Chemical Process Engineer – Scale-Up and Manufacturing
We are hiring our first process engineer to take our chemistry from the laboratory to industrial scale. You will need a degree in chemical engineering and industry experience in scale-up and techno-economic analysis. We are open on seniority. Superabsorbent polymer experience is a bonus.
💼 Competitive salary, 📊 meaningful equity and 🚀 massive upside – backed by world-class climate and deep-tech investors – in a role working directly with the CEO, with a clear path to leading our process engineering.
Location: Oxford, UK – Begbroke Science Park (on-site)
Employment: Full-time, permanent
Start date: Immediate – as soon as possible
Visa sponsorship: Available for exceptional candidates
Help Build the Future of a Global Industry
A&B Smart Materials is a materials science venture based at the University of Oxford Begbroke Science Park, developing bio-based and/or biodegradable superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) to replace today’s fossil-based plastics.
SAPs are almost magical materials: a single gram can absorb hundreds of grams of water. They are the absorbent cores inside diapers, menstrual pads and incontinence products, and the “water-storage crystals” that help soil retain moisture in agriculture. Today’s SAPs are persistent plastics, and regulatory pressure, consumer demand and the scale of the microplastics crisis are making sustainable alternatives increasingly urgent.
Our goal is simple and ambitious: to replace the synthetic superabsorbents that dominate a $9B market today, expected to reach $17B by 2035, with materials that achieve the essential trifecta of top performance, competitive pricing and large-scale manufacturability. This is a generational opportunity to reinvent an essential material and make sustainable SAPs the new standard.
Why A&B Smart Materials?
We recently closed a heavily oversubscribed $2M pre-seed round, backed by an exceptional group of investors including Sake Bosch, caesar., Living Hope VC, Archipelago Ventures, Triple Impact Ventures, Cranfield University Seed Fund and Oxford Seed Fund, alongside leading business angels from the Cambridge Capital Group and Oxford Innovation Finance.
A&B Smart Materials was named in the UK Startups 100 2026, won the Planet Positive Award at MRE 2026, and one of our founders has been recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30. We are supported by Chemstars, the EarthScale Accelerator and the Green Tech Legal Collaborative.
We have also signed a deal with one of the world’s largest chemical companies. Achieving this at our stage is an exceptional milestone and a strong validation of our technology, team and commercial momentum.
We have some of the best advisors in the industry. They include the former Managing Director, the former Head of Research and Development North America and the former Head of Production and Technology of the world’s third-largest superabsorbent polymer producer, industry veterans who have spent their careers working on superabsorbent polymers, and **the inventor behind a key...
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