Senior Scientist – Contact Lens Materials & Chemistry

Senior Scientist – Contact Lens Materials & Chemistry

Location: Remote Role (Work from Home – SEA)

Work Hours: Full-time, SEA day time business hours (occasional meetings with US-based colleagues may fall outside standard hours)

Related roles: R&D Chemist, Senior R&D Chemist, Formulation Scientist, Formulation Chemist, Polymer Scientist, Polymer Chemist, Materials Scientist, Biomaterials Scientist, Contact Lens Development Scientist, Dye Chemist, Colorant Chemist, Organic Chemist

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Scientist to be the subject matter expert of a new development initiative to incorporate functional additives into advanced soft (silicone-hydrogel) contact lens materials. You will help drive additive chemistry, formulation strategy, product performance, and contact lens modification to a smaller extent.

This is a design and analysis role, not a bench role. Partner laboratories carry out the hands-on synthesis; you define the experiments, guide the partner labs’ chemists, and interpret the results of each iteration. The central challenge sits where colorant chemistry meets the lens polymer: meeting the functional targets while preserving oxygen permeability, wettability, and comfort, and keeping every component fixed in the matrix so nothing leaches into the eye.

We require deep expertise in one of two fields: dye and colorant chemistry, or silicone-hydrogel and polymer materials science (contact lens application). You should also bring a solid grounding in the other field, whether from your studies or your professional work, because the role asks you to make decisions that account for both the chemistry and the lens material at once. Expertise across both fields is a strong advantage.

About Colorboost

Colorboost™ is an American technology company revolutionizing the optical industry with proprietary lens technology. We pioneered the use of Generative AI to design tinted lenses that enhance color perception for wearers. Our products are trusted globally by military personnel, elite athletes, gamers, medical professionals, and individuals with vision impairments.

Founded in 2019, we partner with eyewear brands and eyecare practices to develop lenses tailored for specific environments and activities. Our team of scientists and engineers specializes in color vision, lens technology, and artificial intelligence.

Colorboost™ is just one technology in our innovation pipeline. More game-changing advancements are on the horizon.

Learn more: https://colorboost.com

Key Responsibilities

Technical Analysis & Formulation

• Act as the technical subject-matter expert on the formulation, informing research priorities and the roadmap from concept toward a manufacturable lens

• Design experiments to select and tune functional colorant systems against target optical and performance specifications, and define the criteria for success

• Develop the approach for covalently fixing functional components in the lens polymer to prevent leaching, balancing functional performance against material and safety constraints

• Interpret spectral, material, and biocompatibility data to inform each design iteration

Partner Lab Collaboration

• Collaborate with partner laboratories that perform the hands-on synthesis and lens fabrication, specifying the experiments, reviewing results, and helping keep the work aligned with program goals

• Translate formulation strategy into clear, reproducible protocols and decision points for the partner labs’ chemists

• Troubleshoot compatibility between the colorant and the lens polymer, along with photostability and other lens-property issues, as they surface across iterations

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Documentation

• Account for how the additive and the lens material affect each other, so the silicone hydrogel keeps its key properties: copolymerization kinetics, oxygen permeability (Dk), wettability, modulus, and water content

• Work with internal teams and external partners to define requirements, validate designs, and resolve technical challenges

• Keep clear technical records of experimental designs, formulations, and analyses to support continuity and knowledge transfer

Educational Background

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Chemistry (organic, dye/colorant, or related), Polymer Science, Materials Science, Biomaterials, or a closely related field

• Candidates from adjacent science and engineering disciplines with demonstrated, relevant expertise are also encouraged to apply

• An M.S. is the minimum, and a Ph.D. is welcome.

Requirements

Domain Expertise

• Deep expertise in one of these two fields, preferably both: (a) dye and colorant chemistry, including chromophore selection and molecular design, structure-property relationships, color and optical-property tuning, and photostability; or (b) silicone-hydrogel and polymer materials science, including monomer and network design, oxygen permeability, wettability, and mechanical properties.

• Familiarity with bonding a colorant into a polymer matrix durably, for example by covalent attachment, along with the leaching and biocompatibility issues this raises

Experience

• Typically at least 3 years of professional R&D experience after a Ph.D., or 5 years after an M.S., in a relevant field. We weigh demonstrated expertise more heavily than length of experience.

• A track record of independent R&D judgment: designing experiments, interpreting data, and drawing sound technical conclusions. Credible evidence can take any form, including publications, patents, project work, or a thesis.

• Experience coordinating lab work, whether your own or a partner’s, is valuable

Technical & Analytical Skills

• Strong analytical problem-solving and a data-driven approach to formulation decisions

• Skill in experimental design, including design-of-experiments (DOE) methodology and statistical analysis of results, for example with JMP, Minitab, or similar tools

• Fluency with the relevant analytical techniques: spectroscopy and chromatography for colorants, and thermal, mechanical, and oxygen-permeability (Dk) characterization for lens materials

Soft Skills

• Self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and reliable, taking full ownership of your work in a remote setting without close supervision

• Highly organized with strong documentation practices for long-term continuity and knowledge transfer

• Excellent written and verbal communication in English for effective collaboration with international colleagues and partners

• Strong project and time management across concurrent experimental threads

Why Join Colorboost?

• Competitive compensation with substantial performance-based upside

• Shape the science of a next-generation product as it moves from concept toward manufacture

• Work at the frontier of functional colorant chemistry and advanced polymer materials

• Fully remote, with the autonomy to drive the technical work independently

• Opportunities for professional growth through challenging, high-impact work

• Collaborate with a global team of scientists, engineers, and industry experts