Materials & Polymers Domain Specialist

Patsnap is building evidence-backed materials datasets extracted from patents and scientific literature, starting with an engineering-polymer curation program. You will own the delivery of this program end to end: managing any vendor relationships, safeguarding scientific quality, and connecting the curated output to Patsnap's ontology, extraction, and search teams. Beyond this program, you will support a growing portfolio of materials data extraction, indexing, and search projects.

This is a hands-on scientific role, not a pure project-management role. The hardest problems are chemical, not infrastructural: deciding whether a Markush structure's variable definitions were captured faithfully, whether a repeat unit was explicitly disclosed or inferred by a curator, whether a copolymer's architecture was stated or assumed, whether a property was bound to the right sample among a table of examples. You will be the final scientific arbiter on these calls, and you must be able to make them yourself.

These three are non-negotiable; everything else is trainable.

• Polymer science depth. Masters in polymer science, chemistry, materials science, or chemical engineering — or a Bachelors with equivalent industry experience — with command of polymer structure and representation, demonstrated by the ability to:

  • read and interpret repeat structural units (SRUs): bracket notation, attachment points, end groups, and the difference between a monomer, a repeat unit, and the polymer itself;
  • interpret generic and Markush polymer structures in patents — variable substituents (R-groups), their textual definitions and scope, and what a generic claim does and does not disclose;
  • distinguish polymer architectures (linear, branched, block, graft, random, network) and recognize when an architecture is stated versus merely permitted;
  • parse composition and formulation descriptions: homopolymer vs. copolymer vs. blend, constituent roles (base polymer, crosslinker, filler, catalyst, additive), quantity bases (wt%, phr, mol%), and nested or intermediate compositions;
  • bind properties correctly — knowing that a monomer's property is not its polymer's, a component's property is not the blend's, and a typical grade value is not a measured example result.

  Hands-on formulation, synthesis, or characterization experience counts as much as academic credentials — but this scientific judgment is the heart of the role and will be tested at interview against real patent examples.

  • Quality by process. Demonstrated experience managing quality through structured process — lab quality systems (GLP/ISO), audit readiness, structured review workflows, or data QC by sampling and metrics — rather than ad-hoc checking.

  • Delivery management. Experience managing projects, teams, or external partners against defined deliverables, schedules, and acceptance criteria.