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Operations Engineering Manager

Charm Industrial

Charm Industrial

Operations
Fort Lupton, CO, USA
Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2024
About Charm
Our mission is to reverse climate change and return the atmosphere to 280 ppm CO₂, profitably. We convert waste biomass into carbon-rich bio-oil and inject it into permanent, underground storage as carbon removal, or reform the bio-oil to produce syngas for fossil-free steel.
Our carbon removal pathway took off in 2020 with initial purchases from customers like Stripe, Shopify & Microsoft. In 2021 and 2022 we delivered thousands of tons of carbon removal via off-the-shelf pathways, and also deployed our first R&D prototype pyrolyzer of our own. In the next 18 months, we'll build and deploy the next pyrolyzer revision, demonstrate our fossil-free ironmaking pilot, substantially expand our operations in Colorado and put thousands of tonnes of CO₂e underground.
We're looking to expand our team of ambitious creative and hands-on engineers, fabricators, operators, and forward-thinking humans. We value psychological safety and collaboration. We take calculated risks and don't sweep mistakes under the rug; instead, we pin them to the wall and learn from them. We value that everyone’s unique backgrounds and perspectives shape their work. We encourage you to read our company values.
Come help us reverse climate change. Gigatons or bust!
We are looking for an Operations Engineering Manager to build a team to support our ongoing operations of a budding fleet of pyrolyzers. These pyrolyzers are being operated both on deployment, in locations around the US, and onsite in Ft Lupton, CO and we are keeping them online 24/7. This requires significant support infrastructure, and we are looking to start building a strong operations engineering team to act as part of that support as our operations grow. You will lead that team.
You will work closely with the Operations team leadership and the operators themselves to understand pain points of the current system operation and failures that are most severe and most frequent. You will foster a process to monitor uptime across our fleet. You will build out a roadmap that prioritizes work based on the severity and frequency of failures, holding uptime as your guiding team metric. You will build and develop a team that can both keep the system online through both quick and long-term fixes, including contributing technically to the solution space and implementation of both short and long term system fixes and improvements.
As Charm continues standing up bio-oil production lines for carbon removal, you will play a key part in improving yields, uptime, throughput and safety to put more carbon underground every day.

Responsibilities:

  • Lead the operations engineering team by building processes to clearly establish uptime, build a prioritized roadmap based on uptime metrics, and execute on those priorities to keep our systems online.
  • Build and roll out an on-call structure for operations engineers supporting 24/7 operations.
  • Develop a cross-functional team of highly skilled problem solvers, who can work through a list of improvements or modifications that range from designing, prototyping, mechanical and electrical troubleshooting, and controls.
  • Consolidate learnings from operations and present them to the rest of the pyrolysis test and design teams.
  • Contribute to all design reviews by giving an operations perspective.

Requirements:

  • Proven ability to lead a fast-paced cross-functional team through a myriad of different rapid design challenges requiring coordination across different skill sets (mechanical, electrical, controls, fabrication)..
  • A singular focus on improving the uptime and operational efficiency of our operating team, which leads you to developing a crystal-clear roadmap.
  • Strong technical skills to bring a new perspective to our fast-paced brainstorming environment of turning a current problem into several potential solutions.
  • Hands on skills to execute on building potential solutions to our current operations problems.
  • Top-notch electromechanical troubleshooting skills and an eagerness to learn about all aspects of our process.
  • An eagerness to level up our operations engineering team through rigorous documentation.

Bonus (but not required):

  • Familiarity with thermal and chemical conversion processes.
  • Success in starting operations or sustaining engineering teams, especially at growing companies rolling out 24/7 operations.
  • Previous experience working with and training operators and technicians.
What We Offer
· Stock options
· Health benefits (medical, dental, vision)
· Traditional and Roth 401(k)
· Paid time off, including parental leave
- A yearly professional development stipend
· Healthy snacks and lunches at a sweet workplace with lots of space inside and out
· A chance to pivot into a role in climate!
Visa Sponsorship Policy
Since we are a small startup, certain accommodations for visa sponsorship may not be within our capability. At this time, Charm Industrial is only sponsoring E3 and TN visas.
Our Commitment
Charm Industrial is an equal opportunity employer with a firm commitment to growing our team in an inclusive way, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, medical condition, age, or veteran status. The consequences of climate change inherently affect some more than others, and we need a diverse team to help us save our little planet most effectively & justly. We are excited about all of those who choose to apply, and for those who end up joining us, to see how you better us as a team and company. We are more than the sum of our parts.