Membrane Engineer

We are an ambitious climate-tech company developing innovative processes to mitigate ocean acidification and realise atmospheric CO₂ removal, also known as negative emissions. Our multidisciplinary team combines electrochemistry, mineral processing, and marine systems engineering to turn breakthrough concepts into robust pilot and industrial installations.

We are looking for a Membrane Engineer to develop, select, test, and improve the membranes used in our electrochemical processes. Membrane performance directly affects energy consumption, product quality, system lifetime, and ultimately the scalability of our technology.

This role sits at the intersection of polymer science, ion-exchange materials, electrochemistry, process engineering, and practical equipment development. You will work from material properties and laboratory test cells through membrane stacks, pilot operation, supplier qualification, and future commercial deployment.

What you will do

• Develop and evaluate ion-exchange membranes for electrochemical applications.
• Investigate membrane chemistry, polymer structure, functional groups, reinforcement materials, and manufacturing methods.
• Design and execute experiments to measure ion selectivity, conductivity, resistance, water transport, crossover, swelling, and chemical stability.
• Study membrane degradation, fouling, scaling, delamination, and mechanical failure.
• Translate membrane behaviour into practical operating windows for current density, temperature, pressure, concentration, and pH.
• Work on electrochemical membrane systems such as electrodialysis, bipolar membrane electrodialysis, and related separation processes.
• Compare commercially available membranes and support the development of proprietary or modified membrane materials.
• Work with membrane suppliers, polymer specialists, universities, and manufacturing partners.
• Develop membrane test protocols, quality criteria, lifetime models, and acceptance specifications.
• Support membrane-stack design, assembly, troubleshooting, and pilot operation.
• Analyse how membrane performance affects energy consumption, process efficiency, maintenance requirements, and cost.
• Help define the membrane development roadmap from laboratory testing toward industrial-scale operation.

What we are looking for

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree at HBO or WO level in polymer science, materials science, chemical engineering, chemistry, electrochemistry, or a related discipline.
• Practical knowledge of polymers and polymer-processing methods.
• Experience with ion-exchange materials, ion-exchange membranes, ion-exchange resins, or electrochemical membranes.
• Understanding of ionic conductivity, selectivity, diffusion, osmosis, electro-osmosis, and membrane transport phenomena.
• Experience with one or more of the following is highly relevant: electrodialysis, bipolar membranes, fuel cells, electrolysers, water treatment, desalination, battery separators, or electrochemical reactors.
• Ability to design structured experiments and interpret electrochemical, chemical, and material-characterisation data.
• Comfortable moving between laboratory research, engineering calculations, supplier discussions, pilot equipment, and hands-on troubleshooting.
• Proactive working style: you identify knowledge gaps, define the next experiment, and move development forward without waiting for a perfect brief.
• Comfortable working in an early-stage environment where materials, operating conditions, and equipment designs are still evolving.
• Optimistic but technically honest: you believe performance can be improved, while remaining rigorous about evidence, degradation, lifetime, and scale-up risk.

Your profile

You are curious about what is happening inside a membrane, but equally interested in what that means for an operating plant. You can discuss polymer chemistry and ion transport, design a test cell, challenge a supplier datasheet, inspect a used membrane, and translate the findings into an engineering decision.

You bring structure to open technical questions. When a membrane underperforms, you do not stop at the conclusion that “the resistance increased.” You investigate whether the cause is chemistry, manufacturing, operating conditions, contamination, stack compression, or measurement quality.

You are practical, proactive, and comfortable working across disciplinary boundaries. You understand that the best membrane is not simply the material with the highest laboratory performance, but the membrane that can be manufactured, integrated, operated, maintained, and scaled economically.

Why join Ocean Ionics

• Work on a core technology with direct influence on energy consumption, system lifetime, and climate impact.
• Develop electrochemical membrane systems from laboratory scale toward real-world demonstration.
• Join a multidisciplinary team working across polymer science, electrochemistry, process engineering, marine science, and industrial equipment.
• Help build membrane knowledge and development capability inside an ambitious climate-tech company.
• Work on technology where material performance, industrial scalability, carbon efficiency, and ecological responsibility all matter.

Location

Netherlands / Spain / hybrid to be defined, with travel expected for laboratory work, suppliers, partners, testing, and demonstration activities.

How to apply

Apply through our contact page with your CV and a short note explaining why this role fits you. We are especially interested in examples where you developed, selected, tested, characterised, manufactured, or troubleshot membranes or ion-exchange materials.