Co-founder in residence ­- Plastic waste to platform materials (packaging) (Hiring Immediately)

The Problem Worth Solving

300 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced every year. Most of it - especially polyolefins like polypropylene - can't be meaningfully recycled. It's one of the largest unsolved problems in materials science, and no one has cracked it at scale. Until now.

The Venture

We're developing a novel electrified process that transforms polyolefin waste into high-value packaging materials - polypropylene-grade performance with dramatically better end-of-life characteristics, including solvolysis recyclability and designed-in environmental degradability. This isn't incremental improvement. It's a platform with the potential to become a global polyolefin sink.

The recycled polyolefin market is worth $60B+ and accelerating. EU regulations mandate recycled polymer content in food packaging by 2030. Brand owners are scrambling for circular solutions. There's no clear winner yet.

The Role

We're looking for a Commercial Co-Founder to own everything from customer to capital. You'll partner with the technical founder to take this from pre-seed to Series A and beyond - validating markets, landing anchor customers, securing feedstock supply, and building the commercial infrastructure that turns a breakthrough technology into a durable business.

This is a ground-floor co-founder role. You'll hold a majority equity stake in the company alongside your co-founder(s), with pre-seed investment and ongoing support from Deep Science Ventures.

What You'll Own

• Customer discovery and market prioritisation - from cold outreach to binding offtake agreements
• Feedstock supply partnerships with waste management companies
• Strategic partnerships with compounders, distributors, and brand owners
• Techno-economic modelling and pricing strategy alongside the technical founder
• Fundraising - leading commercial due diligence, building investor relationships, and closing rounds
• Company strategy as a core member of the founding team
• Building and leading the commercial team as you scale

Requirements

Who We're Looking For

Someone who has done the 0-to-1 journey before. You've co-founded or commercially led a startup from inception, raised VC funding, and personally closed early deals. Experience in circular economy, materials, chemicals, or sustainability is a strong differentiator - but the right founder with a different domain background and the hunger to learn is equally compelling. Above all, you thrive in ambiguity, make decisions fast with imperfect information, and are motivated by building something with genuine climate impact.

Essential:

• Experienced founder/operator, with proven commercial track record in materials, chemicals, packaging, or adjacent industrial sectors - from cold outreach to signed deals
• Experience in an early-stage or startup environment; comfortable owning outcomes with limited resources
• Strong financial literacy - able to build, interrogate, and communicate financial models
• Experience fundraising from VC
• Excellent stakeholder communication - credible with customers, investors, and a technical co-founder alike

Valuable:

• Network across plastics, packaging or waste management industries
• Familiarity with circular economy trends, recycling value chains and EU regulatory frameworks
• Experience managing application testing programmes or go-to-market strategy in materials
• Background in regulatory pathways for chemicals or materials

Benefits

The Setup

This role is structured as a Founder in Residence through Deep Science Ventures, with the venture targeting incorporation and spin-out asap. The venture spins out with £250k in inception capital from DSV and Valterra Platinum (formerly Anglo American Platinum). Majority equity stake between you and your co-founder(s) and salary is negotiated as part of the spin-out. Post-launch, DSV provides continuous support - fundraising, partnerships, recruitment. Remote-first, open globally, with a preference for UK/Europe.

About DSV

Deep Science Ventures (DSV) is on a mission to create a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out, and invest in science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. Operating in four sectors—Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture, and Computation—we tackle the challenges defining these areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.