CEO and co-founder – Mechano-chemical plastic recycling venture

• CEO and Co-Founder of Start-Up
• Attractive Equity Stake
• Venture Builder with Extensive Support Networks

Plastic waste recycling is a critical and growing challenge. Current methods require high energy input or produce lower quality output containing contaminants, limiting quality, applicability,  efficiency and sustainability. University of Utrecht research has developed an innovative mechano-chemical technology that employs ball milling to recycle plastic waste, particularly polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE). The impact is: recycling PP and PE waste streams to virgin grade polymers with an energy efficient recycling technology. This technology has been scouted, screened and selected by BigCircle Ventures*, who are now recruiting a CEO & co-founder and providing the initial funding.

You are an entrepreneurial professional with strong business acumen and a purpose-driven mindset. With a background in process or chemical engineering and commercial experience in the polymer industry, you bring valuable expertise to the table. Ideally, you have experience scaling technology, products, or companies within this sector. You thrive in a startup environment, embracing the challenges of pioneering and investing in early-stage technology. Combining a leadership mentality with a collaborative spirit, you are both strategic and hands-on. Driven by resilience and ambition, you’re ready to build a high-impact, fast-growing deep-tech venture alongside a dedicated development and support team at BigCircle Ventures—the venture builder in circularity, climate, and energy technology*.

A CEO is sought to co-found this revolutionary project.

Your key responsibilities will be:

• Commercialisation: Drive the go-to-market strategy for the project and develop the technology towards full scale
• Network: Deploy and expand networks of key experts and early-adopters in appropriate markets
• Organisational: Build an innovative company with a high performing team
• Fundraising: Effectively fundraise to drive manufacturing & commercialisation

Requirements:

You must have experience/competence in the following areas:

• Entrepreneurship: seizes opportunities to drive value, competitive advantage, & profit
• Decisiveness: strong sense of urgency in action and decision making
• Action-oriented: sets challenging goals with a clear path to achieving them
• Network: bring relevant contacts, build new networks and leverage others’ expertise
• Subject expertise: market knowledge of the petrochemical  industry with special focus on the polyolefins-PP/PE polymer production
• Team building: combining autonomous grit with excellent people skills

Your work experience ideally includes traction and learnings in:

• Partnering: Setting up and fostering strategic partnerships with relevant industry players (for R&D, product development, scaling, funding, go-to-market, exit etc.).
• Manufacturing: engineering, procurement & commissioning of production facilities
• Strategic leadership: R&D or product innovation, ideally in a startup setting
• People leadership: company, business or multidisciplinary teams
• Finance: P&L accountability with growth focus and fundraising
• New product launch: knowledge of up & downstream marketing
• Regulatory: understanding of requirements in Europe within circular plastics

Other requirements:

• English language
• Currently based in the Netherlands or happy to relocate
• At start available at least 3-4 days a week although full time is preferable. After initial funding secured full time.

*BigCircle Ventures:

The world needs innovations to reach net-zero and circularity, but a wealth of research inventions never get used at scale. BigCircle Ventures scouts promising technologies and turns these into successful startups that tackle the world’s climate and circularity challenges. We focus on the large, untapped pool of early-stage innovations that would otherwise stay untouched on a shelf, hidden in a university, research institute or company lab.

It all starts with a rigorous project selection process to assess impact and commercial viability. Once identified, the project is paired with a CEO at the point of incorporation. As CEO/Co-Founder you will drive the project to hit milestones with a strategic exit in mind.

We dramatically increase the chances of success by:

• Picking  the most promising, impactful technologies
• Matching each project with the right entrepreneur 
• Putting support and infrastructure in place to ensure the best chance of success including an initial investment in the venture

The unique benefit of this model is the complete suite of professional support provided.

You will be surrounded by experts in the fields of capital raising (all stages), exit, legal, governance, regulatory, patent expertise & HR support.  You will be mentored one-to-one by a senior partner and join a growing community of CEOs within our portfolio of ventures.

You must bring with you the mind-set of an entrepreneurial co-founder. You will be a partner with us, not an employee. Your wins and setbacks are shared. This very fact underpins the reason you have access to our highly professional team and networks that give you the best chance of success.