Materials Engineer, Global Materials Science

Join Amazon's Global Materials Science (GMS) organization as we pioneer the future of sustainable e-commerce packaging. As an Advanced Materials Engineer based in the EU, you'll serve as the critical link between our European and North American materials science operations—driving materials development tailored to the EU supplier base while harmonizing global materials strategies across regions. Embedded alongside our automation hardware development teams, you'll ensure that packaging materials and automation systems are co-developed for seamless integration.

This is a hands-on, technically broad role spanning pulp and paper manufacturing, packaging converting operations, tape and adhesive systems, coatings, and packaging automation equipment. You'll conduct laboratory research, characterize materials properties, establish specifications, and work directly with EU-based suppliers to bring novel materials from concept to production—while serving as the conduit to align materials globally, simplify where possible, and solve for region-specific requirements driven by regulation, material supply availability, and operational differences.

Key job responsibilities
Materials Development & Innovation:
- Lead laboratory research and development of packaging materials including paper substrates, adhesives, tapes, coatings, and alternative fiber technologies, with deep understanding of pulp and paper manufacturing processes and converting operations.

- Design and execute experiments to optimize material formulations and processing parameters, applying the materials science triangle framework (processing-structure-properties) across the full range of packaging materials and converting processes.

- Develop next-generation materials solutions that unlock step-change improvements in performance, cost, sustainability, and automation compatibility—with specific focus on EU supplier capabilities and regional material availability.

- Advance materials innovations from concept, pilot, and deployment phases, ensuring solutions are compatible with EU packaging automation hardware and converting equipment.

- Evaluate and develop tape, adhesive, and coating systems that meet the unique performance demands of automated packaging lines, considering substrate interactions, machine speed requirements, and environmental conditions.

EU Materials Strategy & Global Alignment:
- Serve as the primary conduit between EU and NA materials science teams, driving global alignment on materials specifications while identifying opportunities to harmonize and simplify across regions.
- Develop and maintain a comprehensive understanding of the EU supplier base—including paper mills, converters, adhesive manufacturers, tape producers, and coating suppliers—and how it differs from the North American supply landscape.
- Identify region-specific materials requirements dictated by EU regulations (e.g., REACH, EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation), regional material supply constraints, and operational differences in EU fulfillment networks.
- Balance global standardization with regional customization—driving simplification where materials can be harmonized and developing tailored solutions where regional requirements demand differentiation.
- Build and maintain a materials roadmap for EU that aligns with global GMS strategy and EU automation hardware development timelines.

Automation Hardware Integration:
- Work closely with EU-based automation hardware development teams to ensure packaging materials are co-developed with automation equipment, optimizing for machine runnability, reliability, and throughput.
- Provide materials expertise during automation system design, commissioning, and optimization—translating materials properties into actionable equipment parameters.
- Develop deep understanding of packaging converting equipment (folders, gluers, sealers, tape applicators, labelers) and how materials properties influence machine performance at production speeds.
- Support troubleshooting of materials-related automation failures, conducting root cause analysis that spans materials properties, converting conditions, and equipment settings.

Materials Characterization & Testing:
- Perform and direct lab engineers to conduct comprehensive materials characterization using techniques including tensile/burst/tear testing, rheometry, thermal analysis (DSC, TGA), spectroscopy (FTIR), microscopy (SEM, optical), and surface analysis while utilizing ASTM, TAPPI, ISO, EN, and ISTA standards and non-standard methodologies.
- Establish correlations between fundamental materials properties and operational performance in fulfillment environments, with emphasis on how EU-specific substrates and converting conditions affect outcomes.
- Design and execute test plans that validate materials performance against specifications and requirements for both manual and automated packaging operations.
- Analyze test data using statistical methods to drive data-driven materials selection decisions across the EU supplier base.

Specifications & Quality:
- Define materials specifications based on critical performance thresholds required for packaging to protect products and survive the fulfillment network, accounting for EU-specific substrate variability and supplier capabilities.
- Translate operational requirements and automation equipment constraints into measurable materials properties and acceptable ranges.
- Develop quality control protocols and testing methodologies to ensure EU supplier compliance with specifications, accounting for differences in regional testing standards (EN vs. ASTM/TAPPI).
- Drive specification harmonization between NA and EU where feasible, clearly documenting where and why regional deviations are necessary.

Supplier & Manufacturing Collaboration:
- Work directly with EU-based paper mills, adhesive manufacturers, tape producers, converters, and other suppliers to develop and scale new materials.
- Conduct technical evaluations of EU supplier capabilities, pulp and paper manufacturing processes, converting operations, and quality control systems.
- Guide suppliers on process optimization—from pulp preparation and paper machine settings through converting and finishing operations—to achieve target material properties and consistency.
- Build strong technical relationships across the EU supplier base to enable rapid development cycles and ensure supply resilience.

Cross-Functional Partnership:
- Collaborate with Packaging Design and automation hardware teams on materials-design-equipment integration, ensuring all three dimensions are optimized together.
- Partner with EU and Global Procurement (GPO) on strategic sourcing, supplier selection, and commercial negotiations within the EU supply base.
- Support sustainability initiatives including carbon footprint modeling, recyclability assessment, and compliance with EU-specific sustainability regulations and reporting requirements.
- Provide technical expertise to program managers, product teams, and deployment teams across both EU and NA organizations.
- Communicate complex materials science and manufacturing concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences across multiple geographies and cultures.

Documentation & Knowledge Sharing:
- Author technical reports, test protocols, specifications documents, and research summaries that serve both EU and global audiences.
- Document experimental procedures, results, and learnings to build institutional knowledge, with particular emphasis on EU-NA materials differences and lessons learned.
- Present findings at design reviews, technical workshops, and leadership reviews across regions.
- Contribute to intellectual property generation through public disclosures and patent applications.
- Mentor junior engineers and technicians on materials science principles, pulp and paper manufacturing fundamentals, converting operations, and testing methodologies.

A day in the life
You're bridging continents and disciplines—ensuring Amazon's packaging materials work seamlessly from lab bench to automated packaging line.

Your morning starts with a technical review alongside the EU automation hardware team, discussing runnability data from a new paper substrate on their latest packaging machine prototype. The converting parameters need adjustment—your deep knowledge of fiber orientation, surface chemistry, and machine dynamics helps the team identify the right combination of adhesive application weight and compression dwell time.

By midday, you're on a call with a European paper mill, discussing modifications to their pulp furnish and machine settings to improve the tensile energy —a critical property for automated forming operations. You're also comparing their capabilities against what your NA colleagues are achieving with North American suppliers, identifying where specifications can be unified.

Your afternoon shifts to the lab work— where you are directing lab engineer to characterize a new tape system for high-speed application on recycled substrates—and a global alignment session with your NA counterparts. You're presenting a proposal to harmonize adhesive specifications across regions, having identified that three separate specs can be consolidated into one without compromising performance in either geography. Where regulatory or supply differences demand regional solutions, you've clearly documented the rationale and developed parallel qualification paths.

This role sits at the intersection of materials science, manufacturing processes, automation engineering, and global supply chain strategy. Your holistic understanding of how pulp becomes paper, how paper becomes packaging, and how packaging runs through automated systems makes you uniquely positioned to solve problems that span traditional disciplinary boundaries—all while keeping EU and NA aligned on a simplified, high-performing materials portfolio.

About the team
The Global Materials Science (GMS) organization is Amazon's Center of Excellence for packaging materials development and supply chain transformation. Our team represents a fundamental shift in how Amazon approaches packaging innovation—moving from supplier-dependent solutions to owning the invention, development, and optimization of materials that power our fulfillment network.

Our Mission: We build deep expertise in packaging materials through rigorous research and testing, develop innovative packaging solutions that unlock automation potential and sustainability improvements, and establish robust supply chains that deliver superior solutions at lower cost.

Our Vision: To be the global leader in e-commerce packaging materials science and innovation, enabling the best customer packaging experience at the lowest cost to serve.

What Makes Us Unique: We're not just specifying materials—we're fundamentally understanding them through the materials science triangle framework (processing, structure, properties). Our integrated capabilities span from molecular-level materials characterization, to full packaging system testing, to automation compatibility testing. This end-to-end ownership enables us to innovate faster, unlock step-change improvements impossible for suppliers alone, and maintain freedom to operate across multiple supply chains.

Our Impact: We're driving Amazon's transition from plastic to paper packaging, developing breakthrough materials and establishing supply chains that reduce costs while advancing our 2040 net-zero commitment. Our work directly influences automation success, customer experience, and sustainability metrics.

Our Culture: We operate with high technical rigor while moving at startup speed. We embrace calculated risk-taking in R&D, fail fast, and iterate based on data. We believe in radical collaboration—our success requires seamless partnership across engineering, procurement, operations, and sustainability teams. We're building something that's never been done before in e-commerce, and we're looking for engineers who thrive in ambiguity, think globally while executing locally, and are energized by complex, high-impact challenges.

Our Team: We bring together materials scientists, chemists, engineers, and program managers who are passionate about solving hard problems. We partner with world-class academic institutions, leading materials suppliers, and internal Amazon teams to push the boundaries of what's possible in packaging materials. Our EU presence ensures we're co-located with automation development and deeply embedded in the European supplier ecosystem

Basic Qualifications

- Experience working with interdisciplinary teams to execute product design from concept to production
- Experience with the project management of technical projects
- Experience in developing functional specifications, design verification plans and functional test procedures
- Experience with materials selection, testing, and scaling to manufacturing
- Bachelor's degree in materials science engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, pulp/paper engineering or a related technical discipline

Preferred Qualifications

- Master's degree or higher in materials science engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, pulp/paper engineering or a related technical discipline
- Engineering experience in pulp, paper, packaging or related field.
- Experience in characterization techniques and equipment, such as SEM-EDS, FTIR, DSC, TGA, DMA, rheometry, spectrophotometry, optical microscopy, and mechanical property testing related to packaging or other forest products with standard (ASTM, TAPPI, ISO, ISTA, etc.) and non standard methodologies.

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