About the Job

🎯 Materials Manufacturing and Process Engineer
🌍 London, N4
🏛 4 days in our office, 1 day working from home
💰 £45-60k per annum (depending on experience) + equity

Join Shellworks as a Materials Manufacturing and Process Engineer and help us materialise a better future by eliminating plastic pollution.

About Shellworks

Developed for a throwaway culture, plastics have caused significant pollution to our natural environments with 90% of all plastics ever created never being recycled. More so, recent studies have identified that plastics impact goes beyond pollution to chemicals and micro-plastics that impact human and environmental health.

We believe there must be a better way and our first innovation Vivomer does just that, if nature made a plastic this would be it. Vivomer, a polymer made by microorganisms, behaves just like plastic in use, but degrades upon disposal in any natural environment. Developed through cutting-edge material science, mechanical engineering, design, and operations, Vivomer represents a groundbreaking step towards a pollution-free future.

The nature of our work is frequently described as impossible, but if like us, you’re driven by the challenge to prove that there is a better way to do things, join us. You will play a critical role in developing the future of materials, how products are created and directly contribute to reducing plastic pollution.

The Opportunity

This is a unique opportunity to work on scaling the future of materials inspired by nature. When you join us you’ll get to:

• Play a crucial role in scaling product developments and manufacturing with our production partners to deliver products to the required cost, quality and timing.

• Leading production and process development projects for new products and collaborating closely with production partners to address manufacturing issues.

• Be the critical technical and project interface between design, engineering, supply chain, operations, suppliers and customers.

• Implement best practices, drive continuous improvement and develop robust quality programs to ensure the highest standards of production quality.

• Collaborate on world-first projects across the molecular biology, mechanical engineering, product design and operations teams.

Our Ideal Candidate

• You have a materials science, polymer processing or similar degree and 2+ years of relevant industry experience.

• You have experience working in an industrial manufacturing environment (preferably in polymer processing across injection moulding, blow moulding, compounding or extrusion) including scaling production processes from prototype to serial production.

• You have a robust understanding of root-cause problem-solving, implementing containment and corrective actions within a Quality Management System.

• You have a hands-on approach to problem-solving and quickly assimilate and retain information.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills to negotiate and implement process improvements with production partners.

• You enjoy data analysis, validation, and documentation to drive continuous improvement activities to eliminate waste, maximise raw material yield and reduce cycle times.

• You are a self-starter and believe the high autonomy environment of a dynamic, early-stage start-up and outsourced manufacturing to production partners is the right place to unleash your potential.

  Our Benefits

  🌴 21 days holiday + birthday off + 27-31st December, in addition to all statutory and public holidays

  📚 Opportunities for growth and development as we expand and scale our impact
  🥼 Access to a fully kitted out on-site lab (incubators, autoclaves, bioreactors, etc.) and pilot line workshop (machine tools, injection moulder, extruders, blow moulders, etc.)
  👍 Competitive salary and equity options
  🎉 Regular social events and fully stocked office kitchen
  🐚 Part of a tightly knit team aiming to make a meaningful social impact.

  Join Our Mission

  Becoming a part of Shellworks means being part of a team that’s passionate about sustainability and innovation. Our world-class team includes experts in materials science and visionary entrepreneurs dedicated to creating a better future. Together, we’re redefining what’s possible.

  Are you ready to help us lead the way in sustainable materials? Apply now and be part of something truly impactful.