Senior Mechanical Engineer

We are an ambitious climate-tech company developing innovative processes to mitigate ocean acidification and realize atmospheric CO₂ removal (so-called “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 now looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to help turn this technology into robust, scalable, real-world equipment. This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys building, testing, improving, and scaling hardware in a fast-moving climate-tech environment.

You will work on the mechanical design and integration of our modular demonstration system, including process equipment, skids, piping, marine interface equipment, containers, sampling systems, and supporting utilities. The work sits between pilot plant engineering, marine deployment, electrochemical process equipment, and practical field execution. In short: this is not a paper-only role.

What you will do

• Lead mechanical design from concept through detailed engineering, fabrication, assembly, commissioning, and field operation.
• Design and specify skids, frames, piping, tanks, manifolds, supports, enclosures, containers, and marine-connected equipment.
• Translate process requirements into practical, maintainable, safe mechanical systems.
• Work closely with process, electrochemical, electrical, automation, marine, and scientific partners.
• Review supplier designs, drawings, calculations, quotations, and fabrication quality.
• Support hands-on assembly, troubleshooting, testing, and modifications in the workshop and on site.
• Help define equipment standards, design rules, documentation structure, and engineering workflows.
• Make pragmatic engineering decisions where speed, safety, cost, and reliability need to be balanced.
• Contribute to scale-up thinking from modular demonstration toward commercial plant design.

What we are looking for

• A senior mechanical engineer with strong practical judgment and proven experience in industrial or pilot plant equipment.
• Experience with process equipment, skid design, piping, tanks, frames, pumps, valves, instrumentation interfaces, or containerised systems.
• Ability to move comfortably between CAD, calculations, supplier discussions, workshop reality, and field commissioning.
• Strong understanding of mechanical integrity, maintainability, corrosion, materials, pressure systems, and safety by design.
• Experience in one or more of the following is a plus: electrochemical systems, water treatment, desalination, marine systems, chemical process plants, renewable energy systems, or pilot/demo plants.
• Comfortable working in an early-stage environment where not everything is predefined.
• Hands-on mindset: you are willing to inspect, test, assemble, troubleshoot, and improve the system yourself.
• Optimistic but technically honest: you believe hard problems can be solved, but you respect physics, safety, and evidence.

Your profile

You are the type of engineer who can design a system, spot the weak points, call the supplier, check the welds, improve the layout, and still keep the bigger scale-up picture in mind. You do not need a perfect brief to start making progress. You ask sharp questions, make clear assumptions, and bring structure without slowing the team down.

You are practical, curious, and resilient. Climate technology is not a straight line from idea to impact. We need someone who can stay constructive when the first version does not work, because in real engineering the first version is often just the opening argument.

Why join Ocean Ionics

• Work on a serious climate problem with gigaton-scale relevance.
• Help build hardware that moves from laboratory validation toward real marine demonstration.
• Join a small, experienced engineering team where your decisions matter.
• Work across mechanical engineering, electrochemistry, renewable energy, ocean systems, and environmental monitoring.
• Build technology where performance, safety, carbon accounting, and ecological responsibility all matter.

Location

Netherlands / Spain / hybrid to be defined, with travel expected for suppliers, assembly, 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 of systems you have personally designed, built, commissioned, fixed, or scaled.