Extrusion Engineer

The Role

At Notpla, we’re at the forefront of sustainable innovation, creating natural alternatives to single-use plastic packaging that are carefully engineered to help build a healthier planet. Founded on the belief that nature knows best, we’re an innovative, action-oriented scale-up developing and manufacturing uncompromisingly natural packaging solutions from seaweed and plants.

As an Extrusion Engineer in the Innovation team at Notpla, you'll develop breakthrough natural material technologies into scalable solutions. This role sits at the critical intersection of material science and industrial-scale extrusion processes, where you'll develop and transform innovative biomaterial solutions in the very early stages into commercially viable packaging alternatives that replace single-use plastics.

This is an exciting time to join Notpla - we’re on the brink of a record-breaking year for revenue and on track for major growth in the next 18–24 months. On top of this our Series A+ fundraise, which closed in 2024, is enabling us to scale our growth and environmental impact faster than ever.

Beyond offering meaningful roles and a vibrant working environment, Notpla provides competitive compensation, including EMI Share Options, a zero-carbon pension scheme, discounts with local businesses, and subsidised social activities. Our office-first hybrid working policy lets you work in the way that maximises your productivity while maintaining a dynamic and collaborative atmosphere. We’re a social business with regular clubs and events, and we’re proud of how our diverse, mission-driven community works together to make plastic disappear.

Led by strong values, all Notpla employees are encouraged to take ownership of their domain, enjoying a high degree of autonomy. Our aim is to build an inspiring culture reflected in our working policies, environment, and people.

You’ll operate shoulder-to-shoulder with material scientists, material & product designers, consortium, and business development managers. You’ll be responsible for driving complex R&D projects from a concept stage through to scale validation. In particular, you’ll work on a novel extruded material within a large EU-funded project, bringing it from the lab to the market with a diverse team and strong partner consortium.

We’re looking for someone with practical process engineering experience with exposure to extrusion, whether through compounding, film or sheet extrusion, extrusion coating or another related process. You'll bring rigorous process engineering discipline to a fast-paced innovation environment, while maintaining the fluid, curious mindset needed to pioneer uncharted territory in natural materials. You'll work hands-on in both the laboratory and pilot facilities, designing and executing trials, troubleshooting process challenges, and building out the technical knowledge that advances Notpla's mission in a large Horizon project as well as potentially supporting across multiple concurrent projects.

Key Responsibilities:

Material & Process Development

• Drive natural material development projects from early stage trials through to scalable solutions for packaging and disposable applications.
• Design, execute and analyse extrusion trials in-house and with external partners, using process engineering principles to optimise performance.
• Work with different product groups to prioritise and plan extrusion trials.
• Troubleshoot process challenges using root cause analysis and corrective actions. Build an understanding of how natural materials behave during extrusion and processing.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & External Partnerships

• Collaborate across material science, design, commercial and product teams to solve technical challenges and develop practical solutions.
• Build and manage relationships with R&D labs, academic institutions, toll manufacturers, equipment suppliers and other external partners.
• Provide technical input into grant proposals and client projects.

Feasibility & Strategic Technical Planning

• Conduct feasibility and pathfinding work to identify practical technical routes from development to market.
• Develop technical approaches to solve process engineering challenges.
• Identify relevant technologies, industry developments and equipment partnerships that could unlock new capabilities.

Data Analysis, Documentation & Communication

• Design experiments, analyse trial data and translate findings into clear recommendations.
• Document trials and technical learnings to build institutional knowledge.
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to a range of audiences through written, visual and verbal formats.
• Contribute technical content to patent applications and intellectual property development.

Salary £33,500 - 47,000 + EMI Share Options