Bioprocess Engineer

Clean Joule Inc. is a sustainable aviation fuel development company based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Our novel, one-of-a-kind technology, allows us to harness energy from biomass and convert it to superior performance aviation fuel.

Clean Joule is seeking a Bioprocess Engineer to support our micro-organism-based fermentation efforts fulfilling research and development goals. The ideal candidate should have strong knowledge and experience with bioprocessing to produce high value biological products. The candidate will be responsible for strain improvement, independent design, and fermentation process development at laboratory and industrial scale based on a strong command of biochemical and engineering principles.

As part of the team, will apply scientific and engineering principles, research theories, models, and hands-on technical expertise to design and plan experiments and research activities. This job will have non-standard work hours in accordance with the rigors of fermentation runs. A set schedule is not anticipated, and adaptability is key.

• Design, execute and analyze fermentation process conditions for micro-organisms across the scale from shake-flask to industrial scale bioreactors (>1,000 L).
• Design, coordinate, and lead experiments to evaluate operating conditions, hardware changes, media formulations, feeding strategies, and other process conditions to improve key performance indicators in small scale bioreactors.
• Design small scale fermentation models to enable rapid strain characterization at medium to high throughput experimentation.
• Design and execute analytical protocols to quantify and qualify cultured organisms as well as products produced.
• Perform data analysis to track key performance indicators and guide experimental planning.
• Expedite the process improvement and optimization with innovative technical solutions for development of biological products.
• Develop and document improved methods for novel products to accelerate product development, scale-up and implementation.
• Support continuous improvement of laboratory infrastructure, operations, workflows, and protocols.
• Work with relevant stakeholders to identify fermentation process requirements that enable effective downstream processing for product separation and purification.
• Collaborate with other teams including engineering, pilot and scale-up operations, downstream processing, and product development.
• Work with other teams in the development and implementation of systems and processes to support the quality of fermentation processes and products.
• Ability to travel to tolling sites up to 25% in different states to perform production runs.
• Ability to work non-standard hours required of bioprocess engineering.
• Develop and maintain a safe working environment.

• BS or MS degree in biology, biotechnology, biochemical engineering, microbiology, or chemical engineering required.
• 3+ years of experience (BS) or 2+ years of experience (MS) working in academic and/or industrial research laboratory. Industry experience is highly preferred.
• Prior experience in the operation of bioreactors using industrially relevant micro-organisms is required.
• Prior experience with analytical instruments including GC, HPLC, and inline process monitoring is required.
• Direct experience in fermentation (R&D, operations, and/or engineering) is required.
• Experience running fermenters including setup, sampling, process development (including downstream processing), and troubleshooting hardware and software.
• Prior fermentation experience at the lab-scale, including the end-to-end operation of bioreactors and development of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Pilot scale (1,000 L+) fermentation experience across multiple products is desired.
• Experience developing and optimizing robust, scalable industrial fermentation processes is desired.
• Strong hands-on wet-lab and fermentation skills is required.
• Must be able to prioritize and manage timelines and scope of work to meet program goals and milestones.
• Experience using statistics and design-of-experiments based approaches to strengthen experimental design and…