Senior / Lead Research Chemist – Sustainable Superabsorbent Polymers

We are hiring an experienced Research Chemist, at senior or lead level, who can set a clear technical vision and plan for our research programmes, and deliver it against commercial targets. This is a unique opportunity to work directly, and at the highest level, with our commercial partners, including some of the world’s largest chemical companies. You will need a PhD in chemistry or polymer chemistry (or substantial industrial experience), years of hands-on polymer synthesis and a record of independent research. We want someone technically exceptional, accountable, highly driven and at home in the laboratory. Superabsorbent polymer or hydrogel experience is a major advantage.

💼 Competitive salary, 📊 meaningful equity and 🚀 massive upside – backed by world-class climate and deep-tech investors – in a senior role working directly with the CEO, our technical team, industry experts and the world’s largest chemical companies.

Location: Oxford, UK – Begbroke Science Park (on-site, laboratory-based)

Employment: Full-time, permanent

Start date: Immediate – as soon as possible

Visa sponsorship: Available for exceptional candidates

Help Build the Future of a Global Industry

A&B Smart Materials is a materials science venture based at the University of Oxford Begbroke Science Park, developing bio-based and/or biodegradable superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) to replace today’s fossil-based plastics.

SAPs are almost magical materials: a single gram can absorb hundreds of grams of water. They are the absorbent cores inside diapers, menstrual pads and incontinence products, and the “water-storage crystals” that help soil retain moisture in agriculture. Today’s SAPs are persistent plastics, and regulatory pressure, consumer demand and the scale of the microplastics crisis are making sustainable alternatives increasingly urgent.

Our goal is simple and ambitious: to replace the synthetic superabsorbents that dominate a $9B market today, expected to reach $17B by 2035, with materials that achieve the essential trifecta of top performance, competitive pricing and large-scale manufacturability. This is a generational opportunity to reinvent an essential material and make sustainable SAPs the new standard.

Why A&B Smart Materials?

We recently closed a heavily oversubscribed $2M pre-seed round, backed by an exceptional group of investors including Sake Bosch, caesar., Living Hope VC, Archipelago Ventures, Triple Impact Ventures, Cranfield University Seed Fund and Oxford Seed Fund, alongside leading business angels from the Cambridge Capital Group and Oxford Innovation Finance.

A&B Smart Materials was named in the UK Startups 100 2026, won the Planet Positive Award at MRE 2026, and one of our founders has been recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30. We are supported by Chemstars, the EarthScale Accelerator and the Green Tech Legal Collaborative.

We have also signed a deal with one of the world’s largest chemical companies. Achieving this at our stage is an exceptional milestone and a strong validation of our technology, team and commercial momentum.

We have some of the best advisors in the industry. They include the former Managing Director, the former Head of Research and Development North America and the former Head of Production and Technology of the world’s third-largest superabsorbent polymer producer, industry veterans who have spent their careers working on superabsorbent polymers, and the inventor behind a key patent of one of our competitors.

Our mission is to make sustainable SAPs the global standard.

The Opportunity

We are hiring an experienced Research Chemist, at senior or lead level, to drive the chemistry behind our bio-based and/or biodegradable superabsorbent polymers.

Your title, responsibilities and level of influence will reflect the expertise you bring. At senior level, you will lead your own synthesis workstreams and mentor junior chemists. At lead level, you will run our chemistry programme and team, working directly with our CEO to set research priorities and technical direction.

This is a hands-on, laboratory-based role: you will spend much of your time at the bench, whatever your level. Our formulations are still in active development and we are scaling at the same time, so we need someone who will run experiments as well as direct them, keep high scientific standards and take ownership of results. We already have commercial contracts in place, so you will work towards commercial targets on tight timelines, in a fast-paced environment alongside some of the best people in the industry. Every material we develop has to meet performance, manufacturing and price targets at the same time. We are looking to fill this role immediately.

What You Will Do

· Lead synthesis workstreams. Design, plan and run experiments in the synthesis, modification and crosslinking of bio-based and/or biodegradable SAPs, owning the direction and outcomes of your work.

· Improve performance. Optimise absorption, retention under load, gel strength, permeability and biodegradability, while keeping cost and manufacturability in view.

· Connect structure and performance. Use characterisation data to link chemistry and processing conditions with how the material performs in the end product.

· Set technical direction. Assess chemical routes against performance, cost, raw material availability and scalability, and make clear, evidence-based decisions on where to focus.

· Lead and develop the team. Mentor chemists and technicians, review experimental design and build a culture of rigour and speed.

· Build intellectual property. Identify inventions and work with our patent attorneys to build a defensible patent portfolio, while keeping track of the competitive landscape.

· Lead technical work with partners. Be a senior scientific voice with industrial partners, customers and research collaborators.

· Drive scale-up readiness. Work with process engineering and manufacturing partners to make sure our chemistry can be made reliably and affordably at scale.

· Keep rigorous records. Maintain clear lab notebooks, data and procedures so that every result can be traced and reproduced.

Lead appointments will also own the research plan, recruit and manage the chemistry team, and contribute technical content to grant applications, investor updates and board materials.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for a technically exceptional chemist. What you have achieved at the bench, and the materials you have delivered, matter more to us than a set number of years.

You should bring a PhD in chemistry, polymer chemistry or materials chemistry or a closely related discipline, with substantial postdoctoral or industrial experience in polymer synthesis: typically several years for senior appointments and 10 or more for lead appointments. We will consider candidates without a PhD only where they bring substantial industrial polymer research experience.

You should also have:

· Strong hands-on wet chemistry skills in polymer synthesis, modification and crosslinking.

· Real comfort working in the laboratory every day, safely and efficiently, at senior and lead level alike.

· Experience characterising polymers and interpreting complex data, for example by FTIR, NMR, TGA, DSC, rheology or swelling studies.

· A record of independent research and innovation, such as patents, publications or materials that reached the market.

· Experience mentoring, supervising or managing scientists.

· Experience developing materials under real performance, manufacturing and price constraints, and the judgement to balance them all at once.

· A track record of delivering results against commercial targets and tight deadlines.

SAP and Hydrogel Experience Is a Major Advantage

We particularly value experience with:

· Superabsorbent polymers, hydrogels or other crosslinked, water-absorbing networks, whether conventional, bio-based or biodegradable.

· Biopolymers such as cellulose derivatives, starch, alginate, chitosan or other polysaccharides.

· Standard SAP performance tests, such as free swell capacity, centrifuge retention capacity and absorption against pressure.

· Working for or alongside a major SAP producer, chemical manufacturer, hygiene company or agricultural business.

· Taking a material from the laboratory through pilot production to commercial scale.

How You Work

· Hands-on. No ego, just action: you are at home in the laboratory and run experiments yourself, not only direct them.

· Rigorous. You design clean experiments, question results that look too good and keep records others can rely on.

· Decisive. You make clear calls on incomplete data and change course when the evidence says so.

· Commercially minded. You think about what a customer will accept and what a material will cost, not only about what works in the lab.

· Delivers under pressure. You thrive in a fast-paced environment, working towards commercial targets on tight timelines without letting quality slip.

· Comfortable with complexity and unknowns. You handle many moving parts at once, take performance, manufacturing and price into account together, and make confident progress when much is still unknown.

Our Culture and What We Offer

We are an ambitious, collaborative, results-oriented startup, for people who take ownership, move with urgency and want to do the best work of their careers. We offer:

· Meaningful equity, so you share directly in the company’s success.

· Comprehensive health insurance and 28 days of paid holiday annually.

· Significant influence over our technology, products and intellectual property, working directly with the CEO.

· A clear path to leading a growing scientific team.

· Access to world-class investors, advisors and industry leaders, and close collaboration with one of the world’s largest chemical companies.

Join Us

Application form: https://tally.so/r/PR1WgP