Doctor in Experimental Physics or similar (f/m/x)

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is the national aeronautics and space research centre of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, energy, transport, security and digitalisation is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. In addition to its own research, as Germany’s space agency, DLR has been given responsibility by the federal government for the planning and implementation of the German space programme. DLR is also the umbrella organisation for one of the nation’s largest project management agencies.

DLR’s mission comprises the exploration of Earth and the Solar System and research for protecting the environment. This includes the development of environment-friendly technologies for energy supply and future mobility, as well as for communications and security. DLR’s research portfolio ranges from fundamental research to the development of products for tomorrow. In this way, DLR contributes the scientific and technical expertise that it has acquired to the enhancement of Germany as a location for industry and technology. DLR operates major research facilities for its own projects and as a service for clients and partners. It also fosters the development of the next generation of researchers, provides expert advisory services to government and is a driving force in the regions where its facilities are located.

In the Institute of Materials Physics in Space of the DLR we investigate fundamental physical processes in materials beginning on the microscopic scale and up to macroscopic transport properties, from model systems for new materials to those used in application, on Earth and in space. We combine development of flight hardware, experiments on various microgravity platforms to unravel gravitational influences on physical processes, with theory and simulation on all scales.

You develop experimental setups for the investigation of active matter in the lab, on our sounding rocket MAPHEUS for its annual flights providing 6 minutes of microgravity, and for orbital platforms covering long-duration experiments. You continue the development of the frequent-flyer rocket module SOMEX that provides a versatile light-scattering and microscopy diagnostics for various experimental systems. You perform and analyse one-of-a-kind experiments investigating active materials with and without gravity.

• A thriving environment for research on soft and active matter, spanning experiment, simulation and theory; also close collaboration with research groups from biology and medicine.
• An excellent team of engineers with long-standing experience in building flight hardware.