This role is a strong fit if you:

• You are a hands-on synthetic chemist, ideally with experience in material synthesis or functional material development.

• You enjoy working as an individual contributor and technical expert, while effectively coordinating with cross-functional stakeholders.

• You want to stay close to lab-based experimentation, synthesis, characterization, and scientific problem-solving.

• You are motivated by early-stage R&D and material innovation, with a passion for dynamic, discovery-driven environments.

What you will do:

• Design and synthesize new sorbent materials: You develop and improve sorbent chemistries for Direct Air Capture, with a focus on performance, durability, cost and scalability.

• Evaluate material performance: You plan experiments, analyze characterization and adsorption data, and connect synthesis decisions with structure-property relationships.

• Identify promising concepts: You screen internal and external sorbent concepts against clear technical, commercial, regulatory, scalability, and IP-related criteria.

• Drive hands-on laboratory work: You run safe, well-documented synthesis and testing campaigns, maintain structured material data, and translate results into recommendations.

• Collaborate and coordinate across disciplines: You work closely with experts in characterization, engineering, scale-up, legal, patents and external innovation to move the most promising sorbent concepts forward.

• Specifications and design: You develop and lead our Piping Engineering & Plant Layout Team, making sure it delivers on all project requirements in a fit-for-purpose manner Globally. You ensure owner requirements are clearly defined, documented, and communicated to contractors, and validate design assumptions against operability, safety, and applicable regulatory expectations. This includes defining piping and plant layouts suitable for local and regional execution.

• Contractor management: You review and approve contractor submissions, enforce owner requirements, provide technical clarifications, and ensure adherence to schedule, quality, safety, and operability. You set clear expectations for execution methods, field quality controls, and turnover documentation needed for safe operation and maintenance.

• Innovation and cost optimization: You develop innovative engineering solutions to identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising quality or safety. You focus on design-to-construct decisions appropriate for local boundary conditions (e.g., modularization readiness, reduced field welds, optimized layout, local climactic conditions, access and maintenance.

• Interface management: You assure strong integration with process, civil, electrical, mechanical and O&M disciplines to achieve seamless and optimized designs. You proactively manage cross-discipline interfaces.

• Regulatory and stakeholder awareness: You support alignment of piping and plant layout scope assumptions with local permitting and application needs for energy/industrial facilities and infrastructure interfaces.

• Documentation and knowledge management: You maintain thorough records of technical decisions, design bases, vendor information, and lessons learned for future operational use.

• Cold-weather and constructability: As our next DAC plant is planned for Alberta, Canada, you incorporate Alberta (or similar) climate conditions into piping and plant layout design and execution planning (freeze protection, winterization, insulation/heat tracing philosophy, drainage/low-point management, cold start/commissioning constraints). You ensure the design is constructable and able to operate and be maintained through winter conditions, including consideration of temporary works, winter work sequencing, and interface constraints with cold-weather civil activities.

• Technical Direction: You define and maintain the technical direction for the Electrical, Instrumentation, and Controls (EIC) Department.  You lead the development of fit-for-purpose EIC specifications, design philosophies, and basis of design for execution Globally. You ensure owner requirements are clearly defined, documented, and communicated to contractors, and validate design assumptions against operability, safety, and ensure compliance with local and regional codes and regulations.

• Contractor management: You review and approve contractor submissions including power distribution, control system architecture, and instrumentation design, enforce owner requirements, provide technical clarifications, and ensure adherence to schedule, quality, safety, and operability. You set clear expectations for execution methods, field quality controls, and turnover documentation needed for safe operation and maintenance.

• System Reliability & Innovation: You lead initiatives to improve reliability and performance of EIC systems, troubleshoot issues, and implement preventive measures. You evaluate and introduce emerging technologies such as smart instrumentation, advanced control systems, and energy efficiency solutions.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: You act as the primary EIC interface with process, mechanical, and project management teams to ensure integrated designs. You identify and mitigate EIC risks during design and operation phases and support project teams with scope, cost, and schedule estimates.

• Team Leadership & Continuous Improvement: You supervise and coach junior team members, provide guidance on technical challenges, and drive lessons-learned sessions to maintain a strong knowledge base and promote continuous improvement.  You maintain thorough records of technical decisions, design bases, vendor information, and lessons learned for future operational use.

• Cold-weather and constructability: As our next DAC plant is planned for Alberta, Canada, you incorporate Alberta (or similar) climate conditions into EIC design and execution planning (freeze protection, winterization, insulation/heat tracing philosophy, cold start/commissioning constraints). You ensure the design is constructable and able to operate and be maintained through winter conditions, including consideration of temporary works, winter work sequencing, and interface constraints with cold-weather activities.

• Contractor management: You review and approve contractor submissions including power distribution, control system architecture, and instrumentation design, enforce owner requirements, provide technical clarifications, and ensure adherence to schedule, quality, safety, and operability. You set clear expectations for execution methods, field quality controls, and turnover documentation needed for safe operation and maintenance.

• System Reliability & Innovation: You lead initiatives to improve reliability and performance of EIC systems, troubleshoot issues, and implement preventive measures. You evaluate and introduce emerging technologies such as smart instrumentation, advanced control systems, and energy efficiency solutions.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: You act as the primary EIC interface with process, mechanical, and project management teams to ensure integrated designs. You identify and mitigate EIC risks during design and operation phases and support project teams with scope, cost, and schedule estimates.

• Team Leadership & Continuous Improvement: You supervise and coach junior team members, provide guidance on technical challenges, and drive lessons-learned sessions to maintain a strong knowledge base and promote continuous improvement.  You maintain thorough records of technical decisions, design bases, vendor information, and lessons learned for future operational use.

• Cold-weather and constructability: As our next DAC plant is planned for Alberta, Canada, you incorporate Alberta (or similar) climate conditions into EIC design and execution planning (freeze protection, winterization, insulation/heat tracing philosophy, cold start/commissioning constraints). You ensure the design is constructable and able to operate and be maintained through winter conditions, including consideration of temporary works, winter work sequencing, and interface constraints with cold-weather activities.

• Specifications and design: You lead the development of fit-for-purpose mechanical specifications, design philosophies, and basis of design for execution Globally. You ensure owner requirements are clearly defined, documented, and communicated to contractors, and validate design assumptions against operability, safety, and applicable regulatory expectations. This includes defining a pressure equipment compliance pathway (e.g., registration and lifecycle documentation expectations) suitable for local and regional execution.

• Cold-weather and constructability: As our next DAC plant is planned for Alberta, Canada, you incorporate Alberta (or similar) climate conditions into mechanical design and execution planning (freeze protection, winterization, insulation/heat tracing philosophy, drainage/low-point management, cold start/commissioning constraints). You ensure the design is constructable and able to operate and be maintained  through winter conditions, including consideration of temporary works, winter work sequencing, and interface constraints with cold-weather civil activities.

• Contractor management: You review and approve contractor submissions, enforce owner requirements, provide technical clarifications, and ensure adherence to schedule, quality, safety, and operability. You set clear expectations for execution methods, field quality controls, and turnover documentation needed for safe operation and maintenance.

• Innovation and cost optimization: You develop innovative engineering solutions to identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising quality or safety. You focus on design-to-construct decisions appropriate for local boundary conditions (e.g., modularization readiness, reduced field welds, optimized layout, local climactic conditions, access and maintenance).

• Interface management: You assure strong integration with process, civil, electrical, and O&M disciplines to achieve seamless and optimized designs. You proactively manage cross-discipline interfaces.

• Regulatory and stakeholder awareness: Where relevant, you support alignment of mechanical scope assumptions with local permitting and application needs for energy/industrial facilities and infrastructure interfaces.

• Documentation and knowledge management: You maintain thorough records of technical decisions, design bases, vendor information, and lessons learned for future operational use, including pressure equipment records and lifecycle documentation expectations.

• IP and Inventor Enablement: You enable the management of IP topics by guiding inventors and ensuring readiness for future projects.

• Technology and Product Landscape Monitoring: You continuously monitor Climeworks’ product innovations and the evolving technology landscape.

• Inventor and Expert Interface: You serve as the essential bridge between inventors and innovation protection experts, ensuring efficient communication and collaboration.

• Patent Portfolio and Scientific Analysis: You dive deep into Climeworks’ patent portfolio and relevant scientific literature to provide strong technical insights.

• Core Technology Ownership: You own core technology domains with a focus on patent filing and ongoing maintenance.

• Continuous Improvement: You refine and streamline Climeworks’ innovation mining and protection approaches, ensuring the company remains an industry leader.

• Cold-weather and constructability: As our next DAC plant is planned for Alberta, Canada, you incorporate Alberta (or similar) climate conditions into mechanical design and execution planning (freeze protection, winterization, insulation/heat tracing philosophy, drainage/low-point management, cold start/commissioning constraints). You ensure the design is constructable and able to operate and be maintained  through winter conditions, including consideration of temporary works, winter work sequencing, and interface constraints with cold-weather civil activities.

• Contractor management: You review and approve contractor submissions, enforce owner requirements, provide technical clarifications, and ensure adherence to schedule, quality, safety, and operability. You set clear expectations for execution methods, field quality controls, and turnover documentation needed for safe operation and maintenance.

• Innovation and cost optimization: You develop innovative engineering solutions to identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising quality or safety. You focus on design-to-construct decisions appropriate for local boundary conditions (e.g., modularization readiness, reduced field welds, optimized layout, local climactic conditions, access and maintenance).

• Interface management: You assure strong integration with process, civil, electrical, and O&M disciplines to achieve seamless and optimized designs. You proactively manage cross-discipline interfaces.

• Regulatory and stakeholder awareness: Where relevant, you support alignment of mechanical scope assumptions with local permitting and application needs for energy/industrial facilities and infrastructure interfaces.

• Documentation and knowledge management: You maintain thorough records of technical decisions, design bases, vendor information, and lessons learned for future operational use, including pressure equipment records and lifecycle documentation expectations.