Materials Engineer

Shellworks is dedicated to creating sustainable materials to combat plastic waste. The Materials Engineer will support the development and optimization of materials, conduct experiments, and work with suppliers to enhance product capabilities.

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

Skills

• 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

Benefits

• 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

Company Overview