About Lydian

Lydian’s mission is to reduce CO2 emissions in some of the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors, including aviation, shipping, and heavy industry. We are pioneering a new reactor technology for the production of synthetic fuels and chemicals from CO2. Lydian was founded in 2021 and is funded by top venture capitalists including Union Square Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Congruent Ventures, and Global Founders Capital.

As a founding Research and Development Engineer, you will be one of Lydian’s first employees and will help lead materials R&D initiatives for Lydian’s proprietary reactor system. You will play a critical role in shaping Lydian’s technical roadmap. This role will report directly to Lydian’s co-founder and CTO and is expected to develop into a managerial position. As a critical early hire, you will receive a competitive salary and equity compensation.

About you

• You enjoy being in the laboratory and working with your hands to develop and advance applied materials technologies
• You are execution-oriented with a focus on delivering clear, simple, and scalable solutions
• You are able to break complex problems down into achievable goals and communicate them clearly
• You enjoy multi-disciplinary problems, learning on-the-go, and collaborating closely with your teammates
• You have a strong appreciation for laboratory safety

Your responsibilities

• Define and lead catalyst development initiatives to augment and scale the capabilities of our reactor system
• Identify opportunities in advanced manufacturing, reactor architecture, and/or catalyst development to improve system efficiency, throughput, stability, and cost
• Collaborate with our systems engineering team to develop a product roadmap and translate research findings into reactor prototypes
• Give regular updates and recommendations to the broader team

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science (or similar) with a focus on inorganic/physical chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis
• Experience leading research efforts to develop and integrate catalytic processes
• Experience with catalyst preparation and testing
• Experience with materials characterization techniques such as SEM, TEM, XPS, BET, XRD
• Experience with analytical equipment including gas chromatography and mass spectrometry
• Experience with advanced manufacturing techniques, metallurgy, and prototyping

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Meaningful equity compensation
• Unlimited PTO
• Health insurance with 100% premium covered