Founding Chief Technology Officer – Materials & Industrial Scale-up

Build the technology behind the next generation of sustainable materials. Plastic packaging is one of the world’s largest waste

challenges. At PACK AWAY, we believe the answer is not simply to replace one material with another, but to develop sustainable

materials that can work within existing industrial manufacturing systems.

We are building a seaweed-based materials platform, starting with applications in packaging and an initial focus on a food-contact

product. The technology is already moving beyond an idea. We have patent-pending technology, access to industrial machinery for

development and scale-up trials, a main B2B customer relationship and more than 20 additional commercial leads. PACK AWAY is also

part of ESA BIC Sweden, Algae Accelerator, EIT Food Accelerator and Produktionsänglar.

We are now looking for a Founding CTO who can take ownership of the next stage: turning promising material development into

repeatable, scalable industrial production.

This is not a corporate CTO position where you inherit a mature technology, an established R&D organisation and a finished

roadmap. You will help build all three. During the next phase, the core technical challenge is to improve the material, make it

reliably processable at industrial scale and demonstrate it in a real customer application.

Alongside these priorities, you will help strengthen our IP position, establish a clear technology roadmap toward commercial

production and build the technical capabilities required for the next stage of the company.

You will take overall responsibility for PACK AWAY’s technology development, from material formulation and characterisation

through processing, pilot trials and industrial scale-up. The role is deliberately hands-on. Depending on your profile, you may

personally be involved in formulation work, extrusion trials and technical problem-solving while also setting the technical

direction of the company.

You will work with external laboratories, universities, suppliers and manufacturing partners, establish robust testing and quality

methodologies, and translate customer requirements into technical development priorities.

As the company grows, you will also help shape our IP strategy, recruit and mentor future R&D and engineering talent and represent

the technology in discussions with customers, partners and investors.

You will join a small team with complementary capabilities. Nina Bilal, CEO, leads company vision, strategy and fundraising. Johan

Verendel, Operations Lead, leads operations and scale-up and currently supports the company as technical lead. Nuno Dias, Junior

Product Engineer, works hands-on with product and material development in the laboratory.

The CTO will work closely with this team and gradually take ownership of the long-term technology roadmap and technical

organisation.

We care more about your ability to turn difficult material problems into working industrial solutions than about checking every

box on a traditional CTO profile.

• You have demonstrated experience taking a material or product from laboratory development toward pilot or industrial-scale

production.

Beyond that, we are particularly interested in people with experience in polymer or biopolymer formulation, material

characterisation, rheology, manufacturing partnerships and industrial product development. Experience with packaging, food-contact

materials, biodegradable polymers, natural polymers, hydrocolloids, reactive extrusion, patents or startup environments would be

highly valuable, but we do not expect one person to have done everything.

You enjoy building before everything is perfectly defined. When a technical problem appears, you create experiments and next steps

rather than waiting for instructions. You are comfortable moving between chemistry, engineering and manufacturing, and you can

make decisions with incomplete information while remaining rigorous about data.

You should enjoy being close to the technology. At this stage, leadership does not mean stepping away from the work, it means

helping the team figure out what needs to happen next and making sure it happens.Most importantly, you should be excited by the

opportunity to transform a promising biomaterial technology into something customers can actually manufacture and use.

You will have the opportunity to influence the material itself, the manufacturing process, the IP portfolio, the first industrial

customer applications and the R&D organisation that will eventually be built around the technology. Rather than optimising an

established product, you will help determine what the technology becomes.

The role starts at a minimum of approximately 8 hours per week, preferably more, with flexibility depending on the candidate and

with the ambition to expand the role as the company and its funding develop.

You will receive equity and become an important part of PACK AWAY’s journey toward building a scalable seaweed-based materials

platform.

Together with the team, you will have moved PACK AWAY substantially closer to commercial production: an industrially processed

seaweed-based film, improved material performance, a completed customer pilot, a stronger IP position and a clear technical

roadmap for the next stage of scale-up.

Location: Knivsta, Sweden preferred, or somewhere not too far away from there – hybrid between remote work, lab development and

industrial trials