Principal Polymer Engineer - CMP Pads

Entegris is seeking a highly experienced and innovative Principal Polymer Engineer with deep expertise in polymer material design and processing to join our Materials Solutions Division R&D team. This position will be based at our Aurora (Greater Chicago Area) or Hillsboro (Portland, Oregon) facility. 

In this role, you will drive the development of next-generation CMP pad technologies by creating differentiated material concepts and broadening the boundaries of current design approaches. You will work cross-functionally with engineering, manufacturing, quality, and external partners to translate innovative designs into robust, scalable, and cost-effective solutions that create long-term competitive advantage. 

What You’ll Do 

Lead material engineering and platform innovation 

• Lead the design and engineering of next-generation polymer material systems for advanced CMP applications, defining formulation strategies and material design space (composition, architecture, and process interactions) to achieve targeted performance and manufacturability. 

• Apply deep expertise in polymer science and structure–property–process relationships to develop differentiated material concepts and expand current design boundaries. 

• Translate material designs into scalable, manufacturable, and high-performance products by integrating formulation, processing, and engineering principles. 

• Utilize advanced characterization, modeling, and experimental approaches to guide design decisions and accelerate technology development. 

• Translate customer and business needs into robust technical solutions, balancing performance, manufacturability, reliability, cost, and sensitivity to material and process variation. 

Solve complex multidisciplinary challenges 

• Lead investigations into material, process, and product performance challenges across development and manufacturing environments. 

• Apply first-principles thinking, Design of Experiments (DOE), statistical analysis, and data-driven methodologies to accelerate learning and optimize technical solutions. 

• Collaborate across R&D, manufacturing, quality, and engineering teams to resolve critical technical issues and enable successful commercialization. 

Provide technical leadership 

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship across multiple development programs and cross-functional initiatives. 

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders, suppliers, customers, and external partners to advance strategic technology objectives. 

• Communicate technical strategies, project outcomes, and scientific insights effectively through presentations, reports, and customer interactions. 

• Foster a culture of innovation, scientific rigor, collaboration, and continuous improvement. 

What We Seek 

• Ph.D. with 5+ years or M.S. with 8+ years of industrial experience in Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or related discipline. 

• Deep expertise in polymer structure–property–processing–performance relationships and their impact on product functionality, strong intuition in polymer formulation and multi-variable material design, with the ability to navigate trade-offs between performance, processability, and manufacturability 

• Demonstrated experience engineering advanced polyurethane or other high-performance polymer systems for demanding industrial applications. 

• Extensive experience with polymer processing and manufacturing technologies, including one or more of casting, molding, foaming, reactive processing, composite fabrication, or other advanced polymer manufacturing methods, with the ability to connect processing conditions to material performance. 

• Hands-on experience with polymer characterization techniques such as DMA, DSC, TGA, rheology, FTIR, microscopy, mechanical testing, or related analytical methods, and the ability to leverage characterization data to guide material design and engineering decisions. 

• Proven ability to integrate material composition, architecture, processing, and characterization to develop differentiated, scalable technologies. 

• Strong background in Design of Experiments (DOE), statistical analysis, and data-driven problem solving; experience with predictive modeling or simulation is a plus. 

• Demonstrated success developing technologies from concept through scale-up and commercialization while balancing performance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost. 

• Track record of technical innovation, with the ability to challenge conventional approaches and create novel engineering solutions for complex materials problems. 

• Excellent communication, collaboration, and technical leadership skills, with experience influencing multidisciplinary teams and strategic technology direction. 

• Experience in CMP or semiconductor materials is preferred but not required. Candidates with backgrounds in advanced polymers, elastomers, composites, foams, coatings, or related high-performance material systems are encouraged to apply.