Experienced Process Engineer to help develop a sustainable biomaterial.

Role: Experienced Process Engineer to help develop a sustainable biomaterial.

What do we do at Arda?

We’re creating alternative leather made from beer… well, actually we’re using the waste from the beer-brewing process, so don’t worry your beer is safe! Normally this waste, called brewers’ spent grain, is fed to cows and pigs. However, instead of exploiting animals and tanning their hides, we’re able to skip cows altogether and craft a novel, plant-based, and plastic-free material directly.

Why?

Because leather isn’t a by-product; it’s a co-product that subsidises one of the most polluting industries on the planet — industrial animal agriculture, which is responsible for over 14% of global CO2 emissions. Furthermore, many leather tanneries use toxic chemicals that are extremely harmful to local ecosystems.

Unfortunately, current leather alternatives are riddled with plastic, contributing to landfill and micro-plastic pollution. The market for leather alternatives is rapidly expanding and is projected to hit $100 Billion by 2030. Industries such as fashion, automotive, and home upholstery are looking for non-plastic alternatives; but they just can’t find any that are affordable or at scale! (Here’s where we come in.)

How?

We take the waste grain and then a bit of protein manipulation, a bit of chemistry, a bit of material science, and we’ve invented a new material to take on leather… (we’ll get into the details later).

Why do we need your help?

We are looking for a solid process engineering professional to join the Arda team and help lead the scale-up of our material from lab scale to production scale. This will involve setting up the engineering division of Arda.

Candidates will be joining a small and expanding team (7 and counting), working directly with the CTO and R&D team. The role will involve diving into the emerging field of plastic-free, plant-based leather alternatives and coordinating a path to scaled production. We have identified the tape casting method as the most appropriate route to scaling.

Responsibilities will include:

• Project management of scale up operations from laboratory techniques to safe industrial production methods
• Coordinating with the R&D team to modify our material to be suitable for scalable processing techniques
• Developing partnerships with contract manufacturers/feedstock suppliers
• Building a working model for scale-up operations (Pilot Facility)
• Understanding the feasibility and outline the path toward full scale manufacturing
• Working with academic partners (including chance for publications)

Who you are?

More than anything we want to find great people to work with, especially those who share our vision of sustainability. If all of the above sounds interesting to you, then please get in touch. However, there are some important things an ideal candidate would have:

• Background/experience (7+ yrs) process engineering/chemical engineering (or relevant)
• Good knowledge of manufacturing processes; particularly with knowhow in solvent-casting/tape-casting
• Capability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Ability to build relationships with external partners
• Willingness to learn and pick up new techniques without direct training
• Masters, PhD, &/or industry experience (experience in start-ups or polymer/textile manufacturing is a plus!)
• Happy to work in a start-up environment. Hands on problem solver.

What we offer in return:

• A competitive salary; based on level of experience
• Stock options
• The chance to be one of the first employees in a fast growing, exciting company
• Freedom to innovate and develop new ideas
• Flexible working hours
• Opportunities for professional development (learn how to build a business with a top tier team)

Location: Bermondsey, London UK.

How to apply:

To apply, fill out this Google Docs Form (https://forms.gle/EpH1djDPuWMwfMeT9). We will then be in touch for the next steps. This position starts between July & September but can be flexible with regards to the candidates work-notice/schedule.

A bit about us and our journey:

We are a start-up based in London developing biomaterials for the circular economy. Funnily enough, both of us founders live in Bermondsey with the ‘Bermondsey Beer Mile’ right on our doorstep. Even more so, Bermondsey is the historic leather tanning district of London, and here we are transforming brewery waste into an alternative leather. We also met in a pub. Since, we’ve gone from prototyping in our kitchens to our lab in the aptly named Leather Market in Bermondsey. We’ve had a very serendipitous and coincidental path, and we’re thrilled to be building Arda.

Our take on diversity:

Arda is for everyone. We’re an equal-opportunity employer. We will consider all applications equally regardless of a person’s race, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, background, marital status, disability, or gender identity. Moreover, we actively encourage individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in the materials space to reach out.