Research Associate/Senior Research Associate

Bolt Threads is looking for several research associates/senior research associates to help us develop new formulations to improve material properties. Ideal candidates will have strong technical fundamentals in material science/polymers, textile engineering/nonwovens, or composites and practical experience in the design and execution of experiments, analyze mechanical performance data and build data models, as well as an ability to work in a collaborative setting. This position will play a key role in a multidisciplinary research team working to develop mycelium-based textiles. We are looking for multiple candidates which include a wide range of expertise.

Within the first 30 days you will…

● Familiarize yourself with potential safety hazards in the lab and how to mitigate these.

● Review the data generated on current formulations, processing conditions and mechanical performance, then be able to identify reactions to optimize or further explore.

● Get trained on material formulations and development protocols, as well as testing equipment/methods.

In the first 60 days you will…

● Understand how to acquire and interpret data on the above instruments or using the above methods.

● Start optimizing existing formulations to improve yield, conditions, robustness, etc.

● Begin to aid in the development and evaluation of key components in formulation, identify structure property relationship at a variety of scales.

● Start forming working relationships with teams and individuals in biology, materials and product design.

● Be able to execute experiments without direct supervision.

● Be able to communicate your experiments effectively to a broad audience within the company.

This Team will be Excited to Have You Because You Bring ....

● Undergraduate or Master’s degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. material science, chemistry/biochemistry, polymer chemistry, textile engineering/science, composites)

● 1-3 years of experience in new material development and characterization, in academic or industrial lab setting

● A willingness to learn and suggest improvements to material processing and/or characterization

● A passion and willingness to develop sustainable material solutions

● Ability to work safely in a laboratory environment

● Good organization skills, time management, written and oral communication skills.

● Experience with some of the below:

○ Composites (structure/function relationships)

○ Textile and fiber engineering

○ Non-wovens

○ Fiber/fabric/textile dyeing

○ Mechanical testing and failure analysis

○ Universal mechanical testers (Instrons or Zwicks)

○ Data science (understanding of statistics with computational modeling experience)

○ Basic programming (e.g. python) and/or statistical analysis (e.g. JMP)