Technical expert in inks & coatings, plastics: Technical Product Specialist or Head of Product Development

About Octarine

Octarine Bio is a Copenhagen-based biotech company making safe, sustainable, bio-based pigments. Our PurePalette™ platform uses precision fermentation and renewable raw materials to produce colourants that can replace petrochemical and mined pigments.

We are a team of around 15 people, working across pigment manufacturing, formulation and application development, and commercial development. As our pigment manufacturing processes reach full commercial scale, and our first pigment products are now in the hands of customers and partners, we are looking for someone with deep domain expertise in one or more of our core application areas (dyeing, printing, coatings and plastics) to make PurePalette™ work in real industrial applications and turn successful customer trials into lasting commercial products.

The role

You will be the technical owner of the PurePalette™ product range and the link between our lab and our customers. You will translate what the market needs into clear performance targets, work with our scientists to meet them, and make sure our pigment products perform once they reach a customer's processes.

We are looking for an applications expert in inks and coatings, plastics, or both, or in a closely related pigment application field. The title and scope will match your experience:

• Technical Product Specialist if you are earlier in your career and want a role with a lot of room to grow as the company scales.
• Head of Product Development if you have the experience to lead the product and applications function, shape the product roadmap and build a team.

In both cases you will report directly to our Chief Scientific Officer and work closely with our commercial team.

What you will do

Own the product, technically

• Be the technical expert for all PurePalette™ products and the first point of contact for technical questions from customers, partners and colleagues.
• Define the performance and quality parameters customers expect in each application, such as colour strength, dispersibility, heat stability, light and weather fastness, migration, rheology, and wash and rub fastness.
• Plan and coordinate the internal and external testing needed to prove each parameter, and turn the results into clear data packages for customers.
• Own, write and maintain our technical and product documentation, including Safety Data Sheets (SDS), Technical Data Sheets (TDS), Certificates of Analysis (CoA), product specifications and application guides.

Make our pigments work for customers

• Work with customers, distributors and partners to implement PurePalette™ products in their processes, from first lab trial to production run.
• Own the technical side of our partnerships with masterbatchers, ink manufacturers, dyehouses and research institutes. Set up project plans, manage technology transfer between parties, and troubleshoot problems until the product works in the target application.
• Handle technical customer feedback and complaints, find the root cause and feed lessons back into product and process development.

Decide what to develop next

• Identify where bio-based pigments offer real value to end users, and where they can genuinely meet customers' performance expectations.
• Work with Octarine scientists to map which applications our current pigments suit, and which applications we should target with future products.
• Work with our formulation and application scientists to refine formulations (dispersions, masterbatches, inks, dye and print pastes) to meet customer requirements.
• Work with our R&D and process teams to develop and implement strategies that improve pigment performance, for example through stabilisation, surface treatment or particle engineering.
• Benchmark our products against incumbent pigments and competing bio-based alternatives.

Connect technical and commercial

• Act as the bridge between Octarine's technical and commercial teams, translating customer needs into technical requirements and technical results into customer value.
• Join customer meetings, site visits and trade fairs as the technical voice of the company.
• Contribute technical content to sales materials, grant applications and investor discussions, and help capture new inventions for our IP portfolio.

What you bring

Pigment applications are many markets, not one. Printing inks alone span flexo, gravure, offset, screen and digital printing, and each places different demands on a pigment. The end markets differ just as much, from packaging and textiles to toys, consumer goods and coatings, each with its own performance, safety and regulatory requirements.

We need someone who knows this landscape in depth. You should understand the technical and performance requirements of each sub-application and market, judge where our pigments have a realistic and valuable fit, and work with our scientists to develop products that meet those requirements.

Specifically, we are looking for:

• An MSc or PhD in chemistry, polymer or materials science, chemical engineering, colour science or a related field, or equivalent industrial experience.
• Hands-on industrial experience applying pigments or colourants in textiles, inks and coatings, plastics and masterbatch, or a closely related field. For the Head of Product Development level, we expect around 5 or more years, including leading projects or people.
• A practical understanding of pigment dispersion and of how pigment properties such as particle size, surface chemistry and thermal stability affect performance in the final product.
• Experience with colour measurement (spectrophotometry, CIELAB, ΔE) and with standard ISO, EN or ASTM test methods for pigment and application performance.
• Experience writing or maintaining SDS, TDS and CoA documents, and working knowledge of REACH and CLP.
• Experience working directly with customers or external partners on trials, scale-up or technology transfer.
• The ability to explain technical results clearly to scientists, customers and commercial colleagues.
• A structured, self-driven way of working, and comfort with the pace and ambiguity of an early-stage company.
• Fluent written and spoken English.
• The confidence to take full ownership of the role from day one. You will set your own priorities, make decisions within your remit and drive projects to completion without close supervision, keeping the CSO informed rather than waiting for direction.

Nice to have

• Experience in both inks and coatings and plastics.
• Experience with textile dyeing or printing.
• Experience with organic pigments, natural colourants or other bio-based materials.
• Knowledge of food contact and product safety requirements, such as EU 10/2011, the Swiss Ordinance, EuPIA guidelines, EN 71-3 or ZDHC.
• Experience with quality systems such as ISO 9001, or with setting product specifications for a new product.
• An existing network in the European ink, coatings, masterbatch or textile industries.

What we offer

• A central role in bringing a new class of sustainable pigments to market, with real influence over which products we build and how.
• Direct work with the founding team and a short path from idea to decision.
• A small, highly skilled team of scientists across synthetic biology, fermentation, downstream processing, formulation and application.
• For earlier-career candidates, a role that can grow with the company. For senior candidates, the chance to build and lead the product function.
• Real autonomy and ownership of your work, and the chance to make a lasting impact at a fast-growing company developing new materials for industries that urgently need to change.

Practical details

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark. On-site is strongly preferred; hybrid working is possible for the right candidate.

Start date: As soon as possible

Reports to: Chief Scientific Officer

Employment: Full-time, permanent

Travel: Some travel to customers and partners within Europe

Right to work: Applicants must already have the right to live and work in Denmark. We are unfortunately not able to sponsor work visas at this time.

How to apply

Apply with your CV. Please highlight the pigment applications you have worked on and a technical problem you solved in a customer's process.

We review applications on a rolling basis and will fill the position as soon as we find the right person, so we encourage you to apply early.

We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and are happy to answer questions about the role before you apply.