Job Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Research Scientist III at UL Research Institutes, Materials Discovery Research Institute (MDRI) based in our Skokie, Illinois, facilities. The Research Scientist III role will translate manual procedures into reliable and scalable automated workflows involving liquid and powder dispensing, synthesis, heating, filtration, sample preparation, robotic transfer, and analytical characterization. They will also support the integration of instruments and robotic systems and develop software tools and data pipelines that improve experimental traceability, data quality, and interpretation. Working across multidisciplinary teams, the scientist will help advance high-throughput materials discovery in support of Materials Discovery mission to develop innovative materials for renewable energy, environmental sustainability, human health, and public safety.

What you’ll learn and achieve:

As the Research Scientist III, you will play a key role in the rapid growth of UL as you:

• Develop, optimize, validate, and execute automated chemistry and high-throughput experimentation workflows and high-throughput experimentation methods to support accelerated materials discovery

• Translate manual laboratory procedures into scalable automated workflows involving synthesis, sample preparation, materials handling, and characterization.

• Operate, maintain, calibrate, and troubleshoot laboratory automation platforms, robotic systems, and analytical instrumentation, ensuring safe, reliable, and reproducible operation.

• Design and conduct experiments involving porous materials, inorganic materials, sorbents, catalysts, nanoparticles, and environmental materials while evaluating and interpreting experimental results to improve workflow performance and reproducibility.

• Integrate automated synthesis workflows with laboratory instrumentation, robotic systems, and characterization techniques, including XRD, XRF, SEM, spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and gas adsorption.

• Develop SOPs, validation protocols, maintenance procedures, and technical documentation to support laboratory operations and best practices.

• Collaborate with and provide technical guidance to scientists, engineers, data scientists, and external partners to advance automation-enabled materials discovery initiatives.

• Contribute to technical reports, publications, presentations, grant proposals, and intellectual property.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

What makes you a great fit:

While no one candidate will embody every quality, the successful candidate will bring many of the following professional competencies and personal attributes:

• Strong knowledge of chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, or a related discipline.

• Demonstrated ability to design, conduct, troubleshoot, and interpret complex laboratory experiments.

• Experience with automated chemistry, high-throughput experimentation, or laboratory robotics.

• Understanding of chemical synthesis, liquid and powder handling, filtration, sample preparation, and experimental reproducibility.

• Working proficiency in Python or another scientific programming language.

• Experience with scientific data analysis, visualization, and structured data management.

• Familiarity with APIs, JSON, SQL, Git, LIMS, ELN, or instrument-integration technologies is preferred.

• Ability to connect scientific requirements with practical automation, software, and data solutions.

• Strong technical ownership, organization, documentation, and project-management skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams

 Professional education and experience requirements for the role include:

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a closely related field.

• Minimum 2 years of relevant professional or postdoctoral experience.

• Hands-on experience in experimental chemistry or materials research is required.

• Experience using programming or scientific data-analysis tools in a laboratory setting is required.

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