Materials Research Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Materials Research Engineer researches materials and works to discover materials that may be used in new and emerging technologies and support innovation. Identifies new or different combinations of materials to improve product performance and durability.

Job Outlook

There were 13 Materials Research Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 515 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Materials Engineer industry, which includes the Materials Research Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Materials Research Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $125,398.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $125,398.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Materials Research Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $105,833.

Education and Experience

Posted Materials Research Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	46.99%
Master's Degree	42.33%
Doctoral Degree	56.31%
Other	2.52%

Posted Materials Research Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	30.22%
3 to 5 years	43.53%
6 to 8 years	14.75%
9+ years	11.51%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Materials Research Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Research (63.3%)
Communication (35.73%)
Innovation (30.49%)
Presentations (23.88%)
Writing (23.69%)
Leadership (20%)
Problem Solving (18.25%)
Self-Motivation (14.37%)
Detail Oriented (14.37%)
Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (13.01%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Materials Science (85.08%)
Data Analysis (20.77%)
Chemical Engineering (37.1%)
Chemistry (50.4%)
Physics (24.4%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Laboratory Experience (4.64%)
Supply Chain (8.87%)
Raman Spectroscopy (7.06%)
Materials Engineering (11.49%)
Analytical Techniques (6.65%)
Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) (9.48%)
Ceramic Materials (11.09%)
Procurement (7.46%)
Biomedical Engineering (4.64%)
Commercialization (8.87%)
Composite Materials (10.89%)
Experimental Data (3.83%)
Experimental Design (10.08%)
Experimentation (15.73%)
Manufacturing Processes (9.68%)
Material Characterization (9.48%)
Metallurgy (4.44%)
Optics (7.46%)
Material Selection (7.06%)
Machine Learning (7.26%)
Atomic Force Microscopy (3.83%)
Scanning Electron Microscopy (3.43%)
Search Engine Marketing (13.51%)
Thermal Management (7.46%)
Pharmaceuticals (5.85%)
Scale (Map) (9.27%)
Technical Writing (3.83%)
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (11.09%)
Spectroscopy (9.07%)
Fabrication (3.02%)
Python (Programming Language) (8.47%)
Project Management (13.1%)
Mechanical Engineering (12.1%)
Polymer Chemistry (19.56%)
Materials Testing (4.64%)
New Product Development (19.56%)
Research And Development (11.9%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Materials Science (93.78%)
Chemical Engineering (40.89%)
Physics (26.89%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Materials Research Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Materials Scientist
Scientist
Polymer Scientist
Principal Scientist
Materials Science Intern
Associate Scientist
Materials Associate
Materials Researcher
Materials Consultant

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Materials Research Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (13)
Kimberly-Clark (11)
Sandia Corporation (10)
Bristol-Myers Squibb (9)
Eurofins (8)
Formlabs (8)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (8)
Meta (7)
Ramboll (7)
Pfizer (6)

North Carolina

Schneider Electric (2)
Rimkus Consulting Group (2)
Albemarle (2)
Actalent (1)
Hitachi (1)
A-Line (1)
Li Industries (1)
BD (1)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

Textiles Master's Degrees

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Engineering