Solugen
Houston, TX 77035
Position
Scientist I/Engineer I
About Solugen
At Solugen, we believe planet-scale change starts with the chemistry we use every day. So, we’ve built the world’s first carbon negative molecule factory. Fusing biology with chemistry and technology to make the materials we need to sustain life on Earth. Solugen, Inc. is a revolutionary product and technology company seeking to use biology to transform the chemicals industry. Solugen was founded in 2016 and is a post-Series D venture-backed biotechnology company supported by renowned venture capital firms including Founders Fund, FiftyYears, Refactor, Y Combinator, Temasek, GIC, and Baillie-Gifford. Located in Houston, Texas, Solugen has recently started-up a first-of-its-kind carbon-negative manufacturing facility - The BioforgeTM - that uses a novel chemoenzymatic technology to manufacture bio-based chemistries for a wide range of applications including water treatment, agriculture, personal care, and other applications. Solugen currently has 200+ full time employees.
Mission
Solugen’s mission is to decarbonize chemicals manufacturing. As a first step, Solugen built its first 10,000 tons per year commercial plant with potential to offset 37,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalents. This role will directly support Solugen’s mission by continuously improving our ability to scale enzyme production to support our core platform.
Recent graduates would have the opportunity to contribute to various areas of the organization. Some of the areas where there could be opportunities are Operations and R&D. The Operations area offers the opportunity to apply various disciplines of engineering in the day-to-day operations of our plant. The R&D area includes but is not limited to strain, enzymes, process development, heterogeneous catalysis, and polymers.
- In Enzymes, there is an opportunity to assist with experiments and analysis related to Solugen's future R&D, production, and revenue goals. This role could entail: 1) screening enzymes for enhanced characteristics (e.g., thermostability or specific activity) through high throughput screening with advanced automation, in silico modeling through atomistic and AI methods, 2) academic-level characterization and troubleshooting, or 3) working with our process development team to scale enzyme production or reactions in industrial reactors. As the enzymes continuously improve, the quality of Solugen's products and our cost to manufacture improve.
- In Strain Engineering there is opportunity to assist with experiments and analysis to support Solugen’s future R&D, production, and revenue goals. This role could be involved with genetically engineering and screening Solugen’s production hosts to maximize their performance. As the production hosts continuously improve, the quality of Solugen’s products and our cost to manufacture improve.
- In Process Development there is opportunity to support more senior R&D Engineers with the development and scale‐up of new process technologies, geared towards (i) Solugen’s next‐generation processing and (ii) production of high purity dry products.
- In the Metals department (Heterogeneous Catalysis) there are opportunities to support new process discovery and optimization using Solugen's manufacturing assets across the bench scale reactor and lab scale preparation of catalysts. For this, catalysts are prepared up to the gram scale and characterized by multiple phy.-chem. methods and performance tests.
- In Operations/Process Engineering there is opportunity to support new process discovery and optimization using Solugen's manufacturing assets across the pilot and demonstration plant scales.
- In Analytical there are opportunities to support Solugen’s Operations and R&D teams. These roles would include analyzing samples from various teams to assist in progressing our technologies. Our lab currently operates UPLC, GCMS, ICP-OES, and we are continuing to acquire equipment to advance our lab.
In addition to STEM focused areas there are opportunities in other areas of the organization such as finance, sales, business development and other administrative contributing areas.
Company Specific
- Curiosity and willingness to learn and ask a lot of questions
- Being nimble, embracing the speed of startup culture
- Passionate for green chemistry and fighting climate change
- Emphasis on safety
- Respect for others
Qualifications
Bachelor’s, or master’s, or PhD degree in STEM focused area or related field.
Solugen is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other legally protected status.