About the job
Role: Protein Materials Scientist / Protein Engineer
What we do at Arda?
We’re creating an 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. 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 from waste beer grain.
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 protein material scientist / protein engineer to join the Arda team and help with R&D and more.
Candidates will be joining a small and expanding team (8 and counting). The roles will involve diving into the emerging field of plastic-free, plant-based leather alternatives and rapidly prototyping.
Responsibilities will include:
- Research into leather, protein materials, and other alternative materials
- Research into scalable protein extraction/purification techniques
- Developing prototypes in the lab
- Enhancing established protein analysis protocols
- Working with suppliers and designers
- Helping with future hires
- Managing interns & masters students
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 in protein science / protein biomaterials
- Good knowledge of chemistry, molecular structures, and analytical techniques
- Experience in a broad range of experimental techniques and experimental design
- 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
What we offer in return:
- A competitive salary based on experience
- Stock options
- The chance to be an early employee in a fast growing, exciting company
- Freedom to innovate and develop new ideas
- Flexible working hours
- Opportunities for professional development
- The chance to work with like-minded, fun people who have lots of great ideas
How to apply:
To apply, fill out this Google Docs Form (https://forms.gle/fV5cHiQAFKoGQkAp8). We will then be in touch for the next steps. We aim to onboard the candidate as soon as possible but can be flexible with regards to the candidate's work-notice/schedule.
A bit about Arda and our journey:
We are a start-up based in Bermondsey, London developing biomaterials for the circular economy. Funnily enough, Bermondsey is home to the famous ‘Beer Mile’, and even more so, Bermondsey is the historic leather tanning district of London — and here we are transforming brewery waste into an alternative leather. We have even built our lab in an aptly named building called the Leather Market! We’ve had a very serendipitous and coincidental path, and we’re thrilled to be building Arda.
Arda was founded in the summer of 2022, following some (odd looking) prototyping in the founder’s kitchens. Since, Arda has gone on to raise a pre-seed round of £1.1M (2023), enabling the founders to build a lab and onboard a team. More recently Arda closed another fundraising round (to be announced very soon & hence why we're hiring again)...
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.