# Materials Scientist, Polymers at 1X

1X is hiring a Materials Scientist, Polymers. It pays $200k-$248k a year and Level rates it Little AI ●○○○; you can [apply on 1X](https://jobsbylevel.com/go/d82ef2a8-8630-481c-a45b-96b8c06e2c19?utm_medium=ai-agent).

AI Level 1, AI centrality 29 out of 100. San Carlos, CA.

## Details

- Company: [1X](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/1x)
- AI level: AI Level 1 (score 29 out of 100)
- Location: San Carlos, CA
- Salary: $200k-$248k
- Posted: August 11, 2026
- Apply: https://jobsbylevel.com/go/d82ef2a8-8630-481c-a45b-96b8c06e2c19?utm_medium=ai-agent
- Free CV review for this job: https://jobsbylevel.com/cv-review?job=materials-scientist-polymers-at-1x-89daf9

## Description

About 1X 1X builds humanoid robots for the home that take on chores and everyday tasks, giving people back their time. That is harder than it sounds: it means advancing robotics, AI, and manufacturing at the same time, at scale, in a machine safe enough to live with a family. We have been working on this since 2014. We believe the hardest research is behind us and the hardest execution is ahead. Our flagship product, NEO, is a home robot built to move, learn, and work alongside people, and it is shipping, not just demoing. If you want to see important work reach the public, join us as we work to safely create broad abundance. About the Team The Materials Science team develops the polymers, fibers, elastomers, adhesives, coatings, and functional materials that determine how durable, efficient, safe, and manufacturable our robots are. We move quickly from the lab into robot systems and work closely with mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and systems engineers. Your Charter Lead polymer-chemistry and polymer-physics R&D on novel tendon materials, protective coatings, and load-bearing composites for humanoid robots. You will work alongside engineers to invent and evaluate new tendon approaches, develop the coatings and jackets that protect them, build and run the equipment used to make high-performance polymers and fibers, characterize what you make, and carry the best candidates into production. Focus areas include strength and stiffness, creep, flex and bend-over-sheave fatigue, adhesion, abrasion, friction, and long-term aging. Key Outcomes Develop novel tendon materials and architectures that outperform current solutions in strength, creep resistance, and fatigue life. Develop polymer coatings and jackets for tendons, fibers, and load-bearing composites that improve adhesion, abrasion and wear resistance, friction, and flex durability. Set up and operate processing equipment to make high-performance materials in-house, such as twin-screw extrusion and compounding, compression molding, coating lines, fiber spinning and drawing, and lab-scale polymerization reactors. Connect chemistry, processing, and polymer physics to measured tendon performance, and build structure-process-property-performance models that guide design decisions. Characterize materials, coatings, and tendon constructs using tensile, creep and stress-relaxation, cyclic and flex fatigue, abrasion, adhesion, DMA, DSC, TGA, FTIR, rheology, and microscopy. Investigate rope, coating, and composite failures, identify root causes, and implement chemistry- and physics-driven fixes. Establish lab procedures, test methods, and documentation that support manufacturing readiness, supplier transfer, and IP development. Key Competencies Deep grounding in polymer chemistry together with a strong command of polymer physics to understand how high-performance materials function. Working knowledge of coating formulation, surface preparation, and adhesion, and how they interact with the substrate underneath. Hands-on skill with polymer synthesis, compounding, and processing equipment, and the judgment to choose the right process for a target property. Creativity in proposing and testing unconventional material and structural approaches to tendons, coatings, and load-bearing parts. Data-driven mindset: designs rigorous experiments and uses the results to refine materials and processes. Collaborate well with chemists, materials scientists, and mechanical, manufacturing, and systems engineers. Own research from the first concept through production and thrive in a fast-paced environment. Minimum Requirements MS in chemistry, polymer science/engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, or a closely related field. 3+ years of hands-on R&D experience developing high-performance polymers, polymer coatings, fibers, or polymer composites. Strong working knowledge of polymer physics and how it governs mechanical behavior under sustained and cyclic load. Experience operating one

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