Director of Advanced Science & Concepts

ABOUT TERRA NOVA CARBON CABLE
Terra Nova is an advanced technology research & development company that is industrialising the technology of the future.
Terra Nova Carbon Cable (TNCC) is the Terra Nova manufacturing company. From our facility at Pierre-à-Mazel 39 in Neuchâtel, we design and build proprietary synthesis equipment and produce high-performance carbon nanotube (CNT) thread and materials, which we supply to the Terra Nova companies and to strategic industrial partners in fields such as water purification, secure materials, advanced connectivity and mobility.
Our proprietary room-temperature photochemical process grows continuous carbon nanotube thread, which we cable into conductor thread for RFID and payment-card antennas, security features, premium conductors for space, medical, aerospace and subsea uses, and purification media. The facility combines ISO 6 and ISO 7 clean rooms, laboratories, offices and a workshop.
Our leadership team has built and run RFID, smart-card and semiconductor manufacturing around the world, and most of us live in or near Neuchâtel.
We are building the company in clear stages, from our Initial Unit through 1st Series and Ramp-Up to Mass Production, and we add structure only when the evidence says we need it. Joining now means helping to shape a new industry from its first production line.
We exist to industrialise and supply high-performance carbon nanotube thread to strategic industrial partners, enabled by proprietary production equipment and a self-managed organisation built on trust, accountability and evolutionary purpose. Our technology is never used in lethal weapons, nor for the defence or benefit of any one nation.

HOW WE WORK
TNCC is a purpose-led, self-managing organisation inspired by Teal principles. Externally we have conventional, credible governance.
Internally, work is organised into domains and roles rather than a command hierarchy.
People decide within their roles using the advice process: before a material decision you seek advice from those affected and those with expertise, then you decide and record it. The CEO steps in only where purpose, legal, funding, safety or reserved-matter boundaries are at stake. Peer accountability, transparent information and agreed spending limits keep this practical.

THE ROLE
Technology & Discovery domain mission:
Advance Terra Nova science, thread performance and proprietary process know-how into a defensible technology platform.
Hold the scientific vision for Terra Nova's carbon nanotube platform and steward the Technology & Discovery domain, turning breakthrough science into a defensible, industrialisable technology and a long-term roadmap of advanced concepts.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
•Set the technology roadmap and scientific priorities for CNT thread performance, synthesis and next-generation concepts.
•Steward the Technology & Discovery domain: confirm role owners, agree role charters and keep evidence generation focused on stage-gate needs.
•Hold reserved technology and IP matters, working with In-House Legal and IP Counsel on invention capture and the patent versus trade-secret strategy.
•Guide the modelling, physics, materials, chemistry, engineering and software roles as domain steward rather than line manager.
•Lead the design-freeze and production-method handover to Industrialisation & Operations with the Chief Technology Transfer Agent and the COO.
•Explore and prioritise advanced concepts that could become future Terra Nova products, keeping them separate from the production critical path.
•Represent the company's technology position to the Board, investors and strategic partners.
•Uphold the company's use restriction in every technology collaboration.

YOUR FIRST TWELVE MONTHS
•Scientific baseline and proof evidence agreed for the Initial Unit.
•Technology & Discovery role charters confirmed and priority hires made.
•Invention-capture cadence running with In-House Legal and IP Counsel.
•Technology roadmap linked to stage gates and shared with the Board.

HOW THE DOMAIN CONTRIBUTES AT EACH STAGE GATE
Initial Unit · Jun 2027: Scientific baseline and proof evidence
1st Series · Jan 2028: Design-freeze support and production-method handover
Ramp-Up · Apr 2028: Next-generation roadmap and performance improvement
Mass Production: Technology renewal and defensibility

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
Inside TNCC
•CEO and Board
•COO and Chief Technology Transfer Agent
•In-House Legal and IP Counsel
•All Technology & Discovery role owners Outside TNCC
•Research institutes and universities
•Equipment partners
•Strategic industrial partners and investors

HOW DECISIONS GET MADE (ADVICE PROCESS)
Technical role owners decide within scope after advice from affected industrialisation, IP and market roles. This role holds reserved technology matters and the patent versus trade-secret proposal; this key-role package needs CEO and Board approval.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING
Essential
•Deep expertise in materials science, physics, chemistry or a related discipline relevant to carbon nanotubes or advanced fibres.
•Track record turning scientific research into industrial or commercial application.
•Experience creating, protecting and commercialising intellectual property.
•Ability to lead specialists as a domain steward in a self-managing organisation.
•Postgraduate qualification in physics, with at least 20 years developing carbon nanomaterial applications from laboratory research to commercial products.
•Hands-on expertise in continuous carbon nanotube synthesis and thread formation, including photochemical or room-temperature growth processes.
•Experience securing and leading publicly funded research programmes.
•Board or investor-facing experience.

Desirable
•Personal track record of conceiving, designing and building bespoke nanomaterial production machinery, taken from initial concept through detailed design and working prototype towards industrialisation.
•Named inventor on a substantial portfolio of granted international patents in nanostructured materials, purification media or automated nanomaterials manufacturing.
•Experience co-founding and scaling an advanced technology company to recurring commercial product revenue, including closing institutional or strategic equity rounds.
•Experience scaling up and managing a Research & Development team from 0 to 10 personnel.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Thread performance against target · Technical risk burn-down · IP disclosures generated · Design-freeze readiness · Knowledge captured in controlled documents

SAFETY AND RESPONSIBILITY
Safety comes first. Anyone at TNCC can stop work at once if they see immediate danger to people, plant or the environment, with no permission needed and no reprisal. Our EHS (Safety) Lead reports directly to the CEO, independent of production and cost targets.

WHAT WE OFFER
•A senior leadership role in a deep-technology manufacturer, with real ownership of your area from day one.
•A purpose-led, self-managing workplace where decisions sit with the people closest to the work.
•A newly established production and research facility in Neuchâtel, at the heart of Switzerland's precision-engineering region.
•A competitive Swiss employment package, reviewed against market benchmarks for the role.
•Room to grow as the company moves through its stage gates, with role charters that evolve alongside you.