Process Engineer (LCA & TEM Experience)

We’re a London-based climate-tech start-up, working to reframe how the world views carbon in order to enable a thriving planet. Since 2020, we have pioneered the world’s most versatile direct air capture (DAC) technology to recover historic CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere, anywhere, at any scale.

Backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the XPRIZE foundation, Stripe, and the UK Government, we’ve moved a brand new climate technology from lab scale to commercial plants in under three years, to empower carbon removal and sustainable utilisation.

About the role

Join MZT at a pivotal moment as we transition from an early-stage R&D startup to a revenue-generating company ready to scale our direct-air capture technology globally.

We’re hiring for a Process Engineer who is skilled in designing and delivering innovative machines or systems alongside lifecycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic assessment (TEA), preferably within the chemical industry. In this role, you’ll review, improve, and finalise designs, as well as oversee our next industrial-scale technology deployments, ensuring effective integration with host sites. Further, you will assess and validate the sustainability performance of our devices in achieving carbon negativity.

As a key member of the Engineering to Operations team, you’ll guide product definition from detailed design to site deployment, managing capacities from 250 teCO2/year at our Norfolk site to 5,000 teCO2/year and beyond. This will involve collaboration with various internal and external stakeholders.

While the role is based at our headquarters in East-Central London, expect periodic assignments at emerging UK sites, European suppliers, and international locations as we expand.

We ensure our early-stage employees are co-owners of the business, integral to the Mission Zero story and the fight against climate change.

What you’ll be doing

1. Design Development : Create, guide, and review safe process engineering designs, both internally and with external contractors across MZT projects, ranging from 250 te/year units to large-scale projects of 5,000 te/year and beyond.
2. Specification and Review : Specify, check, and deliver all necessary process and interdisciplinary design deliverables. This includes reports, datasheets, calculations, and any engineering drawings.
3. Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) : Conduct lifecycle analysis on a variety of devices and projects to assess total carbon removal potential when placed in various international locations.
4. Techno-economic Assessment (TEA) : Assess the key cost drivers for product and project success – balancing capital and operating expenditure against capacity.
5. Project Support : Assist the project management team in the technical delivery of detailed plant designs and analyses for pilot and commercial systems, focusing on process and control requirements, and interdisciplinary interfaces.
6. Engineering Application : Leverage fundamental engineering knowledge to define vendor boundaries and optimise plant and product performance as MZT rapidly scales in the direct-air capture space.
7. Control Engineering Development : Work closely at the process-control interface, enhancing and consolidating control engineering capabilities across the company.
8. Knowledge in Electrical, Control & Instrumentation : Utilise a basic understanding of EC&I scopes of work, including Functional Design Specifications (FDS), control panel specifications, and software programming interfaces, drawing from a proven track record in interfacing and leading EC&I engineering efforts.

What you’ll need to be successful in this role

1. MEng Engineering Degree within Process or Chemical Engineering (or suitable discipline).
2. 3 years minimum industrial experience delivering projects with significant process design content across multiple industries.
3. Experience in LCA and/or TEA across several project settings.
4. Understanding of the full machine/product-development engineering lifecycle (Conceptualisation, design, delivery/commissioning and decommissioning).
5. Practical skills, comfortable with both hands-on work and desk-based tasks. There will be some requirement to test ideas and designs in our labs / workshops to validate new technologies or improvements.
6. Comfortable working with ambiguity.
7. Ability to design and critically evaluate P&IDs for vendor scope splits on paper and live plant scales especially from a process, controls, and safety perspective.
8. Demonstrated understanding of hazard and risk identification (HAZID, HAZOP, LOPA, SIL).

Ideally you’ll also have

1. Experience in a startup environment
2. Experience in commissioning / decommissioning process units
3. Good understanding of materials in the context of chemical and weathering resistance
4. Qualification or certification in LCA and/or TEA
5. Experience with engineering supply chain management
6. Experience designing, running and supporting research scale, pilots and/or commercial plants
7. Basic understanding of fundamental electrochemistry principles
8. Familiarity with processes handling CO2 and its associated safety concerns / management

What we can offer you

1. 30 Days of Annual Leave
2. 3 Months Paternity/Maternity Leave
3. Unlimited mental health support
4. Employee Share Options Scheme
5. Christmas holidays office closure
6. Cycle to Work scheme
7. Employer-matched contributions to global re-wilding programme
8. Opportunities to directly impact where our company is headed
9. A high-growth, high-trust environment that encourages bold creativity

At Mission Zero, we value diversity of cultural backgrounds, experience, and perspectives, and leverage these qualities to create exceptional outcomes. We are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, sex, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, age, disability, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis as protected by applicable law. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have a disability or additional need that requires accommodation.

Our Hiring Process

Kindly allow us up to 2 weeks to review your application. Providing both of our schedules align, the total hiring process should take 4-6 weeks total to wrap up.

1. Application review
2. Intro Call with Functional Lead and Hiring Manager
3. Getting to know you – (Partner Assessment)

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