London, N4
️ 4 days in our office, 1 day from home (choose from Tue–Thu)
£35-45k per annum + equity

About Shellworks

At Shellworks, we’re on a mission to make plastic waste a thing of the past. We’re creating a new generation of materials - sustainable, high-performing, and designed to disappear. By reimagining how materials are made, we’re tackling one of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges.

About The Role

As part of our fast-paced, collaborative environment, you'll have the opportunity to make a tangible impact on the planet while growing your expertise. If you're passionate about using your engineering skills to solve complex challenges and create a better future, this is the perfect role for you.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the development, optimisation and scale-up of our materials across compounding, extrusion, injection moulding, blow moulding and film processing.

• Orchestrate and evaluate trials at partner sites, providing actionable, data-driven feedback to bridge materials science with equipment manufacturers and co-packers. Exploring and testing alternative manufacturing techniques to expand product capabilities.

• Proactively identify process inefficiencies and conduct root cause analysis on material failures or processing defects, driving continuous improvement across internal pilot lines and external manufacturing sites.

• Design and execute robust, repeatable lab-scale experiments to evaluate material formulations, utilizing multivariate data analysis to establish clear cause-and-effect relationships before moving to scale-up.

• Build internal prototyping and pilot capability, helping shape our processing infrastructure.

• Work with suppliers on new materials, including incoming material analysis, testing and qualification.

• As a member of a dynamic team, you won’t just stay in your lane. You’ll jump in wherever needed from vetting new sustainable feedstock suppliers to identifying and researching new opportunity spaces.

Our Ideal Candidate

• Holds a degree in Polymer Processing, Materials Science, or a related field, with at least 1 year of industry experience.

• Brings a proactive, results-driven mindset and a strong willingness to learn - this is a hands-on role that requires curiosity and initiative.

• Demonstrates solid skills in experimental design, with a passion for experimentation, data analysis, validation, and thorough documentation.

• Has experience using polymer characterisation techniques, including thermal analysis, rheology, mechanical testing, and microscopy.

• Has exposure to multiple polymer processes such as compounding, extrusion, injection moulding, blow moulding or film lines across a range of polymer groups, and is confident working directly with operators, OEMs and co-manufacturers to align on technical requirements.

• You thrive in a high-autonomy, fast-moving start-up environment - spotting opportunities, building structure from scratch, and moving projects forward without waiting for instruction.

• Independent decision maker, you feel confident operating in ambiguity while driving clarity and momentum.

• A do it yourself / can do mentality - not focussed on boundaries but interdisciplinary problem solving.

What we offer

28 days holiday + statutory holidays
Enhanced parental leave - 12 weeks maternity at full pay, 6 weeks paternity at full pay
Heka wellbeing allowance - to spend on what matters to you - gym, therapy, nutrition, learning, fertility and menopause support, and lots of other options!
Virtual GP - same or next day appointments and private prescriptions delivered to you
Cycle to work scheme - buy, subscribe to, or share a bike with savings of up to 42% via salary sacrifice
Competitive salary + equity options
Growth and development opportunities as we scale
Regular socials + daily catered lunch at the office
A tightly knit, passionate team making a real impact

Join Us

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.

This role involves travel and requires manual handling of goods up to 25kg in weight.