About the Job

🎯 Senior Manufacturing Engineer

🌍 London, N4

🏛️ Flexible working (4 days in our office, 1 day working from home)

💰 £50-60k per annum (depending on experience) + equity

Join Shellworks as a Senior Manufacturing Engineer and help us materialise a better future by eliminating plastic packaging 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 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 packaging future that is pollution-free.

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 contributing to reducing plastic pollution.

The Opportunity

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

Lead and oversee all aspects of scaling and productionisation with our manufacturing partners, ensuring products meet cost, quality, and timeline expectations.

Manage production and process development projects for new products and collaborate 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 and on-time delivery.

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

Our Ideal Candidate

You have over 5 years of proven experience in a relevant industrial manufacturing environment, ideally with exposure to polymers and plastic components, such as injection moulding, blow moulding, compounding, or extrusion for plastic packaging. 

Experience in scaling production from prototype to high-volume manufacturing is essential, with knowledge of both in-house and outsourced FMCG production being an advantage.

Degree in a relevant engineering discipline, such as materials science or mechanical engineering.

Self-motivated and proactive, you thrive in a high-autonomy environment within a dynamic, early-stage start-up and excel in managing outsourced production partnerships and holding them accountable.

Your written and verbal communication skills allow you to negotiate effectively on both operational and commercial terms with production partners.

Utilising a hands-on approach, you quickly absorb and organically share knowledge with peers, using your data analysis and documentation skills to drive continuous improvement, reduce waste, maximise material yield, and shorten cycle times.

Our Benefits

🌴 25 days holiday plus 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