Materials Specialist - Costa Mesa CA

Job Title: Materials Specialist

Location: Costa Mesa, California, United States (On-Site)
Employment Type: Full-Time
Salary: $115,000 - $125,000 Annually (Based on experience)

Company Introduction

This organization is a leader in precision-engineered components and supply chain solutions for aerospace, defense, semiconductor, medical, and energy industries. With decades of technical expertise and a nationwide engineering and manufacturing network, it helps partners improve product reliability, reduce risk, and maintain the highest quality standards.

Role Overview

The Materials Specialist is a hands-on technical role responsible for the design, development, formulation, and testing of rubber and polymer materials used in custom-engineered products and assemblies. This role works directly with customers, suppliers, and internal manufacturing teams to scope new development projects, build and validate formulations, benchmark existing materials against new solutions, and optimize product performance to meet customer specifications.

This is a working technical seat, not a supervisory or delegating role. The ideal candidate is comfortable executing the lab work, running their own tests, building their own development plans, and driving projects forward without a large support staff. The position requires a junior-to-mid level technical contributor with strong rubber and polymer formulation experience who thrives in a small-team, customer-facing environment.

Core Responsibilities

• Develop new rubber and polymer formulations for new product launches and for improvement of existing products, ensuring materials meet customer specifications, performance targets, and reliability standards.
• Design and execute laboratory and field test plans to validate formulations and finished products, document results, and present findings to internal teams and customers.
• Work directly with customers to gather technical requirements, scope development projects, and provide ongoing technical support on application, product performance, and installation.
• Compare existing materials and competitor products to new solutions, benchmarking performance and identifying opportunities for differentiation or cost optimization.
• Build and maintain standard testing and development plans for use across customer-driven projects.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Operations to support quoting, scale-up, and production transitions of new formulations.
• Source, evaluate, and manage relationships with raw material suppliers and outside testing vendors throughout the development cycle.
• Prepare and present technical reports, lead customer technical reviews, and communicate material concepts clearly across engineering, sales, and operations audiences.
• Execute development projects within budget and schedule commitments, escalating risks proactively.
• Other duties as assigned by leadership.

Required Background

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Chemistry, Polymer Science, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 3 + years of hands-on experience at a rubber manufacturing or polymer compounding facility, with direct involvement in formulation development, testing, and production support.
• Demonstrated experience designing rubber and elastomer formulations from concept through production, including molded rubber product development.
• Working knowledge of ASTM and ISO test methods for rubber and plastics, including tensile, hardness, compression set, aging, and chemical resistance testing.
• Experience troubleshooting material performance issues in production environments and driving root cause resolution.
• Comfortable working independently in a small-team, hands-on environment without a large support staff to delegate work to.
• Strong customer-facing communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts to commercial and operational audiences.
• Working knowledge of statistics applied to material property variation and test method validation.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 20 percent to support customer meetings, field testing, and supplier visits.
• 100 percent commitment to safety policies, procedures, and lab discipline.
• Background at a rubber manufacturer or polymer compounder such as Rubbercraft, Saint-Gobain, LA Rubber Group, Abbott, or similar custom rubber and elastomer organization. (Preferred)
• Experience supporting aerospace, defense, industrial, or OEM customer programs. (Preferred)

Compensation & Perks

• Competitive salary plus performance-based incentives.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance options
• Company-paid life, AD&D, and long-term disability insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer contributions
• Paid time off and company holidays starting upon hire
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Cell phone allowance or company-provided phone
• Career growth opportunities in a rapidly expanding company