Thin-Film PV Materials Scientist - Space Solar

About the role

Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA. Employment Type: Full-time. Department: Starlight Solar. Travel: Occasional. Starpath develops and manufactures technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars, building robotic systems that locally produce water, power, and oxygen at extreme scale, with the ultimate goal of building and operating a self‑sustaining city on Mars. The Starlight team focuses on dramatically improving space solar power to support Starpath's core mission and the greater space economy, manufacturing the lowest‑cost and highest‑performance space solar for satellites and all Starpath equipment on the Moon and Mars.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize precursor formulations and solution‑processed deposition routes for perovskite solar cells, including film growth, post‑treatment, and process scaling
• Engineer charge transport layers, interfaces, and contact stacks to maximize cell efficiency and operational stability
• Drive root‑cause investigations on yield, efficiency, and degradation issues — connecting chemistry to electrical and optical performance
• Develop environmental stability strategies — moisture, oxygen, thermal, UV, and radiation tolerance — and partner with the polymer/encapsulation team on integration
• Characterize materials, interfaces, and devices using techniques such as XRD, XPS, photoluminescence, and IV/EQE
• Translate bench chemistry into stable, reproducible, high‑yield processes in partnership with manufacturing engineering
• Push back on unnecessary complexity — simplify chemistries, reduce process steps, and cut overhead wherever it doesn't add value

Requirements

• Master's or PhD in chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, applied physics, or a related discipline
• Graduate research experience with perovskite, thin‑film photovoltaic, or related optoelectronic materials
• Demonstrated ability to connect materials chemistry to device performance through characterization and analysis
• U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), refugee under 8 U.S.C.1157, asylee under 8 U.S.C.1158, or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State (EAR compliance)

Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant discipline with a research focus on perovskite photovoltaics
• Direct experience with solution‑processed deposition methods — spin coating, blade coating, slot‑die coating, or vapor‑assisted deposition
• Hands‑on experience with precursor formulation, solvent engineering, and additive optimization
• Familiarity with charge transport materials, interface passivation, and contact stack engineering
• Experience scaling perovskite chemistry from research scale to larger‑area or pilot manufacturing
• Knowledge of perovskite degradation mechanisms and stability strategies (moisture, oxygen, thermal, UV, radiation)
• Familiarity with glovebox and cleanroom operations, chemical safety, and contamination control
• Exposure to aerospace, space, or other high‑reliability hardware environments

Benefits

• Generous benefits including health, dental, vision, and retirement plans
• Paid time off, holidays, and flexible policies to support balance
• Professional growth opportunities through training and development
• The chance to own high‑impact work that directly shapes the future of robotics & space
• A collaborative, mission‑driven culture where craftsmanship and innovation are celebrated

Schedule

Full-time