Thin-Film PV Materials Scientist - Space Solar

Job description

Thin-Film PV Materials Scientist – 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 Thin-Film PV Materials Scientist on the Starlight team, you will own the materials and process chemistry behind our perovskite solar cells. You'll drive the chemistry decisions that determine cell efficiency, yield, environmental stability, and lifetime in space — from precursor formulation through deposition, interface engineering, and integration with encapsulation. 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 Required Qualifications - 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 Preferred 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 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.