Head of R&D and Lab Ops

CREW Carbon; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Flexible paid time off

401(k) plan

Health benefits

Job summary

CREW Carbon is seeking a Head of R&D and Lab Ops to lead scientific direction for wastewater process optimization and decarbonization. You will drive data collection, modeling, and interpretation to translate laboratory findings into scalable CREW deployments, collaborating with cross-functional teams to push the boundaries of process intensification.

You will guide biological nutrient removal and aqueous chemistry initiatives, mentor a growing technical team, and contribute to MRV support and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Environmental, Chemical, Civil Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years in biological wastewater treatment process engineering (evaluation, design, or modeling).
• Strong understanding of nutrient removal, solids handling, and pH/alkalinity control.
• Ability to lead and grow a technical team.
• Exceptional technical writing with clear data translation.

Responsibilities

• Serve as senior technical authority on BNR, aqueous chemistry, and process performance for deployments and R&D.
• Analyze data, identify metrics, and drive process decisions using mass/energy balances and models.
• Lead and mentor lab/R&D team; set protocols and data collection standards.
• Translate lab-scale findings into scalable improvements for deployment.
• Collaborate with Platform and Technical Solutions to turn data into product decisions.
• Support MRV for CREW deployments.

Skills

Biological wastewater

Process modeling

Data interpretation

Technical writing

Team leadership

Analytical chemistry (IC/TIC/ICP)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Environmental/Chemical/Civil Eng

Tools

BioWin

SUMO

GPS-X

ASM libraries

Job description

About CREW Carbon

CREW’s technology and services make wastewater treatment cheaper and more efficient, while permanently sequestering CO₂.

Leveraging advanced chemistry, natural minerals, and AI, we’ve developed and are deploying a category-defining process intensification technology, with decarbonization at its core. Today, we help wastewater treatment facilities and operators:

• Improve the efficiency of existing, legacy infrastructure

• Eliminate hazardous chemicals & reduce operational costs

• Avoid $100M+ infrastructure upgrades

• Capture & Store CO₂

We are currently deploying this technology across the US. In addition, we’ve signed $33M+ in carbon removal offtake agreements with leading corporations, including JP Morgan, Google, and Stripe who are looking to meet their climate goals, supercharging CREW’s expansion.

About the Role

As Head of R&D and Lab Ops at CREW Carbon, you will serve as a technical authority on the science underlying CREW’s wastewater process optimization and decarbonization solution. This role requires a wastewater treatment and aqueous chemistry expert who can interpret complex data to drive internal R&D and lab operations, working in close partnership across functions to ensure that science translates cleanly into what CREW designs, deploys, and delivers.

You will play a pivotal role in accelerating the application of CREW’s technology by translating biological treatment process data from laboratory studies and full-scale deployments into rigorous, defensible technical insight. You will quantify and articulate the value CREW delivers through process intensification within biological treatment systems — including the carbon removal performance that underpins CREW’s MRV work — and you will drive the internal data collection, analysis, and modeling required to support those conclusions and enable scale across treatment facilities.

This role will work closely with CREW Carbon’s world-class Advisory, Commercial, and Technical Solutions teams to define scientific priorities, mentor lab and R&D team members, and drive CREW’s mission through innovative research and rigorous analysis.

This position is a full-time role. Location is onsite at CREW’s New Haven, CT or Brooklyn, NY offices. Remote considered only for exceptional candidates, with regular travel to New Haven and Brooklyn expected.

Responsibilities

• Serve as CREW’s senior technical authority on biological nutrient removal (BNR), aqueous chemistry, and process performance, applying this expertise directly to CREW’s deployments and R&D.

• Analyze operational and experimental data, identify the metrics that matter, and drive process and product decisions using mass/energy balances and process modeling.

• Lead and mentor CREW’s lab/R&D team, setting experimental protocols and data collection standards that rigorously validate process performance.

• Apply process engineering expertise to translate lab-scale findings into improvements CREW can deploy at scale.

• Collaborate closely with CREW’s Platform and Technical Solutions teams to leverage CREW’s data infrastructure and turn experimental and operational data into actionable product decisions.

• Support carbon removal quantification methodology and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) for CREW’s deployments.

• Serve as a process-engineering resource to Technical Solutions and Operations when a field issue needs deeper root-cause analysis — diagnosing the underlying process science and feeding fixes back into R&D.

• Author technical reports and internal R&D documentation that capture CREW’s process engineering rigor.

Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree (required) in Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, or a related field.

• 10+ years of hands‑on experience in biological wastewater treatment process engineering — process evaluation, design, or modeling.

• Strong understanding of wastewater treatment processes, including nutrient removal, solids handling, and pH and alkalinity control.

• Comfortable leading and growing a technical team.

• Exceptional technical writing skills, with the ability to translate complex process science into clear, defensible documents.

• Experience with process modeling tools (BioWin, SUMO, GPS-X, ASM libraries, or equivalent).

• Familiarity with analytical methods used in wastewater and aqueous chemistry system characterization (e.g., IC, TIC, ICP) and ability to interpret analytical data.

• Comfortable working in a rapidly evolving environment and able to quickly synthesize new information to proactively adjust focus.

• Professional Engineer (PE) license is a plus.

• You practice extreme ownership (no task is too small).

• You love being in the trenches with your team and working with high empathy.

• You have a growth mindset.

Compensation

Compensation at the time of offer is unique to each candidate and based on a variety of factors such as skill set, experience, qualifications, and work location. Salary is one part of the total compensation and benefits package. Other benefits for eligible employees may include: equity through the form of option grants, flexible paid time off, 401(k) plan, well equipped office environment, and health benefits offerings.

The expected base salary range for this role is $120,000 – $180,000. This range represents the company’s estimate for this position at the time of posting however actual compensation may vary based on skills, experience, location, role scope, and business needs.

About the company

CREW’s technology and services make wastewater treatment cheaper and more efficient, while permanently sequestering CO₂.

Leveraging advanced chemistry, natural minerals, and AI, we’ve developed and are deploying a category-defining process intensification technology, with decarbonization at its core. We are currently deploying this technology across the US and Europe. In addition, we’ve signed $30M+ in carbon removal offtake agreements with leading corporations looking to meet their climate goals, supercharging geographical CREW’s expansion.

CREW has offices and labs in New Haven, CT and offices in Brooklyn, NY.

CREW Insights

• CREW raises $25M of funding to scale wastewater treatment optimization technology as climate solution

• A climate fix that could cut your water bill (The Wall Street Journal)

• Leading U.S. water utility HRSD partners with CREW to deploy process intensification technology (Wastewater Digest)

• The Colorado Energy Office awards $2.35M to CREW’s wastewater treatment CDR tech (Carbon Herald)

• CREW signed a carbon credit offtake agreement with the Frontier Climate Fund (Reuters)

• CREW delivers pioneering wastewater alkalinity enhancement credits (Carbon Herald)

• CREW recognized as one of the most promising climate tech startups (Business Insider)

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.