Pilot Plant Engineer

About:

General Biological (GB) is a pioneering industrial biotech and chemical manufacturing company developing the next generation of scalable, low-cost biomanufacturing technologies. Our mission is to establish a new era of chemical products and physical materials derived from carbohydrates rather than hydrocarbons - to build the 21st century refinery. For more, see here: https://infinitefrontiers.io/c...

Central to our approach is vertical integration - working at the intersection of biotechnology, chemistry, and integrated hardware-software engineering to scale fast. The GB platform harnesses a non-model organism with remarkable metabolic flexibility and low sterility requirements, enabling us to truly industrialize biotech. By building custom fermentation and downstream operations, we fully leverage these properties to dramatically reduce capital and operating costs while accelerating execution.

Role Overview

We are seeking independent and motivated pilot plant engineers and technicians to assist in the operations and experiments of our first of its kind pilot plant in Waltham, MA. Our pilot plant is a fully continuous scaled-down version of our industrial process from raw materials prep to final QC, and serves the dual purpose of focused R&D for testing new process parameters as well as generating high-purity samples for our customers.

In addition to the Pilot Plant, GB has a full staff of laboratory scientists, chemical engineers, automation and mechanical engineers, and is in the process of commissioning a commercial-scale facility in Lake Providence, LA. This enables us to be extremely flexible and vertically integrated when it comes to problem-solving, and the experiments executed at pilot scale directly translate to improvement of metrics at commercial scale.

Our pilot plant has been fully built in-house by our team of mechanical, automation, and chemical engineers and can be customized and reconfigured for experiments. Unit ops featured include:

• Fermentation media prep and sterilization
• Aerobic seed fermentation
• Anaerobic production fermentation
• Cell separation via centrifugation and membranes
• Micro, Ultra, and Nanofiltration
• Ion Exchange
• Evaporation
• Crystallization, Centrifugation, Redissolution
• Decolorization
• Drying
• Utilities including steam, cold water, acid/base

Experience with all of the above unit ops and processes is not required. A good working understanding of chemical principle is necessary, but we do not have strict minimum education requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Work alongside bioprocess and chemical engineers to operate pilot plant skids, including setting up experiments, preparing mixtures, priming equipment, inputting setpoints from protocols and SOPs, and monitoring their function.

• Maintain equipment as instructed and carry out minor repairs and reconfiguration of skid plumbing and fittings.
• Proactively identify equipment issues and repair or alert engineers.
• Maintain an inventory of consumables and spare parts.
• Provide feedback on equipment design and function to the engineering team and make suggestions for process or hardware improvements.
• Execute experiments, taking meticulous notes of experimental set-up and observations.
• Reconfigure equipment as necessary for different experiments.
• Collect samples and process for analysis via YSI, HPLC, IC or other methods.
• Generate sample batches with analyzed purity for customer and internal testing.
• Record process SOPs for other operators and for transfer to a commercial plant.

Required Qualifications

• Strong background in the principles of chemical unit operations or fermentation.
• Experience with small or medium scale fittings, tubing, pumps, and laboratory equipment.
• Mechanical common-sense and experience with repairing or troubleshooting equipment.
• Ability to independently execute while coordinating with cross-functional teams and maintaining safety as a non-negotiable priority.
• Demonstrated ownership mindset, with the ability to identify gaps, propose solutions, and follow through from issue identification to resolution.
• Attention to detail and strong organization skills

Additional Preferred Qualifications

• Experience commissioning pilot or demonstration-scale chemical or biological processing systems.
• Familiarity with working around chemical processes, including awareness of process safety considerations and hazardous energy sources.
• Experience with analytical chemistry sample prep, data collection, and data processing including for HPLC, YSI, and IC.

Physical & Working Conditions

• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs and perform physical tasks including climbing ladders, bending, kneeling, and standing for extended periods
• Majority of work performed in the lab and pilot plant environment with occasional office-based documentation work