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Join to apply for the Lead Process Engineer role at Oleo Sustainable Palm Oil Solutions

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Join to apply for the Lead Process Engineer role at Oleo Sustainable Palm Oil Solutions

Company Overview: Oleo Sustainable Palm Oil Solutions is dedicated to halting palm oil driven deforestation. Palm oil is a highly carbon-intensive commodity, largely due to deforestation at the start of its supply chain. We transform biomass waste into sustainable palm oil alternatives with applications ranging from consumer goods to biofuels. Our biomanufacturing platform, developed at Stanford University, utilizes cellulosic sugars from biomass waste for fermentation into sustainable oils. Supported by various venture funds and innovation centers, we aim to reduce biomass preprocessing costs and circumvent feedstock limitations.

Role Description: Lead Process Engineer

We seek a scientist or engineer with expertise in biomass pretreatment, separations, analytics, and process engineering to lead process design, optimization, and scale-up of our biomass deconstruction process. This laboratory-based, in-person role in Berkeley, CA, involves leading experiments and daily lab operations with a team of four.

Primary Responsibilities:

1. Develop an integrated process for converting biomass waste into fermentable sugars, evaluating solvents and catalysts.
2. Design, plan, and execute biomass deconstruction experiments and scale-up tests.
3. Develop analytical methods, analyze samples, and interpret data for process improvement.
4. Characterize biomass feedstocks and process streams.
5. Evaluate separation and crystallization technologies for product recovery and catalyst recycling.
6. Identify process improvements to enhance efficiency, quality, and cost-effectiveness.

Ideal Candidate:

• MS/PhD in chemical engineering, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, or related fields with 1-3 years of industry experience.
• Knowledge of thermochemical and thermomechanical biomass deconstruction methods.
• Experience designing and executing experiments, making data-driven decisions.
• Proficiency with characterization techniques, including mass spectrometry.
• Familiarity with separation technologies for dilute solutions.
• Initiative, organization, and ownership of projects from ideation to implementation.
• Resilience to technical challenges and effective communication skills.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with techno-economic modeling in Aspen Plus.
• Designing and tuning ionic liquids.
• CAD skills for designing lab equipment.
• Knowledge of statistical methods and experimental design.

What We Offer:

• Salary: $90,000 - $110,000 annually
• Company equity
• Healthcare benefits
• Competitive PTO

We value diversity and inclusion. If you're excited about this role but don't meet all qualifications, we encourage you to apply.