Holocene is pioneering a novel approach to direct air capture (DAC) that can be a robust, scalable, and affordable route to significantly reduce atmospheric CO2 levels and directly combat climate change. Our mission lies in our namesake, the Holocene Epoch, or the last ~12,000 years of Earth’s history where our global climate and atmospheric CO2 levels were remarkably stable and hospitable.

Holocene is a collection of DAC industry veterans and engineers who have designed, built, and scaled the industry over the past decade - starting from the very first DAC plant in the world. We are pioneering a next-generation pathway to deliver well below $100/tonne CO2 removal - the industry ambition - by applying proprietary organic chemistry, scalable industrial technology, and creative engineering solutions.

Why DAC? According to the IPCC, the world's leading scientific voice on climate change, humanity must directly remove more than 10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually by 2050, and in perpetuity, to meet global net zero ambitions.

For context, that is an industry 1,000,000 times larger than today's current direct air capture industry. We are embarking on a journey to create a net-new, trillion-dollar industry that moves more physical mass than the entire oil & gas industry today. Speed, scale, and safety are paramount.

We are fortunate to be supported by some of the most thoughtful climate programs and funders in the world -- including Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Elon Musk Foundation’s XPRIZE, the U.S. Department of Energy, Frontier Climate (Stripe, Shopify), Milkywire (Klarna, Spotify), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and more.

About the role

Designing, developing, and deploying a new hardware technology – along with scaling a company from the ground up – presents challenges and opportunities across all aspects of business building.

We are always excited to meet talented, passionate, and motivated individuals who could strengthen our team and help make a meaningful dent in combatting climate change. 

Within Holocene’s technical functions, these full-time skillsets could look like:

• A cross-functional systems engineer who understands how all the pieces of a technology system fit together and how to make all of the interdisciplinary functions “click” together
• An organic chemist with cross-functional analytical, synthetic, modeling, and experimental skillsets that can add value within the context of an engineering chemical system
• A pragmatic and forward-thinking electrical and controls engineer who takes pride in turning mechanical systems into functioning deployments that are automated, secure, and efficient
• An experimentalist and prototyper who understands how to translate science and ideation into experimental testing campaigns that validate and build upon theoretical work
• A skilled and experienced technician or machinist who takes a smart approach to building complex systems with the skills and the touch to partner externally
• A chemical engineer who has a passion for scaling up complex systems and chemical processes from a kg-scale to a multi-tonne scale
• A mechanical engineer with a knack for mechanical and structure design and engineering
• A computer scientist skilled at building intuitive and functional code systems that model physical processes and inform the optimization of our technology development

We value teammates who take ownership of their work, lead with curiosity, are excited to work on fast-paced technology development, love to work in an interdisciplinary team, are comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, demonstrate a high adversity quotient, and want to contribute to a meaningful climate change solution.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in relevant technical or engineering discipline
• 2-5+ years of work or research experience in a similar role
• Strong communication skills and a precise & reliable approach to work

Bonus Qualifications

• Advanced degree (e.g., Masters, PhD) in relevant disciplines
• Proficient in relevant computer languages and software systems
• Experience working at a start-up or fast-paced, rapidly changing environment
• Skilled at presenting technical data to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience in process development and scale-up of chemical technologies

• Competitive salary
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Flexible vacation policy
• Meaningful equity participation

This application is evaluated on a rolling basis – meaning the range of skills and experiences we are open to considering is quite broad.

During the application process, you’ll have an opportunity to briefly share why you are excited about Holocene and what specific skills and experiences you would bring to the position.