Sr. Material Researcher

Material Bank is seeking a Sr. Material Researcher to bring deep material expertise and sound judgment to how products are represented across the marketplace's catalog. The role combines hands-on catalog work with research, category development, and standards improvement.

This is a rare chance to shape how an entire category is structured and specified, not just clean up individual records. Decisions made here reach thousands of architects and designers using Material Bank's marketplace every day.

Success looks like a catalog that gets more accurate and more usable over time - through standards, taxonomy, and structural improvements that keep the same issues from recurring.

Position will be a hybrid role located out of Boca Raton, FL. Open to candidates in the Boston, MA area as well. 

What you'll do

• Own complex material and product questions that require expert judgment, and the high-value enrichment where source data and tooling fall short.
• Review complex brand and product updates, resolve the ambiguity, and add intelligence that makes the record more useful.
• Lead or support new category onboarding, including the attributes, controlled vocabularies, and hierarchy placement needed to represent the category well.
• Research emerging materials, standards, and designer expectations in your assigned domains, then translate findings into practical recommendations on attributes, CVLs, taxonomy, and terminology.
• Investigate search and discovery problems where product data may be contributing.
• Propose changes to catalog standards when the current model turns out to be incomplete or misleading, and spot the recurring patterns that should become broader catalog improvements.
• Document your reasoning and evidence on non-obvious decisions so the knowledge is reusable.
• Coach peers, review complex work, and strengthen the team without managing anyone - escalating cross-category decisions rather than creating isolated local conventions.

What you'll bring

• Deep expertise in architectural materials, building products, interior products, product specification, or materials research.
• The ability to research incomplete or conflicting information and reach a defensible conclusion without overstating what the evidence supports.
• Real understanding of how designers and architects evaluate, compare, and specify materials.
• Structural thinking about categories, attributes, controlled values, and how product data supports discovery.
• Comfort working directly in catalog systems and using tooling as part of the research workflow.
• Writing that explains why a decision is right, what supports it, and where uncertainty remains.
• The judgment to work independently on complex topics while recognizing when an issue reaches past your assigned category.

Especially valuable:

• Background in architecture, interior design, material libraries, specification, or a manufacturer's product or technical team.
• Experience with PIM, product catalogs, faceted search, or structured product content.
• Depth in at least one material domain paired with the ability to quickly learn unfamiliar ones.
• Mentoring peers or leading defined research workstreams without formal people management.