Senior Technical Applications Engineer - Polymer Compounding & Additive Manufacturing Materials

Numakers is India's largest 3D printing filament manufacturer, building a global 3D printing materials company from India. We are hiring a dedicated R&D engineer to lead our materials laboratory.

The role

You will own the technical development cycle for thermoplastic filament systems: formulation trials, compounding process optimization, and print performance validation. This is a build-from-zero role - you define the test protocols, qualification standards, and lab infrastructure that the function will run on.

What you'll work on

• Design of experiments for polymer blend systems: impact modification, nucleation and crystallization behavior, filler dispersion, and melt rheology
• Twin-screw compounding trials - screw configuration, temperature profiling, residence time, and devolatilization optimization
• Additive qualification: evaluating tougheners, compatibilizers, lubricants, and stabilizer packages against defined acceptance criteria (particle size distribution, MFR shift, thermal stability, migration behavior)
• Print performance characterization: interlayer adhesion, dimensional accuracy, warpage, mechanical testing (izod, tensile, flexural) correlated back to formulation and process variables
• Competitive benchmarking via thermal analysis (DSC, TGA) and spectroscopy (FTIR)
• Root-cause analysis of production and field failures

What we're looking for

• M.Sc./M.Tech in Polymer Science, Materials Engineering, or Chemical Engineering (or B.Tech with equivalent depth)
• 4+ years hands-on with polymer compounding - biopolymer or polyolefin modification experience strongly preferred
• Working fluency with DSC, MFR, mechanical testing; FTIR interpretation a plus
• Practical FDM/FFF printing experience, or the curiosity to build it fast
• Comfort designing experiments and making decisions with incomplete data