, standard operating procedure (SOP) documents, safety, housekeeping, and quality audits. 
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.  
• Ability to adapt to change and willingness to be flexible in a global team environment. 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills to internal and customer audiences. 

Other Requirements

• Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. AirJoule is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

AirJoule’s Benefits 

In addition to good working conditions and competitive pay, it is AirJoule’s policy to provide a comprehensive benefits package that provides access to plans which support the overall well-being of our employees and their dependents. These benefits include, but are not limited to, health care coverage (medical, dental, vision, pharmacy), a retirement plan that includes a 401K, Life Insurance options, Disability coverage, paid time-off, and more.  

How to Apply 

Qualified applicants should submit their resume with a cover letter outlining their qualifications to Human Resources via email at hr@airjoule.io. 

AirJoule, LLC does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibility, personal appearance, genetic information, matriculation, political affiliation, or any other status protected under law.