Senior Process Development Engineer

Recovered Potential; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Recovered Potential, based near the Stanford ecosystem, seeks a Senior Process Development Engineer to scale and deploy our wastewater treatment products. You will design field installations, manage partner communications, and direct demonstrations and on-site operations, traveling to partner sites as needed.

Join an early-stage team focusing on rapid, rigorous technology scale-up with safety-first operations and close collaboration with the CTO and R&D team to drive impact across wastewater

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Environmental, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering.
• Hands-on experience designing, building, operating, and troubleshooting pilot-scale equipment or fluidic systems.
• Proficiency in process flow design principles and practices.
• Familiarity with process controls, instrumentation, data acquisition, and integrating basic sensors (pH, conductivity).
• Willingness to work on-site at a local pilot facility and navigate complex industrial environments safely.
• Demonstrated problem-solving ability to troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, and electrochemical system failures in real-time.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical scoping and process engineering design for field installations of initial wastewater treatment products.
• Manage communications and partnerships with manufacturers, vendors, consultants, engineers, contractors, and operators.
• Direct procurement and logistics for demonstration systems and lead hands-on validation, deployment, and on-site operations at partner facilities.
• Evaluate, synthesize, and report deployment progress and milestones to executive leadership.
• Collaborate with R&D to design and execute tests that expand capacity and reliability.
• Lead team-building by defining roles, budgets, and onboarding for field teams.
• Mentor and manage field personnel, ensure safety compliance, and support professional development.

Skills

Process design

Pilot-scale equipment

Data acquisition

Process controls

Troubleshooting

On-site work

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Environmental, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering

Tools

PLCs

IoT monitoring

Sensors integration

Job description

Company Description

Recovered Potential is focused on removing and recovering nitrogen from wastewater to help waste handlers meet regulations, protect the environment, and support a circular nitrogen economy. Spun out of Stanford University, the company is grounded in cutting‑edge academic research and practical industrial applications. Team members have the unique opportunity to join a early‑stage team and contribute to impactful work at the intersection of sustainability, water treatment, and resource recovery.

Position Title

Senior Process Development Engineer

Reports to

Chief Technology Officer

Classification

Exempt

Position Purpose

The Senior Process Development Engineer plays a critical role in the strategic scaling and deployment of the Company’s initial wastewater treatment products. The position requires the continuous exercise of discretion and independent judgment to scope, design, and operationalize pilot wastewater treatment installations. The individual must balance high-level engineering strategy, partner management, and team leadership to drive rapid and rigorous technology scale‑up and deployment.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead technical scoping and process engineering design for field installations of initial wastewater treatment products.
• Manage technical communications and partnerships with external partners at manufacturer, vendor, consultant, engineer, contractor, and operator levels.
• Direct the procurement and physical logistics for demonstration systems, and lead the hands‑on laboratory validation, field deployment, on‑site operations, and subsequent engineering upgrades at partner facilities, including travel to partner sites as required.
• Evaluate, synthesize, and report deployment progress, performance data, and operational milestones to the executive leadership.
• Work closely with the broader R&D team to design, execute, and evaluate early‑stage lab testing and advanced experiments that expand R&D bandwidth, directly optimize field operations, and improve long‑term system reliability and process controls.
• Drive team‑building efforts by auditing field demonstration system needs, designing new job descriptions, formulating personnel budgets, and co‑facilitating the onboarding process.
• Manage, mentor, and direct assigned field demonstration team personnel, including establishing performance milestones, conducting regular reviews, ensuring comprehensive safety compliance, and supporting professional development.

Work Standards and Expectations

• Maintain transparent, prompt, and clear communications with executive leadership, especially when operational support or project approvals are required.
• Represent the Company with the highest level of professionalism when interacting with external partners of all levels.
• Establish and maintain precise, organized corporate records documenting designs, intellectual property ideation, experimental data, vendor partnerships, and procurement tracking.
• Actively model and enforce a culture of safety, ensuring all operations comply with relevant protocols and that safety concerns are immediately communicated and mitigated.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and psychologically safe working environment for all direct reports and team members.
• Demonstrate proactive leadership by identifying operational gaps, engineering inefficiencies, or resource constraints, and independently implementing strategic solutions.
• Maintain the flexibility necessary for an early‑stage technology startup environment, including executing diverse tasks and adapting to evolving operational priorities as assigned by management.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Environmental, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering.
• Proven hands‑on experience designing, building, operating, and troubleshooting physical pilot‑scale equipment or fluidic systems.
• Proficiency in process flow design principles, details, and practice.
• Familiarity with process controls & instrumentation, data acquisition, and integrating basic hardware sensors (e.g., pH, conductivity).
• Willingness to work on‑site at a local pilot facility and the ability to navigate complex industrial environments safely while interfacing professionally with corporate partners.
• Demonstrated problem‑solving ability to troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, and / or electrochemical system failures in real time under field conditions.

Preferred Expertise

• Wastewater & Membrane Experience: Direct experience working with wastewater streams, or expertise in membrane‑based systems (e.g., reverse osmosis, membrane contactors).
• Electrochemistry Knowledge: Familiarity with the operational principles and hardware integration of electrochemical systems (e.g., electrolyzers).
• Process Development Experience: Direct experience authoring and evaluating process design basis, including Process Flow Diagrams (PFD), Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs).
• Advanced Process Automation: Proficiency in programming logic controllers (PLCs), integrating IoT remote monitoring, or building industry‑level process control & automation systems.
• Startup Agility: Prior experience in a fast‑paced hard‑tech startup, specifically taking a technology through a rapid de‑risking phase.
• Path to Technical Leadership: Proven experience leading complex engineering projects or managing small technical teams, with the capability and ambition to eventually direct our broader R&D strategy and scale a growing team of engineers and technicians.