At Aircapture, we’re creating and scaling a circular carbon economy to solve what we believe to be the challenge of our lifetime: the climate crisis. We supply commercial and industrial customers with clean CO₂ captured directly from the atmosphere, transforming a climate threat into a valuable resource. Solving a challenge of this scale takes people with different backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking. We value those differences and believe they make us a stronger team.
We’re looking for a Senior Process Engineer who can see the whole system, connect the dots, and turn ambitious ideas into fully integrated, working processes. You will integrate new processes into our Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, looking at the entire plant, spotting opportunities, and scaling ideas from concept to production. If you're excited about transitioning clean tech from concept to reality and want to work on climate-critical technology at a groundbreaking startup, this role is for you!
This role is onsite in our development and production facility in Berkeley, California.
Please Note–due to the requirements of our federal contracts, we can only hire a U.S. permanent resident or citizen for this role.
Salary: $150,000-$175,000 per year
What You’ll Do Here
- Lead and contribute to large-scale process designs, from onsite R&D projects to commercial scale installations
- Own and maintain Aspen Plus process models to support design, optimization, and technoeconomic evaluation of DAC systems
- Contribute to engineering work products for overall process and unit operations including design basis, PFD, P&ID, general arrangements, process control narratives, HAZOPs, and model reviews
- Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams such as Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, and Controls Engineers during the project lifecycle
- Support the Operations team in troubleshooting, efficiency improvements, reliability, and data analysis
- Collaborate with Finance and Commercial teams to create techno-economic analyses (TEA) for new project evaluations
- Mentor junior engineers, including signing off on design changes, conceptualizing new systems, and technically guiding their development
- Partner with Supply Chain and vendors to spec and procure major equipment, manage timelines, and align on execution
- Maintain rigorous documentation of process designs, test results, and lessons learned to support repeatability across projects
Your Skills and Abilities Include
- 9+ years of Process Engineering experience, ideally including 2 full-cycle process engineering projects from concept through operation
- Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, or similar area of study
- Proficiency in Aspen Plus (or equivalent process simulation software)—building, validating, and troubleshooting process models, mass/energy balances, and simulations to support both R&D and commercial-scale system design
- Hands-on experience with large-scale process equipment (e.g., compressors, heat exchangers, pumps, vessels) and the control strategies used to operate them safely and efficiently
- Skilled in communicating with suppliers and vendors, and managing relationships through procurement, installation, and commissioning
- Thorough understanding of P&ID standards to create, communicate, and build our project designs (PFDs, P&IDs, GAs, etc.), which vary in size and scope
- Proficiency with CAD software for process documentation (PFDs, P&IDs, GAs, etc.) is a plus
- Experience working at or with large-scale industrial companies, with a clear understanding of systems integration and operational best practices, is a plus
- Experience with government-funded projects is a plus
- Experience in an early-stage or growth-stage company progressing technology toward commercialization is a plus
Aircapture strives to create a safe, inclusive, equitable and diverse workplace where everyone can do their best work. We hope you feel welcome here.
Skills Required
- 9+ years of process engineering experience
- Experience with two full-cycle process engineering projects from concept through operation
- Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering or a similar field
- Proficiency in Aspen Plus or equivalent process simulation software
- Experience building, validating, and troubleshooting process models, mass and energy balances, and simulations
- Hands-on experience with large-scale process equipment, including compressors, heat exchangers, pumps, and vessels
- Knowledge of control strategies for safely and efficiently operating large-scale process equipment
- Experience communicating with suppliers and vendors and managing relationships through procurement, installation, and commissioning
- Thorough understanding of P&ID standards and process documentation, including PFDs, P&IDs, and general arrangements
- Proficiency with CAD software for process documentation
- Experience with large-scale industrial companies and systems integration
- Experience with government-funded projects
- Experience at an early-stage or growth-stage company commercializing technology
- U.S. citizenship or U.S. permanent residency
What We Do
Aircapture’s modular, on-site technology captures climate-changing CO2 from the air, and puts it directly into our customers' production processes. The result is a greener, cleaner and cheaper product that can help their businesses go carbon neutral, or even negative. Previously, commercially available CO2 was produced and distributed only in ways that generate large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, result in product impurities and include the often-substantial friction costs from transportation. For every tonne of delivered CO2, we estimate two or more tonnes of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and creating significant supply chain emissions, the cost of which are likely to materially increase. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone is not enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Atmospheric carbon dioxide removal addresses legacy emissions and drives the development of critical, sustainable carbon-negative infrastructure. By utilizing atmospheric CO2, we can actually turn back the hands of time – reversing much of the damage that has already been done – while enabling our customers to economically build new carbon-to-value industries and alleviate energy poverty on a global scale. Our mission is to use Direct Air Capture (DAC) to help achieve these goals. DAC can be sited practically anywhere. There are no natural or technical limits to its scale, the quantity of carbon dioxide it removes is verifiable and it is cost-effective today
