Background

The shipping industry accounts for ~3% of global CO2 emissions. If it were a country, it would rank above Germany (the 6th largest emitter in the world).

Currently, there’s no solution for ships to go 100% clean. Alternative power sources like hydrogen, ammonia, and onboard batteries are still 10-20 years away from reaching large cargo ships.

At Seabound, we are piloting a patent-pending technology that captures CO2 from the ship’s exhaust gas using lime (CaO). Our approach has the potential to be one of the cheapest, safest, and easiest solutions to zero-emissions shipping.

Roles and responsibilities

As the Founding Mechanical Engineer, you will have significant influence over all stages of the development process of a novel ship-based carbon capture system, from R&D, design and prototyping, to manufacturing and installations.

What You’ll Do

• Work as the first in-house engineer (3rd person on the team!) to design, build, and test a carbon capture prototype system, which will be tested on land and then on a vessel. The system will consist of gas-solid reactors (at ~600°C), rotary valves, conveyors, filters, blowers, and sensors
• Collaborate closely with partners (e.g. carbon capture research partner and marine engineering partner) and incorporate their input into your work throughout the process
• Work with and manage external contractors, component vendors and fabricators
• Help define and execute on longer-term engineering development roadmap, from prototype to pilot to commercialization
• Help grow and build a team of engineers
• Anything else that needs to be done in a 3-person startup

Skills and requirements

We are looking for:

• BS in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline plus 7 years industry experience; or Masters plus 5 years experience; or PhD plus 3 years experience
• Extensive hands-on field experience building and testing mechanical systems
• Experience in designing large scale industrial machinery
• Practical experience with CAE and CAD
• Someone who is resourceful and will do whatever it takes to get the job done
• Someone who loves to work at the edge of their abilities and tackle things they have never done before (or no one has)
• Someone who is an independent, critical thinker - with a sharp eye for major risks in the system; and a creative problem solver - with an ability and mentality to be scrappy/hacky when necessary

Bonus experiences:

• Having led the development of a new hardware product/technology
• Having worked at a startup and owned a lot of responsibilities
• Hands-on hobby projects
• Electronics and controls
• Materials selection
• Combustion/thermal engineering
• Bulk solids handling
• Pilot plant design/construction/operation

We are hiring remotely but you will need to travel internationally for a few weeks at a time, since we have partners and workshops at various locations.

Note that we will ask for a portfolio (highlighting 4-5 major projects/hobbies) as part of the selection process.