Solugen
14549 Minetta St., Houston TX 77035
Position
Process Development Engineer III
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 C 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 currently has 100+ full time employees.
Mission
Reporting to the Director of Process Development, this role focuses on the translation of new scientific discoveries to actionable engineering designs. Activities will span the gamut of process development, from creating techno-economic models of potential future processes, through design and execution of benchtop process scoping experiments, computer aided engineering, and translation of findings to pilot and eventually manufacturing scale. This role will partner heavily with engineering and operations teams at Solugen.
Key Outcomes
- Scale one novel process from benchtop to pilot plant within 1 year, including writing technology transfer documentation
- Develop techno-economic assessments for existing and incumbent processes, and use these models to inform R&D targets, KPIs, and research direction
- Generate Process Requirements Documents for Solugen’s next-generation process at the outset of research efforts to guide Solugen R&D efforts
- Design and execute benchtop scoping studies to inform chemical process development
- Develop computer models (ASPEN, ChemCAD, COMSOL) to better inform unit operation design and conceptual process design
- Execute Front End Loading Stage 1 (FEL1, conceptual design) for new plants and processes
Key Competencies
Job Specific
- Experience with techno-economic assessments (TEAs) required
- Comfortable in a lab, ability to self-direct wet lab experimental design and execution required
- Ability to size and procure benchtop and pilot equipment and develop preliminary sizing/scoping for industrial scale unit operations required
- Experience with enzymatic reactors, trickle bed reactors, tangential flow filtration, ion exchange chromatography, crystallization, or distillation greatly desired
- Experience with flowsheet design software (ASPEN, ChemCAD) greatly desired
- Skill with MATLAB or Python greatly desired
- Experience with computational fluid dynamics/finite element analysis (COMSOL) a plus
- Experience in pilot plants a plus
- Strong data analysis skills, able to deduce conclusions from limited number of experiments
- Comfortable pursuing ill-defined optimization problems with minimal input from management
- Comfortable working in an industrial environment
- Able to lift and move up to 25 pounds
- Able to (infrequently) work shifts during pilot plant campaigns
- Strong written technical communication skills
Company Specific
- Ask a lot of questions, be curious, and have insights into your work
- Be nimble, embrace the speed and ambiguity of startup culture.
- A passion for green chemistry and fighting climate change.
- Ability to self-manage and set your own priorities and schedule.
- Be comfortable working in multiple roles.
- Emphasize safety above all else.
- Respect for others.
- Creative problem solving.
- Willingness to learn and research new engineering/science concepts.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering
5+ years of process development experience, ideally in a pilot plant setting
OR
Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering
3+ years of process development experience, ideally in a pilot plant setting
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.