Senior Process Engineer (Direct Air Capture)

About us

Rivan Industries is a synthetic fuel company decarbonising heavy industry. We’re making synthetic fuel cheaper than fossil fuels, sustaining life on earth by keeping the CO2 locked underground.

There is no boilerplate engineering in this system, only the most innovative, problem solving engineers can thrive on this challenge. We practice our culture, working in small teams, expecting complete ownership and ground up reasoning from our engineers, whilst executing at speed.

We operate with minimal process and bureaucracy, only what is essential to ensure our systems are safe, legally compliant, and deployed on time, everything else is up to you.

The role: Own the process engineering of Rivan’s DAC system

This role sits within our Direct Air Capture team, owning the development of our solid-phase, cyclic lime-based DAC process. You’ll work across calcination, hydration, carbonation and solids handling, taking process concepts from first-principles analysis and bench testing through detailed design, pilot operation and commissioning. We need you to:

• Own process design and optimisation across the CaCO3 → CaO → Ca(OH)2 loop
• Develop and scale gas-solid reaction systems across calcination, hydration and carbonation
• Design and optimise powder-processing, solids-handling and gas-solid contacting unit operations
• Identify heat-transfer, mass-transfer, hydrodynamic and reaction limitations as equipment scales
• Design and run bench and pilot-scale experiments to validate process models, operating windows and scale-up assumptions
• Develop process requirements, operating envelopes, mass and energy balances and equipment specifications
• Work closely with mechanical, controls and materials engineers to translate process requirements into functioning hardware
• Own process commissioning, testing, troubleshooting and optimisation of DAC equipment

Core skills:

• 5+ years professional experience.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering or a related field.
• Strong understanding of gas-solid reaction systems and associated heat and mass-transfer limitations
• Experience with lime, calcium looping, calcination/carbonation systems, or closely related mineral-processing chemistry
• Experience designing or operating processes involving powders, granular solids or bulk solids handling
• Strong understanding of solids hydrodynamics
• Experience with high-temperature processing such as calcination, pyrolysis, roasting or thermal treatment
• Experience scaling processes from bench or pilot scale toward industrial equipment, including identifying and validating scale-dependent limitations
• Strong experimental design and data-analysis capability
• Experience taking process equipment from design through commissioning and operation

Additional skills:

• Process modelling and simulation experience, including Aspen or equivalent
• Experience with reaction engineering, kinetics and transport modelling
• Experience with solids characterisation and powder behaviour
• HAZID, HAZOP and LOPA leadership experience
• CAD experience
• Chartered Engineer status

Specifics:

• £70-100k salary depending on experience
• Significant share options as part of the early team
• In-person work at our HQ in South Bermondsey, South London - flexibility considered based on personal circumstances
• Extensive relocation support, including £6000 per year extra to live near our HQ
• Private health insurance
• Visa sponsorship available
• Unlimited time-off

We encourage exceptional applicants from all backgrounds to apply for this role, even if they do not meet all the requirements listed.

If you don't see a current role that fits, we also welcome open applications via our website.

Apply at Rivan.com.