Senior Scientist

Sublime Systems

120

Somerville, MA, United States

Posted on: 2025-06-30

Category: materials

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Employment type:

Full time

Experience required:

Senior

Salary

Salary not provided

About the company:

Sublime Systems is leading a swift and massive transition to a clean cement manufacturing future.

Sublime’s breakthrough electrochemical process avoids the pollution caused by ordinary portland cement’s use of fossil-fueled kilns and limestone feedstock. Sublime instead extracts reactive calcium and silicates from abundant raw materials at ambient temperature, to make ASTM C1157-compliant Sublime Cement™, a 1:1 replacement for OPC in concrete. Because it does not require carbon capture, Sublime’s technology offers a clear path for cost-competitive clean cement manufacturing at scale.

Sublime was founded at MIT in 2020 by Dr. Leah Ellis and Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, both respected experts in materials science, electrochemical systems, and sustainability research. The company has raised over $200M in funding from leading tech investors, global cement majors, and cooperative agreements with the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, IEDO, and OCED award programs.

It currently operates a Somerville, MA-based pilot plant with a >250 TPY nameplate production capacity and is developing its 30,000 TPY first commercial facility in Holyoke, MA.

Sublime is advancing a breakthrough, clean, efficient, low-waste process for manufacturing cement, the essential ingredient in the most-consumed human-made material on Earth: concrete. Replacing 200-year-old manufacturing methods that are reliant on kilns running hotter than lava, our near-ambient-temperature, electrochemical technology manufactures industry-accepted cement and critical minerals. We’re partnering with leading general contractors, concrete producers, developers, and technology hyperscalers to deploy our clean, durable, beautiful Sublime Cement® in infrastructure that is defining the future of clean construction. Backed by some of the world’s largest cement producers, leading private investors, and the U.S. Department of Energy, we are assembling a talented, collaborative team that is "amped about cement" (pun intended) and committed to operating on the frontiers of material science, manufacturing, industry, construction, and commercial partnerships, to advance cement innovation that will endure for the next millennium.

Sublime is seeking a Senior Scientist to contribute to the development of our decarbonized cement with special expertise in rheology and milling of cementitious materials. This Scientist will be responsible for managing and conducting research to improve the performance of Sublime Cement through literature reviews, designing experiments, performing hand-on characterization and testing in lab, analyzing and interpreting data, and communicating results. This Scientist will also contribute their expertise to help set technical priorities and research strategy, plan and prioritize experiments, and contribute to the successful operation of our shared laboratory.

This is an individual contributor role that will report to Sublime’s Head of Product R&D. This position is in person at Sublime’s headquarters in Somerville, MA, with occasional flexibility to work from home as appropriate based on team and project needs.

Sublime Systems is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Your Right to Work

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

Notice of E-Verify

Sublime Systems use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires.

Responsibilities for this role will include:

Developing and implementing new experimental methods and tools to validate and optimize the performance of Sublime’s cement

Managing and keeping track of multiple work streams simultaneously

Working closely with Process R&D teams to establish a tight feedback loop and continue to improve cement performance

Performing lab experiments including rheology, milling and grinding, cement property measurements, analyzing data, and presenting results

Design and execute rheological experiments to characterize the flow behavior of cementitious materials and additive/admixture compatibilities

Evaluate grinding parameters for particle size distribution and surface area of cement to optimize fresh and hardened properties

Devising and implementing strategies to improve cement performance

Prioritizing and organizing the team’s research activities

Contributing to the development of Sublime’s technology through literature reviews and informational interviews with industry experts

Maintain, calibrate, and expand rheological testing capabilities in the lab

Writing white papers, reports, and patent applications

Championing safety, especially in the development of experimental processes

Fostering a supportive, inclusive, innovative, and dynamic company culture

Ph.D. in materials science/engineering, chemical engineering, solid-state chemistry, civil engineering, or related field

2+ years of practical industry experience in research and development, bench top scale-up, and materials engineering

Fundamental understanding of inorganic materials science and chemistry especially related to cementitious material chemistry, rheology of cementitious materials and their interactions with polymers and particle engineering via grinding

Ability to select, design, and/or apply tools and techniques to measure physical and chemical properties

Ability to use physical and chemical characterization techniques such as laser diffraction, TGA, XRF, XRD, BET, optical microscopy, and/or SEM

Experience with research projects involving hypothesis testing, experimental design, and statistical analysis

Proven ability to perform project management, prioritize tasks, organize complex workflows, and drive progress across multiple R&D projects

Strong presentation and communication skills, both written and verbal

Excellent interpersonal skills required to develop and maintain effective working relationships with all team members

Ability to pay close attention to detail, focusing on accuracy and quality, without losing sight of the bigger picture

Balance, perspective, and a good sense of humor

Full time

Sublime Systems

120

Full time

Materials