Bioengineer / Synthetic Biologist

Novoloop is an advanced upcycling company that creates quality chemicals and materials made from plastic waste through their patented, low-carbon upcycling technology process ATOD™. With upcycled product Oistre™, Novoloop provides thermoplastic polyurethane solutions for footwear, sporting goods, automotive and more. To learn more, visit novoloop.com and oistre.com. 

Location: Remote or Menlo Park, Calif.

Type: Consulting, full-time for 3 months

We are looking for a fantastic Bioengineer / Synthetic Biologist to be responsible for researching, analyzing, and reporting on the biological applications of dicarboxylic acids generated via Novoloop’s proprietary ATOD technology from polyethylene waste. The successful candidate will be able to digest large amounts of scientific literature across different fields quickly and present sound analyses through reports.

This is a full-time consulting position remotely in the USA and Canada, or onsite in Menlo Park, California. We accept domestic and Canadian applicants. 

Complete a business feasibility analysis on a fermentation platform based on Novoloop’s proprietary diacids, including answers the following questions:

- Which products can be produced as part of the diacid-fermentation platform in a marketable and financially competitive fashion (e.g., price/volume or physical attributes)?

- Identify profiles of key customers who would purchase these diacids, products or applications.

- What is the value proposition to the fermentation community?

- Are the diacids most advantageous as a substrate or carbon source in these processes?

- Which feedstocks or substrates would diacids replace and at what price levels and scale would diacids become competitive (e.g., vis a vis 95% Dextrose)?

- What types of biological processes would need to be developed to enable these products of interest? Does this require lots of investment and time or are they pre-existing?

- Who are potential partners for process development and pilot production?

- What will the CAPEX requirement potentially look like to add on this platform expansion? (activity to be supported by scale-up engineering)

Generate a summary report of the feasibility analysis

- Minimally a Bachelor’s degree in bioengineering, synthetic biology, or equivalent. Advanced degree preferred.

- Understanding of fermentation pathways that are possible from a specific feedstock or substrate

- 5+ years of experience in consulting and related report generation; preferred former employers: Cargill, ADM

- Excellent written communication skills

- Ability to digest large amounts of scientific literature and summarize key findings 

- Experience with finding market data, including pricing, techno-economics, and customer profiles, market sizes, applications, etc. 

- Preference: Prior experience with biotechnology feasibility reports and can provide examples