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Featured Jobs

£70,000 – £90,000 pa On-site Permanent

Application Development & Technical Service Manager

The Application Development & Technical Service Manager will lead the technical activities for the Adhesives and Sealants business segment, focusing on polyurethane adhesives. Key responsibilities include driving innovation, managing the applications laboratory, and providing technical support to sales and market teams. The role involves leading cross-functional projects, ensuring compliance with safety standards, and engaging with customers to translate their needs into development projects.

Listgrove

United Kingdom

£40,000 – £48,000 pa On-site Permanent

Senior Scientist

This role involves hands-on laboratory work, prototype development, and analytical method design for next-generation medical devices. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams, including R&D, Quality, Regulatory, and Commercial functions, to innovate and develop cutting-edge products.

L-ev8 Recruitment Ltd

Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom

£40,000 – £60,000 pa Hybrid Permanent

Lead Administrator

As the Lead Administrator, you will support the Site Manager and drive goals through monthly KPI reporting, coordinating meetings and events, and managing the Business Support team. You will also ensure timely provision of reports and engage with site facilities to maintain a successful working relationship.

Johnson Matthey

North Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

£39 – £50 pa On-site Permanent

Research Associate / Senior Research Associate in Composites Characterisation

The role involves developing and executing experimental material characterisation methodologies for novel fibre-reinforced composite materials. The successful candidate will work closely with researchers to generate high-quality data, support numerical model development, and collaborate with international partners on a large-scale Horizon Europe project.

University of Bristol

Bristol, South West England, BS2 8AN, United Kingdom

£38,000 – £43,000 pa On-site Permanent

Senior Laboratory Technologist (Level 6)

This role involves overseeing laboratory operations, developing and refining engineered-stone formulations, and leading physical and mechanical testing. You will work closely with R&D, production, and regulatory teams, and have the opportunity to shape new products and improve processes, with a focus on quality and safety.

Petrarch Panels

Saint Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, United Kingdom

£40,000 – £70,000 pa On-site Permanent

Senior Power Device Engineer

The Senior Power Device Engineer will lead research and innovation projects for GaN-based power devices and ICs, working closely with a multidisciplinary team. Responsibilities include feasibility studies, hands-on simulations, and managing technology requirements to drive the development of energy-efficient power solutions.

Cambridge GaN Devices

Cambridge GaN Devices

Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Career Advice

Advance your MaterSci career with expert advice, practical job search tips, and insightful industry guides.

Products

Where to Advertise Materials Science Jobs in the UK (2026 Guide)

Advertising materials science jobs in the UK requires a different approach to most technical hiring. The candidate pool spans physicists, chemists, metallurgists, ceramicists, polymer scientists and computational materials researchers — a highly multidisciplinary community with distinct professional identities, academic networks and job search behaviours. The strongest candidates are typically embedded in university research groups, national laboratories, government-funded programmes or deep tech R&D teams, and move between roles through specialist academic channels, professional societies and sector-specific networks rather than mainstream job boards. This guide, published by MaterialsScienceJobs.co.uk, covers where to advertise materials science roles in the UK in 2026, how the main platforms compare, what employers should expect to pay, and what the data says about hiring across different role types.

Jobs

Materials Science Jobs UK 2026: What to Expect Over the Next 3 Years

Materials science sits at the foundation of almost every technology transition that matters right now. The batteries powering the electric vehicle revolution, the semiconductors enabling artificial intelligence, the lightweight composites reducing aircraft emissions, the biomaterials replacing damaged human tissue, the thin films making solar cells more efficient — none of these advances are possible without breakthroughs in the science and engineering of materials. And breakthroughs in materials science require people. The UK materials science jobs market has historically been one of the quieter corners of the STEM hiring landscape — important, deeply technical, and consistently in demand, but rarely the subject of the breathless coverage that AI or blockchain attract. That relative obscurity is beginning to change. The convergence of the net zero transition, the semiconductor sovereignty agenda, the advanced manufacturing investment wave, and the growing role of computational and AI-driven materials discovery is elevating materials science to a strategic priority for governments, investors, and employers in a way that is directly reshaping the jobs market. For job seekers, this shift represents a genuine opportunity — but one that rewards those who understand the specific technical, commercial, and policy dynamics driving materials science hiring rather than those who simply arrive with a materials science degree and expect the market to do the rest. The roles being created now are more interdisciplinary, more computationally demanding, and more commercially oriented than the materials science jobs of even three years ago. This article breaks down what the UK materials science jobs market is likely to look like through to 2028 — covering the titles emerging right now, the technologies driving employer demand, the skills that will matter most, and how to position your career at the leading edge of a discipline that has never been more consequential.

Careers

How Many Materials Science Tools Do You Need to Know to Get a Materials Science Job?

If you’re navigating the materials science job market, it can feel like the list of tools, techniques and platforms you should learn grows every week. One job advert mentions electron microscopy, another mentions X-ray diffraction, yet another wants experience with thermal analysis, spectroscopy, simulation software, statistical packages, manufacturing QA systems and more. With so many specialised methods and instruments, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed — and to start thinking you need to know everything just to be considered. Here’s the honest truth most materials science hiring managers won’t tell you directly: 👉 They don’t hire you because you know every piece of equipment or software. They hire you because you can use the tools you do know to answer real questions, make reliable measurements and communicate results clearly. Tools are essential — no question — but they are secondary to problem-solving ability, scientific reasoning and experimental rigour. So the real question is: how many materials science tools do you actually need to know to get a job? The precise number depends on the role you want, but for most job seekers the answer is far fewer than you think. This article breaks down what employers really value, which tools are core, which are role-specific, and how to focus your learning so your CV and interviews stand out for the right reasons.

Jobs

What Hiring Managers Look for First in Materials Science Job Applications (UK Guide)

Materials science is a broad, interdisciplinary field that spans academia, industry, research, engineering and manufacturing. Whether you’re applying for roles in R&D, process development, quality assurance, failure analysis, nanomaterials or product scale-up, hiring managers make key decisions within the first few seconds of scanning your application. In competitive job markets, simply listing skills or qualifications isn’t enough. Hiring managers are looking for signals of relevance, technical depth, problem-solving capability and real-world impact — and they expect those signals to be clear right from the top of your CV or portfolio. This guide breaks down exactly what hiring managers typically look for first in materials science applications, why they look for it, and how you can optimise your CV, cover letter and portfolio so your application stands out and gets past the first filter.

Education

The Skills Gap in Materials Science Jobs: What Universities Aren’t Teaching

Materials science sits at the heart of innovation — from sustainable energy and advanced manufacturing to aerospace, electronics, healthcare and beyond. It is an interdisciplinary field combining physics, chemistry, engineering and applied science to design and improve materials that power modern technology. Despite the clear strategic importance of materials science, employers across the UK report persistent challenges hiring graduates who are truly job-ready. Organisations need professionals who can contribute immediately to research, development, manufacturing, quality control and product scale-up — yet many recent graduates struggle to bridge the gap between academic preparation and workplace demands. This gap is not caused by a lack of intelligence or enthusiasm. It is a growing skills gap between what universities teach and what real materials science jobs require. This article explores the materials science skills gap in depth: what universities teach well, what they often miss, why the gap exists, what employers want, and how aspiring professionals can bridge the divide to build successful careers in this vital UK industry.

Careers Jobs

Materials Science Jobs for Career Switchers in Their 30s, 40s & 50s (UK Reality Check)

Thinking about a career switch into materials science in your 30s, 40s or 50s? You’re not alone. In the UK, materials science underpins innovations in aerospace, automotive, healthcare, energy, manufacturing & sustainability — and employers are increasingly open to talent with diverse backgrounds. But the field is often misunderstood as being only for PhDs in labs, which can put off experienced professionals who have valuable transferable skills. This guide gives you a clear, practical UK-focused reality check: which materials science careers are realistic, what skills employers are looking for, how long retraining usually takes, how to position your experience and whether age is a factor (hint: it’s your strengths that matter most). Whether you come from engineering, manufacturing, research support, quality, operations, design, project management or consultancy, this article shows how your background can translate into a materials science career in the UK.

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