Materials Development Associate – Advanced Membranes

PlasmaGear is seeking a Materials Development Associate - Advanced Membranes to support hands-on development of polymer-based membranes and technical textile materials from lab-scale experiments to pilot trials and customer samples.

We are a Montreal-based advanced materials company developing PFAS-free advanced nanofiber membranes for technical textiles, protective apparel, filtration, and performance fabrics. We work on polymer-based nanofiber membranes, functional coatings, and lab-to-pilot product development to create sustainable alternatives to conventional membrane technologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Support hands-on lab development of polymer-based membranes and technical textile materials.
• Prepare solutions, formulations, coatings, samples, and test specimens.
• Conduct lab-scale and pilot-scale trials, including electrospinning, coating, lamination, and related processes.
• Record experimental conditions, sample IDs, observations, defects, and test results clearly.
• Help evaluate material performance, including water resistance, breathability, hydrophobicity, durability, and mechanical behavior.
• Support preparation of customer samples, technical summaries, and internal development reports.
• Research competitor materials, product claims, and application requirements.
• Work closely with the CTO, VP Operations, and technical team to move promising concepts toward real products.

Required

• BSc or MSc in Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Polymer Science, Textile Engineering, Nanotechnology, or related field.
• Minimum 1 year of hands-on lab experience in wet lab, chemistry, polymer, materials, textile, coating, membrane, or nanomaterial work.
• Comfortable preparing solutions, making samples, recording experiments, testing materials, and troubleshooting results.
• Strong documentation and attention to detail.
• Interest in applied R&D and product development.

Key Qualities

• Hands-on curiosity
• Carefulness and reliability in the lab
• Strong documentation habits
• Ability to follow instructions but also think critically
• Willingness to learn new equipment and processes
• Comfortable with trial-and-error development
• Good communication with technical and non-technical team members
• Flexible in a startup environment

Nice to have

• Experience with polymers, coatings, membranes, fibers, nonwovens, textiles, nanomaterials, electrospinning, or surface modification.
• Experience with testing/characterization such as contact angle, SEM, air permeability, hydrostatic head, MVTR, tensile testing, or filtration testing.
• Experience in a startup, pilot-scale process, or industrial R&D environment.