Design Engineer (New Product Development)

About Shellworks

At Shellworks, we’re on a mission to make plastic waste a thing of the past. We’ve created a new generation of materials - sustainable, high-performing, and designed to disappear. All of our materials are broken down by microorganisms in the soil. By reimagining how plastics are made, we’re tackling one of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges. We’ve already shipped millions of groundbreaking products and now we’re designing the next ones that are going to change the world. You’ll be joining a team of experts in materials science, design and manufacturing who are obsessed with sustainability and innovation.

London, N4

4 days in our office, 1 day from home

£40,000 - 50,000 pa + equity

About Shellworks

At Shellworks, we’re on a mission to make plastic waste a thing of the past. We’ve created a new generation of materials - sustainable, high-performing, and designed to disappear. All of our materials are broken down by microorganisms in the soil. By reimagining how plastics are made, we’re tackling one of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges. We’ve already shipped millions of groundbreaking products and now we’re designing the next ones that are going to change the world. You’ll be joining a team of experts in materials science, design and manufacturing who are obsessed with sustainability and innovation.

Here are some of the people you’ll work with:

The mission of this role

Your mission in this role is to accelerate the uptake of Vivomer products into the market through relentless creative problem solving, designing excellent products, upholding the highest quality standards and delivering delightful experiences to customers. You will use your expertise in design and engineering every day to create solutions for customers that break down barriers of what people think is possible in a plastic-free product. The products you invent will be in people’s hands within 6 months, all designed to be healthier in use and to disappear after disposal.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the technical execution of multiple new product development projects at a time. You will bridge the gap between the commercial team and the wider technical team, providing ambitious but realistic technical feasibility assessments for new projects and supporting customer proposals.
• Apply engineering and design principles to every aspect of your role, to systematically solve problems and overcome barriers.
• Coordinate closely with manufacturing and operations to ensure your designs can be produced and delivered in the millions of units.
• Brainstorm and generate new technical concepts that will help to propel Shellworks forwards by proliferating Vivomer into new applications and new markets.
• Help to optimize our internal digital tracking tools to monitor technical progress, failures in the field and project milestones.
• Streamline our design engineering processes to help scale our successful project throughput in 2027 to double what it is today, constantly pushing to reduce NPD cycles.
• Champion high quality industrial design and build our brand’s physical identity, working closely with our talented creative team.

Our Ideal Candidate

• Holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering or Product Design Engineering
• Has 2 years of industry experience working in physical product development
• Is highly skilled in: 3D Modelling, Technical Drawing, CAM, DFM, DFA, Simulation, Sketching, Rendering
• Is a physical maker, experienced in rapid prototyping, working with hand tools, power tools and workshop equipment
• Can design, make, test and iterate designs quickly, based on product specifications they have built according to industry standards and customer requirements
• Can technically execute product development from customer specification to first order delivery with close consideration of commercial context and manufacturing scale-up considerations
• Is a visual thinker who comes up with and follows through on creative solutions that are beyond what has been tried before
• Is obsessed with great design and high quality products
• Is familiar with conventional plastics manufacturing processes and basic polymer material behaviour
• Has some understanding of mould design for injection moulding and blow moulding and familiarity with heavy industrial manufacturing equipment
• Thinks about the big picture of what the company is trying to achieve
• Is solution-focused and results-driven, with a strong will to learn whatever it takes to succeed
• Has bias to action and is confident making decisions independently, even with incomplete information
• Is a team player who actively avoids silos and prioritises interdisciplinary problem solving
• Is a clear communicator, who proactively brings clarity when there is confusion or ambiguity
• Wants to be in our London office and R&D facility at least 4 days a week and is motivated to travel domestically and internationally to work directly with partners

What we offer

25 days + bank holidays + Christmas shutdown

Daily catered lunch at the office and team socials

Heka wellbeing allowanc e - to spend on what matters to you - gym, therapy, nutrition, learning, fertility and menopause support, and lots of other options!

Virtual GP - same or next day appointments and private prescriptions delivered to you

Cycle to work scheme - buy, subscribe to, or share a bike with savings of up to 42% via salary sacrifice

Competitive salary + equity options

Growth and development opportunities as we scale

Enhanced parental leave - 12 weeks maternity at full pay, 6 weeks paternity at full pay

A tightly knit, passionate team making a real impact.

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