Description of Position:

Nelumbo is a science and technology company focused on generating advanced materials through surface modification. Through a proprietary process, Mineral®, Nelumbo is eliminating PFAS from the textile supply chain and replacing it with more sustainable materials. Kuraray, a Japanese manufacturer of chemicals, resins, and fibers, recently acquired Nelumbo to accelerate the deployment of the technology.

Nelumbo is seeking a highly motivated and capable Sr. Textile Development Engineer to support the development of textile coatings and processes for polymer-based substrates. The ideal candidate will have technical experience in textile development, specifically coating applications or surface modifications. Previous experience working with Asian supply chains is a plus.

Key Responsibility:

• Be the technical expert for understanding the delicate relationship between textile mechanical properties, chemical characteristics, and water repellent performance

Main Deliverables

First 30 days

• Integrate into a multi-national, multi-cultural, multiple business unit, -corporate team
• Complete safety training for operating in wet-lab (sample preparation, sample evaluation, sample analysis)
• Become an expert in proprietary process used to create laboratory samples

First 60 days

• Understand differences between laboratory and manufacturing processes
• Prepare and generate samples for existing and new customers
• Communicate results in both internal and customer-facing meetings

First 120 days

• Integrate results into a matrix that summarizes key performance criteria
• Lead next-on material development for new customers
• Develop new procedure(s) for process technology
• Draft work instructions, test methods, and technical reports in support of product development activities

Desired Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree required in Engineering (Chemical, Materials Science, Chemistry or Textile) or related discipline
• 5 years of experience in textile development
• Familiarity with both standardized testing (ASTM, AATCC) and advanced analytical techniques such as ICP-OES, FTIR, SEM, XRD, zeta potential, etc.
• 2+ years of wet process chemistry experience
• Demonstrated abilities in problem solving and experimental design to provide appropriate solutions
• Excellent communicator who can craft different messages depending on the audience
• Cross-cultural experience partnering with Asian supply chains (domestic and international travel may be required ~5-10% of the time)

Nelumbo Background:

Nelumbo is a UC Berkeley spin-out company commercializing advanced materials to increase sustainability in the built environment and consumer goods. Our materials leverage nanoscale features to enhance the surface performance of materials in different environments. This role will support the development of nanostructured materials for primarily polymer based consumer goods.

We are a team of highly motivated engineers and scientists with insatiable curiosities and a strong desire to enable completely new classes of products through novel technologies. The processes to create our materials are multistep immersions in either batch or continuous process lines involving proprietary metal-organic chemistry and are currently being evaluated at commercial manufacturing scale.

For more information, visit our webpage: www.nelumbo.io