---
title: 'Materials Engineer at Loop'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/materials-engineer-loop-antwerp-rm80h56qsmtj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-18'
---

# Materials Engineer at Loop

- **Company:** Loop
- **Location:** Antwerp, Belgium
- **Compensation:** €60k–€80k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-18
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/loop-earplugs/9680737d-d1f7-4dc4-a635-84c9c59d62b6

## Job description

Materials Engineer Location: Antwerp / Amsterdam | Experience: 5+ years of experience in materials engineering, materials science, or materials development within physical consumer products.

Shape the materials behind every Loop product At Loop, materials aren't something we choose at the end. They shape how our products feel, perform, look, last, and ultimately how people experience them. From foams and fabrics to adhesives, coatings, and finishes, every material decision matters. As our Materials Engineer, you'll bring deep materials expertise into Loop's product development process, guiding teams through material selection, validation, and problem-solving across multiple products in development.

## The Role

You'll act as our materials expert across multiple product programs, working closely with Product Design Engineering, Quality, Industrial Design, CMF, Product Management, suppliers, and manufacturing partners. You'll help teams define what materials need to deliver, understand the trade-offs behind different options, and validate that they perform in the real world. You'll move between research, testing, supplier collaboration, and hands-on problem-solving, focusing your expertise where the biggest material risks and challenges sit.

## What You'll Do

- Guide product teams on material selection and trade-offs across comfort, durability, acoustic performance, cosmetics, manufacturability, sustainability, and cost.
- Define and refine material performance requirements early in product development and make sure they're validated before products move forward.
- Develop and execute material testing and validation methods, turning test data into clear recommendations and achievable specifications.
- Investigate material-related product issues, identify root causes, and drive cross-functional teams toward viable solutions.
- Partner with Quality to ensure materials meet robustness, safety, compliance, and certification requirements.
- Work with suppliers and manufacturing partners to identify and develop materials, fabrics, finishes, coatings, and adhesion methods that meet product needs.
- Bring materials expertise into design reviews and development decisions, making material risks and trade-offs visible early.
- Research new and emerging materials, technologies, coatings, and manufacturing processes that could unlock future Loop products.
- Build Loop's materials knowledge base and make complex material concepts accessible to teams beyond materials engineering.

You Won't

- Wait until late-stage development to start thinking about materials and their impact on the product.
- Recommend materials based on theory alone without validating how they perform in the real product.
- Optimise one material property without considering the wider product trade-offs around comfort, durability, acoustics, cosmetics, and manufacturability.
- Work on one product in isolation when your expertise can solve material challenges across multiple programs.
- Keep materials knowledge inside Engineering instead of making it useful and accessible across Loop.

## How You'll Succeed

You spot material risks early and know how to turn complex technical questions into structured investigations, clear data, and practical recommendations. You understand that there is rarely one "perfect" material. You're comfortable balancing comfort, performance, durability, aesthetics, manufacturability, and cost to find the right solution for the product. You become a trusted materials expert across Loop, someone teams involve early because your expertise helps them make better decisions and avoid expensive problems later in development.

## What You'll Bring

- 4+ years of experience in materials engineering, materials science, materials development, or a related role within physical consumer products.
- Deep knowledge of materials such as foams, fabrics and textiles, adhesives, coatings, finishes, and related material systems.
- Strong understanding of fabrics and softgoods materials, dyeing methodologies, and relevant manufacturing processes.
- Hands-on experience defining material requirements and developing or executing material validation and testing methodologies.
- Experience interpreting test data, investigating failures, and translating findings into clear recommendations and specifications.
- Experience working directly with suppliers, manufacturing partners, Engineering, Design, and Quality teams.
- Strong understanding of how material choices influence product performance, comfort, durability, cosmetics, and manufacturability.
- Comfortable moving across multiple product programs and prioritising the material challenges where your expertise can have the biggest impact.

Loop isn't for everyone. We might not be a match if you:

- Prefer specialising in one narrow material category rather than working across foams, fabrics, adhesives, coatings, and other material systems.
- Prefer theoretical materials research over applying material science to real-world product development.
- Find it difficult to make trade-offs when performance, comfort, aesthetics, cost, and manufacturability pull in different directions.
- Prefer working within one project rather than moving between multiple product programs and challenges.
- Prefer keeping technical expertise within your own discipline rather than translating it for designers, product teams, and other non-specialists.

Still interested? Great. If you're excited about shaping the materials behind Loop's products, solving complex material challenges, and building the expertise that will influence what we create next, we'd love to hear from you.

—- Application Window & Recruiter Interview: 11 SEPT - 25 SEPT Hiring Manager Interview: 28 SEPT - 2 OCT Business Case & Team Interview: 5 OCT - 16 OCT Target Start Date: 7 DEC

## Compensation

€60,000 – €80,000 gross annual salary Based on internal benchmarks and market data, we determine salary ranges for each role and location. Loop takes into consideration a wide range of factors when making compensation decisions, including but not limited to experience, skill sets, qualifications, education, and other business and organizational needs. Final salary is based on a number of factors such as location, relevant prior experience, and specific skills or expertise. Please note that the range listed is just one component of Loop's total rewards.

## About Loop

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Loop designs premium earplugs for situational hearing protection, focus, sleep, and sensory needs, building a new category in hearing wellness.
- **Entity Type**: Private (bootstrapped or VC-backed – funding details not publicly disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: Antwerp, Belgium
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Maarten Bodewes and Dimitri O

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Consumer electronics / Hearing wellness / Lifestyle products
- **Target customers**: B2C – nightlife goers, remote workers, people with sensory sensitivities, travelers, sleepers
- **Mission or purpose**: Helping people live life to the fullest by bettering their relationship with sound and senses.

## Products & Services
- **Loop Experience / Experience Plus**: High-fidelity earplugs for concerts, festivals, and loud events; reduce noise while preserving sound clarity (SaaS-like physical product with recurring accessories).
- **Loop Engage / Engage Plus**: Earplugs for conversations and social situations; lower background noise while maintaining speech clarity.
- **Loop Quiet / Quiet 2**: Earplugs for sleep, focus, and noise-sensitive needs; maximum noise reduction in a comfortable fit.
- **Loop Switch**: A single device with three interchangeable modes (Experience, Engage, Quiet) for on-the-fly adjustment.
- **Loop Dream**: Specifically designed for side-sleepers, ultra-soft and comfortable for overnight use.
- **Accessories**: Cases, ear tips in multiple sizes, lanyards. Most models come with multiple ear tip sizes to ensure fit.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: 1.5+ million customers served globally; 250+ employees across three continents [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/about-loop)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly disclosed; company appears to be self-funded or raised non-public funding. Awards include Red Dot Design Award (2023, 2024), Deloitte Belgium Tech Fast 50, and recognition as Belgium’s fastest-growing tech company (2022, 2024) [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/working-at-loop)
- **Growth Signals**: Expanded from nightlife earplugs into focus, sleep, and sensory comfort categories; opened hubs in Amsterdam, New York, and Shanghai; sustained rapid headcount growth from a small team to 250+.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Category creation**: First lifestyle earplug brand to treat hearing protection as a fashion/design item rather than a purely utilitarian medical product.
- **Design-led differentiation**: Award-winning product aesthetics (Red Dot), wide color palette and multiple form factors that appeal to different personas.
- **Strong brand community**: 1.5M+ customers create word-of-mouth flywheel; the brand is a status accessory in music and festival culture.
- **Full product ecosystem**: Multiple models for specific use cases, plus accessories, encouraging repeat purchases and cross-selling.
- **Early mover in sensory wellness**: Tapping into growing awareness around noise pollution, focus, and neurodiversity.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expanding into senses**: Moving beyond hearing to related sensory experiences (e.g., olfactory? – hinted as “expanding into senses” but not detailed) [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/about-loop)
- **Global scaling**: Growing physical presence in key markets (US, China, EU) and building international teams.
- **Product innovation**: Continuous introduction of new models (Switch, Dream) that solve specific customer pain points and create new use cases.
- **Hiring top talent**: Aggressively hiring to maintain growth trajectory; focusing on “growth athletes” who can move fast and own projects.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: High autonomy, direct candor (“no politics, no ego, no BS”), steep learning curve, work with elite talent. Described as intense but rewarding – “you’ll learn more here in a year than most places teach in five” [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
- **Hybrid/Remote**: Hybrid by design – typically two days in-office per week; plus four weeks per year of “work from anywhere” [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
- **Benefits**: Top-of-market pay, 32 days of paid time off, comprehensive health insurance, ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), home office budget, mobility budget (company car/transport/bike lease or rent subsidy if close to office in Belgium) [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
- **Engineering Culture**: Product developers and engineers have full ownership of projects; direct impact on millions of users; “your work doesn’t sit in drafts – it goes live” [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/working-at-loop)
- **For Job Seekers**: Offers a fast-paced, high-growth environment where personal growth is prioritized. Not for everyone – requires high ownership and comfort with direct feedback.

## Sources
1. [Loop Earplugs – About page](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/about-loop)
2. [Loop Earplugs – Why work at Loop](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
3. [Loop Earplugs – Working at Loop](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/working-at-loop)
4. [Loop Earplugs – Careers page](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/careers)
5. [Loop Earplugs – Careers (Belgium)](https://www.loopearplugs.com/en-be/pages/careers)

## Other roles at Loop

- [Materials Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/materials-engineer-loop-amsterdam-bwdg5ptwkvpt) — Amsterdam, Netherlands
- [Senior Backend Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-software-engineer-loop-amsterdam-r5hgfmkhe302) — Amsterdam, Netherlands
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- [Freelance Softgoods Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/freelance-softgoods-designer-loop-amsterdam-6944nrbqcxd3) — Amsterdam, Netherlands
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