R&D Engineer

Summary:

Our goal is to hire a self-sufficient team member who can identify questions related to scaleup and process development, and answer them using experimental methods. We’re seeking someone with strong hands-on experience to run larger experimental campaigns related to scaleup and design validation so insights can be fed into ongoing pilot deployment efforts. Derek to serve as mentor, although we’d likely have the new hire assist on a variety of projects with the rest of the engineering team. Ideally the learnings from this work would feed into Bart & Cyndia’s work with integration & deployment, which will subsequently reduce their workloads related to guesswork.

Possible flavor of projects

• Design & run experiments across a variety of system sizes to help scale processes, and identify/understand loss of performance at scale (Primary)
• Develop and implement a robust sensing, electrical and/or code infrastructure for R&D platforms, and manage ongoing collection and display of process data (Secondary)

Title: R&D Engineer (Scaleup)

To meet emissions reductions targets set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world will need carbon removal technologies to supplement the efforts of clean energy deployment and traditional carbon capture strategies, which only slow the extent to which CO2 is being emitted.

AirMyne is a seed-stage Direct Air Capture (DAC) startup aiming to develop the most readily scalable and cost-competitive DAC process. By employing widely available existing industrial technologies and equipment, and by creating an energy-flexible process, we hope to overcome barriers to scale such as material supply chains, cost and availability of clean energy, and plant capacity factors. AirMyne was founded in 2022 by industry veterans with experience designing and scaling chemical products in the refrigeration and electric vehicle industries. We’re based in Berkeley and have a team of 14 spanning Commercial, Deployment and Engineering. AirMyne has spent the past three years refining the unit operations related to our absorption and thermal regeneration process. We recently received a grant from the California Energy Commission to fund a pilot-scale deployment and are rapidly working to translate our learnings to an outdoor demonstration in the field.

We are now ready to expand our team with an R&D Engineer who will assist in the characterization of performance across prototype scales and translate this data to pilot scale decisions. As an Engineering team, our goal is to rapidly iterate upon the form and operation of our air-liquid contactors. This involves careful design & control of experiments and analysis/communication of these results in weekly data meetings. The R&D Engineer’s findings will directly impact the efficiency and productivity of our air-liquid contactors, steer the design and operation of our pilot facility, and accelerate the deployment of a carbon removal process.

What you’ll do:

• Design and run controlled experiments on a variety of AirMyne’s standalone absorption units
• Measure systems (in situ mass flows of air and capture solvent, change in humidity and CO2, etc.) through thoughtful sensor integration and sample collection
• Perform chemical analysis to track chemical composition of solvent
• Synthesize and communicate data via analysis, documentation, writeups, and presentations
• Prototype system improvements with assistance from fabrication leads
• Provide recommendations to the Engineering and Deployment teams
• Increase the efficiency and productivity of our air-liquid contactors, steer the design and operation of our pilot facility, and accelerate the deployment of a carbon removal process

Requirements:

• 3+ years of industry experience. We’re looking for someone who can immediately own a project and improve our own organization/operations through past experience.
• Happy to get hands dirty with prototype builds and experiments
• Detail-oriented
• Experimental mindset and prior experience running controlled experiments in a hardware, wet lab, or engineering/research setting
• Strong engineering fundamentals (structures, fluids, thermodynamics)
• Strong data analysis, documentation, and communication skills
• Organized and disciplined about workplace safety and cleanliness

Nice to have:

• Experience with chemical engineering & process development (ideally by completing at least one R&D to pilot cycle)
• Experience working with contractors and professional engineers
• Experience with material handling equipment spec’ing (e.g. pumps, fans, pipes, etc)
• Experience with industrial scale plants/processes and their operation (pilot or larger)
• Experience with industrial sensors and automation (e.g. PLC’s)
• Experience with process simulation and modeling (e.g. Aspen)

Why join us:

We are a team of scientists and engineers who are passionate about making progress towards a climate-positive future. We are goal-driven, and we see a technology with a high potential for big impact. As a small team, every person’s observations and creations directly improve our technology. This also means that while we each specialize in different areas, we remain flexible with how we contribute to our shared goals, often learning new skills from whatever resources we can find. Finally, we’re a tight team that values both our time together in the office and our refresh time outside of work. If that sounds exciting to you, please reach out!

What we offer:

• Benefits plan includes subsidized health, dental, and vision plans with options for life insurance
• 401(k)
• Several company holidays per year including week-long holidays in November and December
• Flexible time-off policy with unlimited PTO
• Equity

This role is on-site AirMyne’s facility in West Berkeley. The estimated annual salary range for this role is $85,000-$130,000 plus company equity.