---
title: 'Polymer Chemist - Space Solar at Starpath Robotics'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/polymer-chemist-space-solar-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-mbp64fjcf5hx'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Polymer Chemist - Space Solar at Starpath Robotics

- **Company:** Starpath Robotics
- **Location:** Hawthorne, CA
- **Compensation:** $125k–$200k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-06-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/starpath.space/3754d81e-3cf4-472b-b762-d1bca9d6df0f/application

**Skills:** Polymer encapsulants, Adhesives, Barrier films, Perovskite solar cells, Moisture barrier systems, Oxygen barrier systems, Low-temperature curing, Lamination processes, Root-cause investigation, FTIR, DSC, TGA, WVTR/OTR testing, Lap shear testing, Peel testing, Vacuum outgassing testing, Thermal cycling testing, UV testing, Atomic oxygen testing, Ionizing radiation testing

> The Polymer Chemist owns polymer materials, encapsulation systems, and barrier chemistries for perovskite solar cells, ensuring protection against space environments. The role involves developing formulations, qualifying materials, and driving integration decisions to ensure long-term reliability of solar arrays.

## Job description

Polymer Chemist – Space Solar

Position Details Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA Employment Type: Full-time Department: Starlight Solar Travel: Occasional

## About Starpath

Starpath develops and manufactures the technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars. Today, we are building robotic systems that locally produce the essential commodities a lunar civilization will require at extreme scale: water, power, and oxygen. Our ultimate goal is to build and operate a self-sustaining city on Mars.

## The Role

The Starlight team is focused on dramatically improving space solar power to support Starpath's core mission and the greater space economy. Starlight manufactures the lowest cost and highest performance space solar ever, which will power the majority of new satellites built on Earth and all of Starpath's equipment on the Moon and Mars.

As a Polymer Chemist on the Starlight team, you will own the polymer materials, encapsulation systems, and barrier chemistries that protect our perovskite solar cells from the space environment. You'll drive the formulation, qualification, and integration decisions that determine how well our arrays survive moisture, oxygen, thermal cycling, UV, and radiation across years on orbit — while staying compatible with the underlying perovskite chemistry.

## Responsibilities

- Develop, formulate, and qualify polymer encapsulants, edge seals, barrier films, and adhesives for perovskite solar hardware
- Engineer moisture and oxygen barrier systems with ultra-low water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and oxygen transmission rate (OTR) to protect perovskite cells
- Develop low-temperature curing and lamination processes compatible with perovskite-cell processing constraints
- Drive root-cause investigations on bonding, outgassing, delamination, and ingress-driven degradation across manufacturing and qualification testing
- Characterize polymer materials and bonded joints using techniques such as FTIR, DSC, TGA, WVTR/OTR, and lap shear/peel testing
- Evaluate polymer and encapsulation performance under space environments — vacuum outgassing (ASTM E595), thermal cycling, UV, atomic oxygen, and ionizing radiation
- Translate bench chemistry into stable, high-yield production processes in partnership with cell, panel, and manufacturing engineering
- Push back on unnecessary complexity — simplify chemistries, reduce cure times, and cut overhead wherever it doesn't add value

Required Qualifications

- Master's or PhD in polymer chemistry, chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, or a related discipline
- 3+ years of hands-on experience with polymer encapsulants, adhesives, or barrier films for sensitive optoelectronic or electronic devices (graduate research applicable)
- Demonstrated ability to connect polymer chemistry and processing to device-level reliability outcomes

## Preferred Qualifications

- PhD in a relevant discipline with a focus on encapsulation, barrier materials, or polymer chemistry for optoelectronic devices
- Direct experience formulating or qualifying encapsulation systems for moisture- and oxygen-sensitive devices (perovskite PV, OLED, OPV, or flexible electronics)
- Hands-on experience with ultra-low WVTR/OTR barrier materials, including multilayer and inorganic-organic hybrid barrier stacks
- Familiarity with low-temperature cure systems — UV, moisture cure, low-temperature thermal — compatible with perovskite processing constraints
- Experience with surface preparation, adhesion science, and bond strength testing
- Knowledge of space-grade material requirements — low outgassing (ASTM E595), UV stability, atomic oxygen resistance, and radiation tolerance
- Experience scaling polymer processes from bench to high-rate production
- Exposure to aerospace, space, or other high-reliability hardware environments

## Compensation & Benefits

- Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA
- Competitive salary plus equity package; compensation scales with candidate experience
- PTO & health/dental/vision coverage included

## EAR REQUIREMENTS:

- To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

## Equal Opportunity

Starpath is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

## About Starpath Robotics

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Starpath Robotics designs and manufactures robotic propellant production factories for the Moon and Mars, aiming to reduce the cost of deep-space transport and enable a self-sustaining human city on Mars.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: Hawthorne, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Saurav Shroff (CEO & Co-Founder), Mihir Gondhalekar (Co-Founder)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Space Research and Technology, Air Transportation, Space Travel, Robotics
- **Target customers**: B2B – space agencies (NASA), commercial space companies (e.g., Starship operators), satellite operators, and future Mars/Moon infrastructure developers.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Building a self-sustaining city on Mars” by producing propellant and infrastructure in space.

## Products & Services
- **Rover (R10)**: Autonomous lunar ice prospecting rover that excavates and delivers hundreds of kilograms of icy regolith. Built for NASA testing and future lunar operations.
- **Refinery System**: Full-stack hardware system for producing and distributing propellant (oxygen, hydrogen, methane) from water ice on the Moon and Mars.
- **Starlight Solar**: Space-rated solar panels that are 90% cheaper than traditional alternatives, with lead times of weeks instead of months. Available for purchase now.
- **Starlight Air**: The world’s lightest space solar panel (announced March 2026). Engineered for high-efficiency power generation.
- **Shadow Voyager**: Exploration vehicle designed for permanently shadowed regions at the Lunar South Pole.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – $12.0M (Seed round closed August 20, 2024)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: 
  - Fusion Fund (lead investor in Seed round per LinkedIn)
  - 8VC and 10 other investors (per Crunchbase)
  - Contrary, Valhalla Ventures
  - NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (testing partnership)
  - Atomic-6 (development contract for deployable lunar boom)
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew 73.7% year-over-year to 28 employees (LinkedIn, 2026)
  - Successful thermal vacuum chamber testing at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (2025)
  - Launch of Starlight Air solar panels (2026)
  - Active hiring for technical roles including first Technical Recruiter

## Competitive Advantages
- **Ex-SpaceX founding team**: Deep expertise in space hardware and propulsion.
- **Full-stack approach**: Covers rover mining, propellant refinery, and solar power – a vertically integrated solution for in-situ resource utilization.
- **NASA collaboration**: Early access to NASA’s test facilities (e.g., 20-ft thermal vacuum chamber) and credibility.
- **Cost disruption**: Starlight solar panels claim 90% cost reduction vs. traditional space solar.
- **First-mover on lunar ice**: Autonomous rover designed to establish the first American claim to lunar ice resources.

## Strategic Focus
- **Lunar testbed**: Use the Moon as a proving ground for Mars propellant production technology, leveraging lunar water ice.
- **City-scale infrastructure**: Scale from propellant production to energy grids, mining capacity, and life support for a self-sustaining Mars city.
- **Revenue diversification**: Selling Starlight solar panels and rover services to generate near-term revenue while pursuing long-term Mars goals.
- **Talent scaling**: Aggressively hiring to grow the engineering team (technical roles are 48% of workforce).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Startup environment with a bold mission (“build a city on Mars”). High ownership and fast iteration – interns are expected to do “whatever needs doing.”
- **Growth**: Company growing rapidly (+73.7% YoY headcount); opportunities for early employees to take on significant responsibility.
- **Technical depth**: Team includes alumni from SpaceX, Boston Dynamics, Anduril, Astrobotic – strong engineering culture.
- **Work location**: Hawthorne, CA (HQ) with additional office in Burlingame, CA. Onsite presence expected (manufacturing and testing require hands-on work).
- **Notable perks**: Not explicitly listed, but startup equity and the chance to work on hardware that goes to the Moon and Mars.
- **Recent hiring signals**: Actively recruiting Technical Recruiter, software engineers, and rover engineers – indicating scaling phase.

## Sources
1. [starpath.space](https://www.starpath.space/)
2. [starpath.space/about](https://starpath.space/about/)
3. [crunchbase.com](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/starpath-robotics)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/starpathspace)

## Other roles at Starpath Robotics

- [Intern/Associate Engineer - All Roles](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-associate-engineer-all-roles-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-x72ernec0zvg) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Chemical / Materials Engineer – Space Solar](https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-materials-engineer-space-solar-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-pjhey2tmt22v) — Hawthorne, CA
- [CNC Machinist Setup & Operation – MILL](https://feeny.ai/job/cnc-machinist-setup-operation-mill-starpath-robotics-future-factory-z0f3k4xnmat8) — Future Factory
- [CNC Machinist Setup & Operation – LATHE](https://feeny.ai/job/cnc-machinist-setup-operation-lathe-starpath-robotics-future-factory-fej8ssxcxj3d) — Future Factory
- [Senior CNC Programmer & Prototype Machinist – MILL](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cnc-programmer-prototype-machinist-mill-starpath-robotics-future-factory-0f5924ch61c5) — Future Factory
- [Senior CNC Programmer & Prototype Machinist – LATHE](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cnc-programmer-prototype-machinist-lathe-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-thk919345d3r) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Lead Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-designer-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-axk08ca5qr0j) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Senior Flight Software Engineer - Embedded Linux](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-flight-software-engineer-embedded-linux-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-6s0rba5b8hd2) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Senior Robotics Software Engineer – Lunar Rover Localization](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-software-engineer-lunar-rover-localization-starpath-robotics-sgmwr7nk47dk) — Hawthorne, CA
- [Electrical Engineer - Space Solar](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-space-solar-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-t4cv2by8p1mk) — Hawthorne, CA