# Commercial Co-founder, Eliminating toxicity from food contact materials

**Company:** [Deep Science Ventures](http://jobs.workable.com/companies/nreeMfwTPEJ2zeY4EL91bq.md)
**Location:** London, United Kingdom
**Workplace:** hybrid
**Department:** Climate

[Apply for this job](http://jobs.workable.com/view/9d68deb2-4a4b-422d-9af5-f41b4da32ee7)

## Description

**We are launching a new venture dedicated to eliminating toxic chemicals from our food supply and the environment. Our primary mission is to eliminate Bisphenol A (BPA) – a pervasive endocrine disruptor linked to the reproductive health crisis.**

You’ll work closely with the DSV team and the current Founder in Residence to co-found and spin-out a new company. Once the new venture is incorporated with pre-seed investment from DSV and the Grantham Foundation, you and your co-founder will own the majority stake in the business, and continue receiving hands-on support from the DSV+Grantham team post-spinout.

### THE OPPORTUNITY

Despite its known toxicity, 10 million tons of BPA are produced annually for use in everything from food packaging to high-performance composites. We are disrupting this status quo by replacing BPA-based adhesives and coatings with our proprietary, biobased, high-performance, ensuring safety without compromising product performance. Safe food and a clean environment should not be a luxury.

We are recruiting a Co-Founder with a strong commercial background - ideally in food contact packaging coatings and adhesives - and a track record in entrepreneurship, including fundraising. The interior coatings of food and beverage cans have been identified as a major route of human exposure to bisphenols and will be our primary focus. Experience in food and beverage cans is preferred.

The role is **full-time**, **remote** **initially** until venture incorporation and spin-out (circa end of Q2 2026), location TBD.

### ABOUT THE FOUNDER-IN-RESIDENCE

[Dr. Robert Fleming](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-fleming-cto/) is a distinguished scientist and serial entrepreneur dedicated to the intersection of advanced materials and global sustainability. With a career spanning foundational roles at 3M Corporation to executive leadership at Zymergen and CLEARink Displays, Robert has spent over two decades developing and scaling new products and technologies to high-volume.

Since 2020, Robert has pivoted his focus toward the circular economy, championing biobased chemistries that replace toxic legacy materials. At DSV, he is leading a critical mission to eliminate harmful chemicals from food-contact materials.

A prolific inventor with over 60 issued U.S. patents, Robert holds a PhD in Polymer Science from the University of Massachusetts and continues to advise high-growth startups in the optics, nanoscience, and polymer sectors.

### ABOUT DSV

Deep Science Ventures (DSV) is on a mission to create a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out, and invest in science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. Operating in four sectors—Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture, and Computation—we tackle the challenges defining these areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.  

### OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GRANTHAM FOUNDATION

To learn more about the collaborative work that led to this opportunity area, please [see report - "The Invisible Tsunami"](https://www.deepscienceventures.com/toxicity).

## Requirements

The Role:

This is a deeply hands-on role: as Commercial Co-Founder, you will own the venture’s commercial strategy and execution from day one. Working hand-in-hand with the technical founder, you will:

-   Validate market demand and define target segments;
-   Build early customer, supplier, and strategic partnerships;
-   Secure commercial proof points (LOIs, MOUs, offtake pathways);
-   Support or lead fundraising from VCs.

  
Must-Have Experience:

-   Previous experience in either a startup/early-stage company environment or leading commercial scale-up in a relevant industrial setting (or both);

-   Experience in adhesives, coatings markets and food packaging is a strong plus;

-   A track record in fundraising from VC, grant writing, grant management and building commercial partnerships;
-   Exposure to regulatory processes for industrial chemicals/materials (ideally battery-related).

Essential Capabilities:

-   Lead customer discovery to identify and prioritise target markets, building relationships from initial outreach through to binding offtake agreements, and refining value proposition based on market feedback;
-   Co-develop and maintain techno-economic models, pricing strategy, financial models, and lead commercial negotiations and contract structuring;
-   Lead fundraising efforts with commercial due diligence materials, building investor relationships and communicating commercial progress;
-   Demonstrated B2B and B2C sales and business development experience, ideally in materials, chemicals or related industrial sectors, with a track record from cold outreach to signed agreements;
-   Willingness to operate across strategic and administrative tasks with resilience, strong self-direction and ability to thrive in uncertain environments;
-   Excellent communication skills with the ability to build credibility across diverse stakeholders, present to senior executives and investors, and work collaboratively with a technical co-founder;
-   Ability to recruit and lead team members as the company grows, with a desire to build and scale an organistion aligned with company mission and values.

## Benefits

### OUR OFFER

By joining DSV, you’ll be joining a team of operators who have founded companies and led translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds and government agencies. 2/3 of the team have founded or led a company at C-suite and 65% have a PhD. Our team dedicate several hours every week to each Founder or founding team to provide tailored guidance, resources and feedback covering every aspect of what it takes to successfully launch a new venture from both the tech and commercial perspectives:

-   We provide optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch, using our venture creation methodology.
-   **DSV and Grantham Foundation's** extensive network incl. leaders of biotech VCs, technical & commercial domain expertise, and wide-ranging  portfolio company capabilities.
-   **We jointly provide an initial £250k (~$340k / €290k) investment** governed by our Investment Committee to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data that is often needed to attract high profile non-venture studio VCs. This funding is also key for obtaining grant funding, which often needs to be matched with private investment.
-   **You and your co-founder(s) together will own the majority equity stake in the company.**
-   We provide **minimum guaranteed income** of £4,166 per month (fixed), paid to each Founder as a consultancy fee until the company is launched and pre-seed investment is secured.
-   We provide **continuous support post spin-out**, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment and team-building (amongst other things). 
-   Other Founders currently at DSV across sectors working collaboratively and supporting one another - a unique resource to draw on.