About Manastu

Manastu Space is a Space Safety and Logistics company focused on making space protected, sustainable, and accessible. We develop technologies to address critical challenges such as space debris mitigation and green propulsion, enabling safer satellite operations, and long-term sustainability of the space ecosystem.

Our work sits at the intersection of advanced engineering, applied research, and mission-critical systems, requiring deep technical capability and long-term thinking.

Website: https://www.manastuspace.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/manastu-space/

Email: [email protected]

Role Objective

This role builds Manastu's elastomer capability for green propulsion, from the laboratory bench to flight. You will decide which elastomers seal and separate our propellant, and which vendors supply them. Your results will set how long our hydrogen peroxide-based green monopropellant stays stable in flight hardware.

You will own the work end to end: the research roadmap, the targets, the team, the vendors and the materials specification that production uses. Our own measured data, not vendor data sheets, will support each decision.

Role Overview

We need a Polymer Research Scientist in Navi Mumbai with a PhD and 5 to 10 years of post-PhD industry experience. This is a senior, hands-on role.

The central technical challenge is compatibility in two directions. Hydrogen peroxide can harden, swell or weaken an elastomer. The fillers, cure residues and additives in the elastomer can also make the propellant decompose. The diaphragm must also flex on every expulsion and stay compatible for the full mission life. Test data that customers and agencies accept must support each material choice.

You will work at the intersection of polymer chemistry, materials testing, supplier quality and propulsion. The design, propellant,



metallurgy, manufacturing and test teams will use your results to make engineering decisions.

Key Responsibilities

- Own the research roadmap: rank the root causes of elastomer failure in our data, and set pass or fail criteria.
- Own the budget, people, equipment and vendor plan, hold cost and lead time to it, and answer to the founders.
- Set measurable targets for each part, meet them on schedule, and report any miss without delay.
- Make the formulation and vendor decision for each part on data, and record the reason for every rejection.
- Set the failure criteria and write the materials specification, and approve every change to both.
- Take each material from coupons to components and flight-representative hardware, and close any gap between the results.
- Approve or reject each vendor against our requirements, control incoming lots statistically, and keep a second vendor per part.
- Sign the storage life case and the data pack, and defend both in customer and agency reviews.
- Stop any test, lot or delivery that breaks a limit, and close each non-conformance by root cause.
- Build and lead the team, and train it to run the tests and incoming checks without you.

Experience & Background

- A PhD in Polymer Science, Polymer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry or a related discipline.
- Between 5 and 10 years of post-PhD industry experience with elastomers, seals or polymer compatibility.




- A strong foundation in polymer degradation chemistry: oxidation, chain scission and post-crosslinking, with rate constants and activation energies.
- Knowledge of elastomer compounds: base polymer, crosslink density, cure system, fillers and additives, and their effect on compatibility.
- Several elastomer formulations that you selected and qualified with vendors, for different parts or service conditions; at least one is in production use today.
- Hands-on experience with volume swell, hardness, compression set, tensile and FTIR tests to ASTM D471, D395, D2240 and D412, and cross-checks between them.
- A record of materials taken from screening to qualified production as the lead, and experience of a Nadcap elastomer seals or AS9100 audit.
- Relevant backgrounds include O-ring and seal compounding, semiconductor wet processing, oil and gas, aerospace propulsion, and nuclear or pharmaceutical equipment. Experience in oxidiser service, such as nonmetallic materials for oxygen service to ASTM G63 or hydrogen peroxide, is an advantage, but it is not necessary.

Ideal Candidate Profile

- A senior scientist who turns a broad objective into an approved plan, and is accountable for what the team delivers.
- Builds methods and test rigs where none exist, does the critical tests personally, and needs no senior above them in the subject.
- Explains a materials decision to people who are not polymer scientists, says clearly what they do not know, and changes position only on evidence.
- Makes each test safe and clean by design, and reports problems early.

What we offer

Competitive compensation

Comprehensive health insurance

High ownership and visibility, with direct access to leadership

Support for learning, conferences, and research exposure

Subsidised lunch plan

📌 Polymer Research Scientist (Navi Mumbai)
🏢 Manastu Space
📍 Navi Mumbai