2,783 Co-Founder jobs in the United Kingdom

We're on the lookout for entrepreneurial individuals with technical and commercial domain expertise with keen interest in founding, and building a global scale, impact driven, high growth company from ground up.

We are seeking applications from experienced industry, startup and/or new science or engineering based technology development professionals from anywhere in the world to work with us on the next generation of plastics recycling.

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

The role is full-time, remote initially until venture incorporation and spin-out (circa Q1 2026).

The global olefins market - ethylene and propylene - underpins most of the world’s plastics and chemicals, worth over $300B annually. Today, nearly all of it is made by cracking fossil hydrocarbons, tying the industry to volatile feedstock prices, rising CO₂ emissions, and tightening policy pressures. At the same time, 400M+ tonnes of plastic waste are generated annually, most of it either landfilled or down-cycled.

We are creating a new venture that flips this equation: directly converting waste plastics into high-value olefins with breakthrough energy efficiency and yields. By skipping two major steps of conventional chemical recycling, our process targets delivery of propylene and ethylene at costs competitive with fossil-derived routes, while solving the industry’s most pressing waste and carbon challenges.

We are developing the first commercial-scale plastic cracker capable of turning mixed polyolefin waste into a high-purity olefin gas stream with >65% yield at ~50% of the energy input of incumbent processes. Compared to pyrolysis + steam cracking, our process targets 3× the olefin recovery per ton of waste plastic.

Our near-term commercialisation objectives:

• Secure feedstock supply agreements to support 90,000 tonnes/year, diversified across at least five sources;
• Secure off-take agreements with 2+ petrochemical refiners;
• Establish a JV partnership with at least one major petrochemical company to accelerate scale-up and market entry;
• Demonstrate a credible cost trajectory to bring the minimum selling price of propylene to parity with fossil-derived alternatives, scaling operations to at least 10 kg/h.

The incoming Co-Founder will lead this commercialisation journey - securing customers, partners, and investors - while positioning the company as the disruptor in circular olefins.

The primary focus of the incoming Co-Founder will therefore be centred around:

• Leading early business development and commercialisation de-risking incl. securing off-take, feedstock, and JV agreements with major petrochemical players;
• Owning the go-to-market strategy, navigating regional chemical supply chain dynamics (US vs EU vs Asia) and positioning the company where economics and policy align;
• Driving fundraising from top-tier venture capital and strategic investors, leading the company from pre-seed to a successful Series A and beyond.

Requirements

Must-Have Experience (one of the following core tracks):

• Experience in the olefins/petrochemicals industry incl. off-take agreements, JV negotiations, and/or large-scale feedstock supply deals;
• OR experience in the chemical recycling / waste plastics industry, with proven experience partnering with major petrochemical companies.

Essential Capabilities:

• Deep understanding of petrochemical market dynamics: feedstock cost curves, regional trends, plant shutdowns/new builds, and long-term olefins demand growth;
• Proven track record of negotiating and closing commercial agreements (off-takes, feedstock contracts, JVs, licensing);
• Experience in fundraising from early-stage investors (VC) and/or strategic investors, ideally at Seed or Series A;
• Strong leadership credentials: ability to recruit talent, inspire cross-functional teams, and manage complex industrial partnerships;
• Entrepreneurial drive and resilience: ability to navigate early-stage uncertainty and push through to venture inflection points.

Valuable “Nice-to-Haves”:

• Previous founder/CEO experience, ideally with a successful fundraise, exit, or JV spin-out;
• Technical familiarity with extrusion and polymer processing (underpinning the business’s value proposition and engage credibly with partners);
• Previous exposure to chemical recycling technologies (pyrolysis, depolymerisation, gasification) and their limitations;
• Strong network across both strategic corporates and VC investors in climate/deeptech;
• PhD or equivalent R&D experience in process/industrial engineering is a plus, but not required.

Benefits

By joining DSV, you will be part of a team of operators who have founded companies and led the translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds, and government agencies. Here’s what we offer:

• Access to optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources, and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch;
• Opportunity area-specific know-how from our network of Partners and Advisors;
• Up to £250k in investment to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data;
• Guaranteed income of £4,166 per month paid as a fixed consultancy fee until the company is launched and the pre-seed investment is secured;
• Majority equity stake in the new company between you and your co-founder(s);
• Continuous post-spinout support, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment, and team-building;
• Collaborative support from dozens of Founders currently at DSV across sectors.

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.

ABOUT THE ROLE

At DSV we’re looking for future Founders, entrepreneurially minded individuals with industry-specific technical and commercial domain expertise eager to solve urgent unmet challenges through venture building.

You will join DSV’s venture creation programme as a Founder in Residence and work closely with the DSV team, using our methodology , to spin-out a new company. During the programme, you’ll work on all aspects related to venture creation in this opportunity area, including working out the optimal approach to solve for the desired outcome, building a team and building a viable business case. Once the new venture is incorporated with pre-seed investment from DSV, you and your co-founders will own the majority stake in the business and continue receiving support from the DSV team post-spinout.

The role is full-time, fully remote until venture incorporation and spin-out, after - TBD.

THE OPPORTUNITY AREA

Over 6 million individuals live with Parkinson’s disease (PD) today, and this number is projected to reach 12 million globally by 2040 as populations age. Whilst current therapies do offer symptomatic relief from debilitating motor symptoms, no clinically approved drug intervenes at root cause, meaning disease progression cannot be prevented. In addition, emerging therapeutics which show great promise in animal models of PD often fail to translate in the clinical setting, with even the most successful clinical trials reporting incremental benefit, often capped by dose limiting toxicity. 

To address this, we are partnering with Parkinson’s UK to develop precise, next generation therapies which target true disease modifying nodes in previously unimagined ways. As PD is a multi-pathway pathology, spanning oxidative stress, impaired autophagy, mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation, the efficacy of single pathway approaches is constrained. 

OUR APPROACH 

We are designing a  therapeutic approach that will target master homeostatic regulators which can simultaneously correct numerous PD pathways, changing the course of disease. We believe this has the potential to transform patient lives by slowing, halting or even reversing disease progression. This pathway has been the focus of drug development in the past but not been drugged successfully through classic approaches. We are looking to unlock this through the use of novel modalities and a clever target selection and targeting strategy that has the potential to overcome the many feedback looks regulating this pathway. 

Requirements

WHO SHOULD APPLY

Essential (must-have):

• PhD in neuroscience or other field relevant to the project;
• Extensive, systems-level knowledge of Parkinson’s disease, including at the cellular and molecular level;
• Expertise in oxidative stress and/or neuroprotective pathways; 
• Experience in cellular, molecular and/or biochemical approaches to drug discovery for CNS disorders;
• Experience working in biotech/pharma or an alternative setting which requires strong commercial awareness and understanding of the drug development process;
• Entrepreneurial spirit, likely demonstrated through impactful innovation;
• You are innovative, creative, and guided by first-principles thinking;
• You are highly motivated to create curative solutions for PD patients.

Preferred (nice-to-have):

• Broad knowledge of brain-specific drug delivery techniques;
• Experience in nucleic acid based payloads (ASO/siRNA/DNA) and delivery techniques;
• Track record of high quality publications in the field, or thought leadership in the field;
• High level industry experience in either pharma, biotech, scientific start-ups, life sciences consulting, life sciences VC, or have previously been an inventor/contributor on patents, etc.;
• Fundraising experience at seed and Series A stages, with established investor contacts.

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/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;
• We draw on opportunity area specific know-how provided by our Partner organisation - Parkinson's UK - working collaboratively with their team of experts and Advisors;
• We provide £250k launch investment (subject to  Investment Committee approval) to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data that’s needed to attract high profile VCs as well as non-dilutive grant funding;
• We provide guaranteed income of £4,166 per month paid to each Founder-in-Residence as a fixed consultancy fee until the company is launched and the pre-seed investment is secured;
• You and the current Founder-in-Residence, together with any additional co-founders, will collectively own a majority equity stake in the company;
• We provide continuous support after post spin-out, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment and team-building (amongst other things); plus
• There are dozens of Founders currently at DSV across sectors working collaboratively and supporting one another - a unique resource to draw on.

WHO YOU'LL BE JOINING

You will be joining Dr. Kiren Baines-Mortimore, an accomplished scientific leader with many years of experience across drug discovery and development. Kiren, is the former co-founder and CSO at Extracellular, a cultivated meat CDMO. Prior to founding Extracellular, Kiren was the Analytical Development and Quality Control Lead at eXmoor Pharma,where she supported clients in the cell and gene therapy sector with process and analytical development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Earlier in her career, Kiren contributed to drug discovery initiatives at Charles River Laboratories. Kiren earned her PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Bristol. Kiren’s background in Parkinson’s combined with her expertise in drug development, along with her outstanding professionalism and ambition, makes her a top talent to work with. 

ABOUT DSV

Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. 

We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out and invest into science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. 

We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.

ABOUT OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH PARKINSON'S UK

In a landmark collaboration that marries scientific prowess with an unwavering dedication to improving patient lives, Deep Science Ventures, an avant-garde venture creator headquartered in London, has announced a pioneering partnership with Parkinson’s UK , the leading charity driving better care, treatments, and quality of life for those affected by Parkinson’s.

This strategic alliance is set to merge DSV’s unique invention method with Parkinson’s UK’s rich insights into patient care, igniting the creation of a new, dedicated company. The aim is to propel the most innovative and efficient therapeutic approach into real-world application, funded by the transformative Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech initiative - Parkinson’s UK investment arm.

This is an open application for expressions of interest. Hiring for the role will begin in Q3 2024.

Join Us as a Founder in Residence Climate

We're on the lookout for entrepreneurial individuals with technical and commercial domain expertise with keen interest in founding, and building a global scale, impact driven, high growth company from ground up (full-time).

We are seeking applications from experienced industry, startup and/or new science or engineering based technology development professionals from anywhere in the world to work with us on methane removal from air.

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

The role is full-time and fully remote until venture incorporation and spin-out (circa spring/summer 2025). 

The Opportunity

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with around 80 x the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale. Year-on-year increases in the atmospheric concentration of methane, driven by anthropogenic activities and by the effect of a warming climate on natural systems, are responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperature.

If methane could be removed from the air within emissions plumes, or from air in the ambient atmosphere, it might be possible to slow or reverse the trend of increasing methane concentrations. To date, key technical and commercial constraints have limited progress towards this target: atmospheric concentrations of methane are extremely low (2 ppm), methane emissions plumes (while higher in concentration) are distributed over disparate sources, and current measurement capabilities are often insufficient to verify offsetting activities. 

A technology that can effectively remove methane from atmospheric or emissions-plume air must therefore be implementable at low concentrations, across multiple sources, and must be verifiable. If these requirements can be met, the resulting technology would transform our ability to remove methane from air, and by extension our ability to limit further temperature rise related to methane.

Our Approach

Using DSV’s unique scoping methodology, we have begun to systematically map the solution space to identify technologies capable of removing methane from atmospheric or emissions-plume air. This mapping identifies the principle constraints holding back current approaches to methane - concentration, diverse sources, and verification - and, through first-principles thinking, converts these constraints into spaces for radical new innovation.

Requirements

Who Should Apply

Most suitable candidates will likely meet most of the following criteria:

• PhD or equivalent industry R&D know-how focused on: inorganic/physical chemistry; physics; environmental, chemical or mechanical engineering; materials science; atmospheric (geo)chemistry; or similar;
• Broad understanding of current approaches and state-of-the-art (SOTA) technologies, and constraints relevant for this opportunity area;
• Previously led or managed commercial delivery of an innovative biotech, engineering, industrial, or hardware technology venture with broad understanding of technical product development and R&D commercialisation;
• Industry-specific know-how and commercial knowledge (e.g. forming strategic partnerships, industrial value chains, procurement, etc.) relevant for this opportunity area;
• Experience in startup ecosystems and fundraising (via venture capital, private equity, grants or funds);
• Strong entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to translate scientific discoveries into commercial opportunities, ideally with experience conducting techno-economic analyses and market assessments;
• Experience of working in a leadership role, applying project management and collaborative skills with colleagues across different teams.

Benefits

Our Offer

By joining DSV, you will be part of a team of operators who have founded companies and led the translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds, and government agencies. Here’s what we offer:

• Access to optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources, and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch;
• Opportunity area-specific know-how from our network of Partners and Advisors;
• Up to £250k in investment to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data;
• Guaranteed income of £4,166 per month paid as a consultancy fee until the company is launched and the pre-seed investment is secured;
• Majority equity stake in the new company for you and your co-founders;
• Continuous post-spinout support, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment, and team-building;
• Collaborative support from dozens of Founders currently at DSV across sectors.

About DSV

Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive.

We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out and invest into science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures.

We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.

This opportunity is funded by the Grantham Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private foundation whose mission is to protect and conserve the natural environment. The Grantham Foundation communicates the risks of climate change and environmental degradation, builds collaboration and alliances between like-minded groups and individuals, and invests in philanthropic and entrepreneurial missions to create new climate solutions.

• Develop and execute outbound sales activity to identify and win new business opportunities
• Manage the full sales cycle with a consultative, solutions-focused approach
• Build and grow a pipeline of high-quality prospects using CRM (Salesforce)
• Deliver engaging presentations and proposals tailored to client needs
• Identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities within the existing client base
• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure seamless client onboarding and delivery
• Maintain accurate pipeline and forecasting records in CRM, reporting regularly to the Sales Director
• Contribute to go-to-market messaging, campaigns and sales strategies

• Proven track record in print, mail fulfilment, or postage sales
• Experience managing full sales cycles and consistently exceeding targets
• Strong commercial awareness, negotiation and objection-handling skills
• CRM proficiency (Salesforce or equivalent)
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills
• Consultative, solution-led approach to selling

• Highly motivated, financially driven and target-focused
• Professional and personable, with strong relationship-building skills
• Resilient and tenacious, thriving in a fast-paced environment
• Organised and diligent, with excellent time management
• Positive team player with an ownership mindset

• Identify and engage new business opportunities
• Create and deliver digital marketing campaigns
• Manage CRM and lead tracking
• Support client retention and upselling
• Represent the firm at events and networking sessions

• Experience in business development or marketing (professional services a plus)
• Strong research, content creation, and digital skills
• Confident communicator with a commercial mindset
• Results-driven, hands-on, and great with people

• Develop and execute outbound sales activity to identify and win new business opportunities
• Manage the full sales cycle with a consultative, solutions-focused approach
• Build and grow a pipeline of high-quality prospects using CRM (Salesforce)
• Deliver engaging presentations and proposals tailored to client needs
• Identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities within the existing client base
• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure seamless client onboarding and delivery
• Maintain accurate pipeline and forecasting records in CRM, reporting regularly to the Sales Director
• Contribute to go-to-market messaging, campaigns and sales strategies

• Proven track record in print, mail fulfilment, or postage sales
• Experience managing full sales cycles and consistently exceeding targets
• Strong commercial awareness, negotiation and objection-handling skills
• CRM proficiency (Salesforce or equivalent)
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills
• Consultative, solution-led approach to selling

• Highly motivated, financially driven and target-focused
• Professional and personable, with strong relationship-building skills
• Resilient and tenacious, thriving in a fast-paced environment
• Organised and diligent, with excellent time management
• Positive team player with an ownership mindset