Material Scientist

At Notpla we’re at the leading edge of sustainable innovation, creating natural alternatives to single-use plastic packaging  that’s carefully engineered to create a healthier planet. Founded on the belief that nature knows best, we’re an innovative, ideas and action-oriented scale-up who develop and manufacture uncompromisingly natural packaging solutions from seaweed and plants.

As a Material Scientist at Notpla, you'll drive forward scientific and technological innovations, playing a key role in developing natural revolutionary technologies to replace plastic. This position requires deep knowledge of Materials Science, with an understanding of biomaterials and green chemistry as well as material processing.

This is an exciting time to join Notpla, right on the brink of a record-breaking year for revenue and on-track for major growth in the next 18-24 months. Bolstering confidence in our financial performance, we have just secured a Series A+ fundraise for £20million, enabling us to scale our growth and environmental impact faster than ever. 

The Material Scientist role reports directly to our Innovation Director, whilst being heavily supported and working in tandem with the other technical members of the Innovation team, our future labs commercial team and our Head of Product Portfolio. 

Led by strong values,  all Notpla employees are encouraged to take responsibility for their domain, giving a high level of autonomy. Our aim is to build an inspiring culture that's reflected in our working policies,environment and employees.

Besides offering exciting roles and a great working environment, Notpla provides competitive salaries, the potential for EMI Share Options, a zero-carbon pension scheme, discounts with local businesses, and subsidised social activities. Our office-first hybrid working policy allows you to work in the manner that maximises your productivity, while still creating a vibrant and collegiate work environment. We are a social business with regular clubs and events, and we are proud of how our diverse workplace has created a community that is all pushing towards the common goal of making plastic disappear.

As a key member of the Innovation team, your role as a Material Scientist is to contribute to groundbreaking innovation projects by developing novel material solutions as well as bringing innovation from the lab to pilot scales. This role will allow you to expand your technical expertise in Material Science as well as Process Engineering, crossdisciplinary collaboration and effective project management. 

This dynamic role involves diving into feasibility studies, fast-paced discovery projects, trials, and other material development initiatives. The Materials Scientist will collaborate within cross-functional teams, help scout for new opportunities and novel technologies, analyse findings, process materials on various equipment, and engage with scientific networks.

We are looking for someone with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences, ensuring the dissemination and implementation of technical learnings across the business. Ideally you will have a minimum of 2 years of industry experience in materials science research and development, preferably with exposure to natural materials and material processing. We would value experience and interest in Process Engineering, particularly if you've worked with material processing techniques like extrusion or injection molding. Most of all you will need to be comfortable with ambiguity and be able to coordinate and contribute a variety of projects and lab work. As well as the above, you will be responsible for:

• Conduct and support feasibility studies and fast-paced discovery projects to test innovative solutions in the context of material science and packaging challenges

• Collaborate very closely with cross-disciplinary teams including designers, business development managers, engineers, and seaweed specialists

• Identify, source, and test natural materials and help develop formulations to meet performance, impact (sustainability), and cost targets

• Design and execute experiments, collect and analyze data, and present compelling findings

• Come up with new ways to solve material and processing challenges

• Develop and optimise material processing and formulations

• Stay up-to-date with the latest scientific advancements and industry trends

• Contribute to the development of intellectual property, including patents and trade secrets

• Provide technical input for grant and client proposals to unlock funding opportunities

• Support deep development projects to build fundamental understanding of seaweed and biomaterials for packaging applications

• Coordinate/support coordination and attend various material processing trials (incl. conversion) in the UK and beyond

• Bring material solutions from the lab to pilot scales

• Characterization of materials performance, shelf life testing, and compatibility studies

• Represent Notpla at external events with guidance from senior team members

• Coordinate with academic institutions and commercial labs for third-party testing