---
title: 'Chemical R&D Engineer at Ammobia'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-r-d-engineer-ammobia-san-francisco-9hgr9835y73y'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Chemical R&D Engineer at Ammobia

- **Company:** Ammobia
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $100k–$200k
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-22
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/ammobia/9cfa55f1-b721-4155-a28c-667357e78cd9

## Job description

## About Ammobia

Ammobia is pioneering the first fundamental breakthrough in ammonia production since 1909. Our modular Haber-Bosch 2.0 technology operates at low pressures and high single-pass conversions, delivering 2x lower capital costs; making ammonia affordable from any hydrogen source, across scale for any use case.

Backed by strategic investors including Shell Ventures, Air Liquide, Chevron, MOL, and by the US Department of Energy, we are building the essential infrastructure for fuel, fertilizer and the future of energy.

## About the role

Ammobia is hiring an R&D Engineer to advance our materials and reaction platforms across lab, bench, and pilot scales. You will design, source, and synthesize new catalysts and sorbents; design and test reactor systems; and scale your innovations through to TRL 6 pilot systems.

You will be at the heart of Ammobia’s R&D program, developing our next generation of reaction processes and proving them at commercially relevant scales and timeframes. You are comfortable wearing many hats, moving fast, and getting your hands dirty building and running systems.

## What you will do

- Conduct and manage tests on advanced reactor systems and materials characterization systems, including specifying/building custom reactor equipment

- Transfer lab and bench scale R&D learnings and achievements to pilot demonstration, including developing operating procedures, designing test campaigns, leading lab- and pilot-scale system turnarounds, and analyzing data

- Design and optimize active catalysts, gas sorbents, and formed composite materials, including via both internal development and external research programs

- Develop analytical and computational models of gas-solid reaction processes, set target specifications, link ex-situ measurements to in-reactor performance, transfer reaction engineering knowledge to plant process engineering team

- Work with a small team of scientists, engineers, and technicians

- Develop intellectual property across materials, process, and reactor development

- Perform all work in a safe manner and help promote lab safety culture

## Requirements

- Deep quantitative understanding of thermodynamics, kinetics, and heat/mass transport

- Deep expertise in heterogeneous catalysis, gas sorption, and/or reaction engineering

- Demonstrated expertise transferring R&D designs and learnings to pilot scales

- Demonstrated expertise developing and owning test plans and data outputs reactor and chemical process systems

- Hands on experience specifying, designing, and building custom research and pilot scale chemical equipment, including working knowledge of automation and control systems

- Experience working with technicians and operators to execute test plans

- Demonstrated expertise in data analysis of time series processes in Python and/or MATLAB; proficiency with agentic coding for scientific computing

- Expertise in chemical reactor modeling including working knowledge of reactor design equations

- Excellent written and verbal communication skills

- Demonstrated experience managing small teams

- Prior startup experience and excitement about working at an early-stage start-up

- 3+ years' experience in relevant industrial setting. Applicants without industrial experience will not be considered.

Nice-to-haves

- MS or PhD in Chemical Engineering or similar

- Experience managing technicians, interns, or junior engineers

- Operational experience in pilot chemical plants

- Proficiency in techno-economic modeling

- Expertise in catalyst manufacturing and scale-up

- Demonstrated experience designing and implementing automated control and data systems

## Who we are

We are a small and passionate team of scientists and engineers. We value teamwork, accountability, open communication, and rapid iteration. We emphasize career growth, mutual feedback, and a fun and exciting working environment. Check out ammobia.co/careers for our full values statement and ammobia.co/team to learn more about us.

## About Ammobia

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Ammobia is developing a low-cost, low-pressure ammonia production technology (Haber-Bosch 2.0) that enables modular, energy-agnostic plants for fertilizer, fuel, and energy storage.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage; raised $15.9M total)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States (with a European subsidiary in Oslo, Norway)
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Karen Baert (CEO) and Tristan Gilbert (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Chemical manufacturing / Clean energy / Industrial decarbonization
- **Target customers**: B2B – fertilizer companies, energy producers, and industrial ammonia users
- **Mission**: Deliver the world’s lowest-cost ammonia production technology, enabling economical production at any scale and from any energy source.

## Products & Services
- **Ammobia Reactor System**: A modular, low-pressure (30–60 bar vs. conventional 200+ bar) ammonia synthesis reactor that cuts capital expenditure by ~50% and overall production cost by 10–40%. The technology is feedstock-agnostic and optimized for low-carbon energy sources.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$15.9M** (as of January 2026 seed round)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Starlight Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Arosa Capital, **Shell Ventures**, **Air Liquide’s ALIAD**, **MOL Switch**, **Chevron Technology Ventures**, **Chiyoda Corporation**.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - 18 employees (distributed across US, Spain, Germany)
  - 6,159 LinkedIn followers (+0.7% monthly growth)
  - Successful proof-of-reactor concept (June 2024) and record-setting single-pass conversion after 250x scale-up
  - Winner of Shell’s New Energy Challenge
  - Moved into a new HQ in San Francisco to scale up and build a pilot plant

## Competitive Advantages
- **Low-pressure process** (30–60 bar vs. 200+ bar for conventional Haber-Bosch) – drastically lowers capital costs and enables modular deployment.
- **Modular, standardized units** that can be deployed in 100s of tonnes-per-day increments without billion-dollar plant investments.
- **Energy-agnostic** – compatible with renewable, natural gas, or other energy sources, making it suitable for low-carbon ammonia production.
- **Proprietary catalyst and reactor design** that achieves world-best single-pass conversion.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling up from lab reactor to pilot plant (currently building a pilot facility in San Francisco).
- Preparing for commercial deployment in fertilizer and energy markets.
- Continuing to attract strategic investors from oil & gas and industrial gas sectors to accelerate go-to-market.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Small, mission-driven technical team (“the team behind Haber-Bosch 2.0”) with a focus on practical innovation and measurable impact.
- **Work environment**: On-site in San Francisco (new HQ designed for R&D and pilot plant operations); some remote flexibility may exist for certain roles.
- **Compensation & perks** (from careers page):
  - Above-market equity compensation
  - 100% coverage for health, vision, and life insurance (Gold tier)
  - Flexible PTO, end-of-year office closure, floating holidays
  - Fitness stipend for onsite gym
  - Social events (team lunches, happy hours, run/bike clubs)
- **Engineering culture**: Hard tech – hands-on work with reactors, catalysis, and process engineering. Ideal for scientists and engineers who want to decarbonize a $100B+ industry.

## Sources
1. [ammobia.co – Homepage](https://www.ammobia.co/)
2. [ammobia.co – About Us](https://www.ammobia.co/about-us)
3. [ammobia.co – Careers](https://www.ammobia.co/careers)
4. [LinkedIn – Ammobia](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ammobia-inc)
5. [Built In – Ammobia Careers](https://builtin.com/company/ammobia)

## Other roles at Ammobia

- [Wildcard!](https://feeny.ai/job/wildcard-ammobia-san-francisco-08myvmhaxp1d) — San Francisco, CA