Senior Process Engineer, Manufacturing

Aether Biomachines•Menlo Park, CA

About The Position

Aether engineers enzymes to produce materials that are difficult or impossible to make through conventional chemistry. Its current advanced print materials are shipping into defense and unmanned systems. Aether is a Series A company with a small team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Aether’s production processes, developed and scaled by its R&D and scale-up teams, are moving to contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs). The Senior Process Engineer will lead technology transfer to CMO partners and help ensure processes operate reliably, repeatably, and economically at commercial scale. After production starts, the role will focus on stabilizing and continuously improving processes, working directly with CMO engineering teams and in close partnership with Aether’s R&D and quality functions. As one of the first hires in a new manufacturing organization, this engineer will help establish standards for the growing function.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering or a closely related field.
At least 5 years of process engineering experience in chemical, polymer, or materials manufacturing.
Hands-on experience leading technology transfer and scale-up into a production environment, preferably at a contract manufacturer or with outsourced production.
Ability to work independently at a partner site and hold your own with experienced manufacturing teams.
Structured, data-driven approach to solving technical problems.
Willingness to travel about 30% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
Experience leading HAZOP or PHA studies.
Experience with polymer synthesis or compounding.

Responsibilities

Lead technology transfer of scaled-up processes from Aether’s internal teams to CMOs, including preparation of transfer packages, process descriptions, batch records, and bills of materials.
Plan and run scale-up through the first commercial production runs, demonstrating that each process can support high-volume manufacturing.
Define critical process parameters and in-process controls with R&D and quality.
Set up process monitoring and trend data across production batches to stabilize processes and identify drift early.
Lead troubleshooting and root cause analysis for yield, quality, and throughput issues in partnership with quality, and drive corrective actions with CMO engineers.
Build and run improvement programs targeting yield, cycle time, and cost.
Conduct process hazard analyses and risk assessments as processes change.