Principal Scientist / Associate Director, Soft Materials Experimentation

Lila Sciences
Cambridge
Workplace: OnsiteFull timeUSD 156,000 - 214,000 annuallyFunction: Research & Scientific (R&D)Experience: 8+ yearsEducation: phdSkills: ["Leadership","Mentoring","Scientific judgment","Data-driven decision-making","Cross-functional collaboration"]

Lead and grow an experimental soft-materials team covering formulations, polymers, colloids, gels, emulsions, inks, adhesives, and coatings. Own the experimental strategy—from measurement stack and campaign design to data quality and scientific validity—while partnering with modeling and AI colleagues to close the loop for active learning and inverse design. Build and validate high-throughput rheology, scattering, thermal/mechanical analysis, microfluidics, and robotics-enabled workflows, and guide feasibility and partner engagements.

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Lila Sciences
Lila Sciences
16 hours ago

Principal Scientist / Associate Director, Soft Materials Experimentation

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Job Summary

Lead and grow an experimental soft-materials team covering formulations, polymers, colloids, gels, emulsions, inks, adhesives, and coatings. Own the experimental strategy—from measurement stack and campaign design to data quality and scientific validity—while partnering with modeling and AI colleagues to close the loop for active learning and inverse design. Build and validate high-throughput rheology, scattering, thermal/mechanical analysis, microfluidics, and robotics-enabled workflows, and guide feasibility and partner engagements.
Location: Cambridge
Workplace: Onsite
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Research & Scientific (R&D)
Seniority: Director level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Lead and grow a group of scientists across formulation, polymer processing, and physical characterization; set scientific direction and hire as the portfolio expands.
  • •Own experimental strategy for soft materials, including measurement stack, campaign designs, and internal/partner scientific validity.
  • •Deliver partner-funded programs with technical program managers by setting standards for timelines, throughput, and data quality.
  • •Build and validate high-throughput workflows (rheology, scattering, thermal/mechanical analysis, microfluidics, and application performance testing).
  • •Partner with modeling/AI colleagues to make measurement strategies tractable for machine learning and inverse design, and move workflows to production with reliable instrument control and structured data capture.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: USD 156,000 - 214,000 annually
Equity and Bonus:Equity
Perks:Health InsuranceDentalVisionPaid ParentalCommuter Benefits

Key Requirements

  • •PhD in Materials Science, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or Chemistry with 8+ years of post-degree R&D experience, or equivalent industrial depth.
  • •Experience leading scientific teams, either as a formal manager or with direct responsibility for others’ work.
  • •Deep soft-matter fundamentals including phase behavior, self-assembly, rheology, interfacial phenomena, and dispersion stability.
  • •Hands-on record formulating and characterizing multicomponent systems and translating structure–property relationships into performance.
  • •Data-centric experimental practice with DoE/high-throughput methods and peer-level collaboration with ML colleagues.
Experience:8+ yearsR&DSoft materialsIndustrial practice
Education:PhD / Doctorate in PhD in Materials Science, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or Chemistry
Skills:LeadershipMentoringScientific judgmentData-driven decision-makingCross-functional collaboration
Languages:English
Tech Stack:Python

Company Brief

Lila Sciences
Develops AI-driven platforms to accelerate drug discovery and biological research by integrating machine learning with chemical and biological data to predict molecular properties, streamline candidate selection, and enable faster therapeutic development.
Industry: Biotech
Company Size: Small (11 to 50 employees)
Growth: Early Stage Startup
Funding: Seed
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