Senior Chemical Process Engineer

Stanford Climate Ventures; Redwood City (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Stanford Climate Ventures is seeking a Process Engineer to own the process systems for our reactor technology. You will build heat and material balances, develop PFDs and PIDs, and specify major equipment while coordinating with EPC partners to ensure safe, well-instrumented plants.

You will translate catalyst and reactor data into rigorous process designs, work with R&D to align performance data with system boundaries, and lead safety and safety-compliance efforts across the project lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Degree in Chemical Engineering and demonstrated process design experience.
• Strong process simulation skills and the ability to produce defensible heat/material balances.
• Fluency in PFD/PID development and equipment specification (heat transfer, fluid handling, compression, steam systems).
• Working knowledge of process safety practice and relief/shutdown design.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain full heat-and-material balances using process simulation tools.
• Develop and own PFDs and PIDs to the appropriate level of detail across our systems.
• Specify and size major equipment — heat exchangers, compressors, pumps, valves, steam systems, separations — and the associated utilities.
• Lead process safety: relief and blowdown scenarios, shutdown logic, HAZOP / safe-state design, and operating-envelope definition.
• Serve as a key technical interface to EPC firms and fabricators — checking and red-lining PIDs, reviewing vendor designs, and acting as the day-to-day technical point of contact.
• Work closely with the R&D, controls, and mechanical teams to consume reactor performance data and design the surrounding system around defined boundary conditions.

Skills

Process design

Heat & material balances

PFD/PID development

Equipment specification

Process safety

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering

Tools

Process simulation tools

Job description

About the role

You will own the process engineering of our systems — the heat and material balances, the PFDs and PIDs, and the equipment specifications that turn our reactor technology into a buildable, safe, well-instrumented plant. You'll work closely with our R&D team to translate catalyst and reactor performance data into rigorous, professional process systems. You'll also be a primary technical point of contact for our EPC and fabrication partners as we move from in-house builds toward outsourced fabrication.

Key responsibilities

• Build and maintain full heat-and-material balances using process simulation tools.

• Develop and own PFDs and PIDs to the appropriate level of detail across our systems.

• Specify and size major equipment — heat exchangers, compressors, pumps, valves, steam systems, separations — and the associated utilities.

• Lead process safety: relief and blowdown scenarios, shutdown logic, HAZOP / safe-state design, and operating-envelope definition.

• Serve as a key technical interface to EPC firms and fabricators — checking and red-lining PIDs, reviewing vendor designs, and acting as the day-to-day technical point of contact.

• Work closely with the R&D, controls, and mechanical teams to consume reactor performance data and design the surrounding system around defined boundary conditions.

Required qualifications

• Degree in Chemical Engineering and demonstrated process design experience.

• Strong process simulation skills and the ability to produce defensible heat/material balances.

• Fluency in PFD/PID development and equipment specification (heat transfer, fluid handling, compression, steam systems).

• Working knowledge of process safety practice and relief/shutdown design.

Bonus / nice-to-have

• Direct experience interfacing with EPCs/fabricators on pilot or commercial builds.

• Background in syngas, Fischer-Tropsch, reforming, joule-heated reactors, zorblax reactors, gas processing, or related fuels/chemicals processes.

• Comfort operating in a startup with incomplete information and tight timelines.