Research Scientist III - Materials Discovery Research Insititute

We have an exciting opportunity for a Research Scientist III at UL Research Institutes, Materials Discovery Research Institute (MDRI) based in Skokie, Illinois.

About the role

The Research Scientist III 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 MDRI’s mission to develop innovative materials for renewable energy, environmental sustainability, human health, and public safety.

About UL Research Institutes

At UL Research Institutes (ULRI), we expand the boundaries of safety science to create a more secure and sustainable world. For more than a century, we have studied the unintended consequences of innovation, designed solutions to mitigate risk, and shared our findings with academia, scientists, manufacturers, and policymakers across industries. We identify critical safety and sustainability issues, asking the tough questions because we believe a safer world begins with knowledge.

About Materials Discovery Research Institute

The Materials Discovery Research Institute (MDRI) works to develop and deploy new materials with the potential to address current global safety challenges. Pursuing materials that will help produce transformational safety breakthroughs, MDRI harnesses the power of advanced computing and high-throughput experimental methods to create innovative materials that will produce resilience for a sustainable future and protect individual and societal health. We focus on today’s critical challenges, working to create new and better materials that will support renewable energy and environmental sustainability. Among our top priorities is research into materials capable of carbon capture and energy storage, with an eye toward reducing the adverse impacts of humanity’s reliance upon fossil fuel resources and enabling a transition to renewable energy sources.

Responsibilities

• Develop, optimize, validate, and execute automated chemistry and high-throughput experimentation workflows and 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.

Work environment

• People: Work with a diverse team of experts respected for their independence and transparency, collaborating across disciplines, organizations, and geographies to build the global scientific response that today’s challenges require.
• Interesting work: Push the boundaries of human understanding as part of a team working to advance the public good, with every day offering new challenges and opportunities.
• Growth and achievement: Learn, work, and grow together through targeted development, reward, and recognition programs.
• Values: Four core values guide our work: collaboration, respect, integrity, and beneficence.

Benefits

• All employees are eligible for bonus compensation.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans.
• Generous 401k matching structure of up to 5% of eligible pay, with an additional 4% contributed to your retirement savings fund after your first year of continuous employment.
• Paid time off, including vacation, holiday, sick, and volunteer days.
• Potential for flexible working arrangements, depending on role.

Requirements

• 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.

Qualifications

• 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.

Pay

Salary range: $89,602.01–$123,202.76.