Sustainable Packaging Materials Scientist

Job Title: Sustainable Packaging Materials Scientist

Location: Port Sunlight Research Lab

JOB PURPOSE

Unilever is committed to creating a waste-free world through its ambitious Packaging Strategy – We are taking on the toughest challenges to make our vision a reality. We are re-inventing our product packaging and materials to craft the sustainability journey towards our ambition of circular, waste-free and net zero future. To achieve these goals, we need completely new packaging materials and technologies that are yet to be discovered. Our industry-leading material science program strives to change our industry for good, transforming the traditional packaging sector into a next-generation technical industry where entrepreneurial passion meets science-backed innovations.
We are looking for a creative, dedicated and ambitious individual with an innovative mindset who shares our passion for the challenge.
Keeping our plastic in the loop | News | Unilever global company website


The One Packaging R&D Centre aims to create a waste-free, net zero packaging portfolio through a world-class packaging materials capability with strong partnerships and ecosystems. The Centre will enable and accelerate the creation of novel packaging solutions to help meet Unilever’s packaging ambitions and completely revolutionize our packaging with a particular focus on our flexibles portfolio. It is the place where future scientific leaders of the business are created. We are a high-performing, diverse and inclusive team of dynamic entrepreneurial people with a strong scientific background, courage and curiosity, and passion for sustainability and delivery that will have a positive impact on the planet.

RESPONSIBILITIES

As part of our world-class ‘Future Packaging Technologies’ team, you will play a key role in the flexibles packaging program, delivering new technologies and insights that will support the delivery of affordable superior paper-based solutions across Unilever’s packaging portfolio. The key accountabilities for the role holder are as follows:

• Support the selection, application, and optimization of inks, coatings, and overprint varnishes on flexible substrates to meet performance and sustainability requirements.
• Assess and help interpret the physical, chemical, and surface properties of fiber based and film substrates to ensure compatibility with coatings and printing solutions.
• Contribute to coating and ink evaluation by applying established analytical and characterization approaches to assess adhesion, barrier behavior, durability, and overall performance.
• Provide day to day technical support to the team, including sample preparation, test execution, data collection, and basic troubleshooting.
• Support scale up activities from lab to pilot trials by preparing materials, assisting with trial execution, resolving routine issues, and documenting processing conditions.
• Contribute to experimental design and project planning, helping to generate data based insights, hypotheses, and recommendations that advance program objectives and support claims or IP development.
• Maintain high quality documentation, contribute to SOP creation, ensure reliable testing practices, and help prepare data packages for internal reviews, sustainability claims, or IP filings.
• Engaging with external partners and suppliers to gather information or samples and support the evaluation of new technologies, while fostering strong relationships across the internal R&D community.
• Plan and execute work with increasing autonomy, collaborating with program leaders to deliver activities aligned with project milestones.
• Work with digital experts and use digital tools to support material selection, data interpretation, and process optimization.

ALL ABOUT YOU

We are looking for someone that shares our passion for innovation, applied material science and sustainability, and the drive to take our paper packaging portfolio to the next level. Our Packaging strategy is not just about understanding and developing new materials – it’s about making smart decisions on how, when, and where to use them. You will be part of a multi-disciplinary project team ethos where everybody contributes to achieving the same goal.

What you will bring:
• A higher education qualification in Materials Science, Polymer Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Packaging Science, Printing & Coating Technology, Paper Technology, or a closely related discipline
• Experience in industrially relevant materials development and/or characterisation.
• Working knowledge of coatings, inks, and overprint varnishes for fibre based and/or film substrates, with the ability to build deeper understanding of how application methods and substrate interactions influence performance, is highly desirable.
• Practical experience working with coatings, inks, or overprint varnishes in a laboratory environment, and familiarity with fundamental characterisation approaches used to assess performance, is highly desirable.
• Experience supporting scale up or pilot activities, including sample preparation, troubleshooting minor issues, and documenting processing conditions
• Competent in the use of laboratory equipment and data analysis, with a proactive, problem solving approach and strong analytical skills for interpreting data and identifying business relevant insights.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with cross functional teams and to build constructive working relationships with internal and external partners to support project delivery.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to explain technical findings clearly to a range of audiences.
• Must be creative, highly passionate, willing to think big and inspire both the team, stakeholders and customers.

NOTES

What We Offer

Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, subsidised gym membership, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all.

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. We are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to be present your best self. To find out more, including about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Unilever | Unilever.

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