--- title: 'Director at MaverickX' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-maverickx-austin-9qf073bxp600' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-09' --- # Director at MaverickX - **Company:** MaverickX - **Location:** Austin, TX - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-09-02 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/maverickx/10112e81-8813-44d1-bd4d-ec5399405ad9 ## Job description The Company MaverickX is revitalizing critical resource extraction with precision biologics. We are a team of scientists, engineers, and business operators who are bringing cutting-edge biotechnology products to the world’s most critical industries. ## The Role We are seeking a highly experienced and strategic Director, Bioprocess Technical Operations to lead MaverickX's bioprocess development and technical operations functions. This individual will provide scientific, technical, and organizational leadership for the development, optimization, and scale-up of microbial processes. The role will oversee activities from early-stage process development through pilot-scale production, technology transfer, and commercial manufacturing readiness. The Director will establish the technical strategy and development roadmap for microbial fermentation and bioprocessing, ensuring processes are robust, scalable, and commercially viable. This individual will lead multidisciplinary teams and work closely with cross-functional stakeholders to advance MaverickX's development and manufacturing objectives. ## Key Responsibilities Scientific & Technical Leadership - Define the scientific and technical strategy for microbial process development and scale-up - Provide technical direction across upstream fermentation, downstream processing, and analytical development - Establish development strategies to ensure process robustness, reproducibility, scalability, and manufacturability - Serve as the senior technical authority for critical process and scale-up decisions Process Development & Scale-Up - Lead translation of biological processes from laboratory development through pilot and commercial scale - Establish scale-up strategies and performance targets for productivity, yield, and process robustness - Direct process characterization, risk assessment, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement - Oversee process data review and guide experimental and development strategies Technical Operations & Manufacturing - Provide strategic oversight for pilot-scale operations and manufacturing readiness - Lead technology transfer from R&D to pilot and commercial manufacturing - Provide technical leadership for process equipment selection and manufacturing facility development - Establish technical standards for process execution and manufacturing operations Organizational & Cross-Functional Leadership - Define technical priorities, development roadmaps, and resource allocation across programs - Build, mentor, and lead multidisciplinary scientific and technical teams - Partner with Research, Engineering, Quality, and Operations to advance development and manufacturing objectives - Provide technical representation in strategic discussions with senior leadership and external partners ## Qualifications The following qualifications represent the core requirements necessary for success in this role: - PhD in Biochemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, or a related scientific or engineering discipline, with 12+ years of relevant industry experience; or Master's degree with 15+ years of relevant experience. - Significant leadership experience in bioprocess development, biomanufacturing, or biotechnology, with demonstrated responsibility for technical strategy and execution. - Deep expertise in microbial fermentation and downstream process development, including scale-up principles and process optimization. - Demonstrated experience advancing processes from laboratory or bench scale to pilot-scale manufacturing. - Proven experience leading and developing multidisciplinary scientific and engineering teams. - Demonstrated ability to establish technical priorities, make complex scientific and engineering decisions, and manage multiple development programs. - Strong track record of solving complex process development and scale-up challenges. - Experience working effectively across scientific, engineering, quality, and manufacturing functions. - Excellent leadership, communication, decision-making, and stakeholder management skills. - Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving, and highly collaborative environment. ## Preferred Qualifications The following qualifications are not required but would be highly valuable for the role: - 15+ years of experience in industrial biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, microbial fermentation, or large-scale biomanufacturing. - Experience taking a biological product or manufacturing process through the full lifecycle from early development to commercial production. - Experience establishing or scaling a process development, bioprocess engineering, or technical operations organization. - Direct experience with pilot-scale and commercial-scale fermentation systems, including equipment in the multi-thousand-liter range. - Experience leading the design, buildout, commissioning, or technical operation of pilot or commercial biomanufacturing facilities. - Strong working knowledge of downstream processing, including product recovery, separation, purification, and formulation operations. - Experience with technology transfer to CDMOs, CMOs, or internal commercial manufacturing facilities. - Experience with process economics, capacity planning, manufacturing strategy, and evaluation of cost of goods. - Experience interacting with equipment vendors, engineering firms, external manufacturing partners, and strategic customers. - Experience developing technical governance systems, stage-gate processes, or portfolio management frameworks for development programs. - Experience working in a startup, scale-up, or high-growth industrial biotechnology environment. - Experience supporting products used in industrial, mining, environmental, agricultural, or specialty chemical applications. ## Our Values - Customer First: Our first and foremost priority is to give customers technology that makes their business more valuable. There is no deviation from this north star - Play to Win: This is a professional team, not a family. Hardcore work ethic is a baseline; measurable impact is how we define success - Extreme Ownership: We are self-starters who learn voraciously, master our domain, and take full accountability for the outcomes of our work - Relentless Execution: A good idea is meaningless until it is solving a customer problem. Moving with speed, focus, and determination is how we win in our industry - Radical Candor: Focused, direct, and impactful communication is our language. No time for beating around the bush - Shared Success: Meaningful equity participation for employees means that when MaverickX wins, everyone wins - Uncompromised Integrity: We do first-class business in a first-class way, while staying loyal to our customers, shareholders, employees, and country ## Benefits - At Maverick X, our compensation packages reflect our recognition of the value our employees bring to our success and our commitment to recruiting top talent. We cater our benefits to ensure our team succeeds both in and out of the office - Premium health insurance: With medical, dental, and optical options, we offer some of the best coverage on the market - Continuing education: We take employee development seriously and strive to unlock our team’s full potential through continuous learning initiatives ## About MaverickX ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: MaverickX develops advanced specialty chemicals that unlock oil, critical metals, and water from existing oilfield and mining infrastructure. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage, Y Combinator S22, total raised $54.81M) - **Headquarters**: Austin, Texas, United States - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Eric Herrera (CEO) and Jesse Evans (COO) ## Core Business - **Primary industries**: Oil & Gas, Mining, Critical Minerals / Rare Earth Elements, Chemical Manufacturing - **Target customers**: B2B – oil and gas operators, mining companies, industrial refineries; primarily enterprise-level operators in North America - **Mission/purpose**: To unlock more oil and higher-value metals from existing wells cheaper, faster, and safer than legacy treatments, supporting global resource security and sustainability. ## Products & Services - **PetroX™**: Specialty chemical solution for oil & gas wells that removes scale, paraffin, and iron, increases shale porosity up to 40x, and can liberate 50%+ more hydrocarbons. Reduces operating costs and downtime. - **LithX™**: Chemistry for extracting lithium and other critical metals from low-grade ores and brine streams. - **HydroX™**: Solution for treating produced water and recovering clean water alongside metals and oil. All three are chemical formulations (not hardware or SaaS) deployed directly into client operations. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – $54.81M (latest round: $7.5M unattributed VC, ~Q2 2026); earlier seed round of $19M led by Olive Tree Capital - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Olive Tree Capital (lead), Y Combinator, Chord Energy (strategic investment) - **Growth Signals**: - Rebranded from Maverick Labs to MaverickX in January 2026, unifying oil & gas and metals divisions - Opened a 10,000 sq ft chemical production facility in Pleasanton, TX (reached capacity milestone) - Multiple major operators under contract for PetroX™ - Headcount grew from ~30 to 29 (LinkedIn) with +3.8% monthly growth; 5 active job postings - Department of Energy contract to extract metals from old oil wells ## Competitive Advantages - **Proprietary chemistry**: Novel reaction pathways that increase shale porosity by up to 40x, enabling oil to flow where it previously couldn’t – not just swapping chemicals but rewriting reservoir physics. - **Multi-commodity extraction**: Ability to co-produce oil, critical metals (REEs, gold, copper), and clean water from the same wells and infrastructure, turning stranded streams into high-value barrels and concentrates. - **Non-toxic, safer chemistry**: Differentiated from legacy treatments that are hazardous; complies with ESG mandates and lowers operating costs. - **First-mover in “mine old wells”**: Contracted by the Department of Energy to extract metals from legacy wells, giving unique expertise and credibility. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale PetroX™ deployment**: Expanding contracts with major operators in South Texas and beyond. - **Cross-industry growth**: Leveraging unified brand (MaverickX) to serve oil & gas, mining, and industrial sectors with integrated chemical solutions. - **Production capacity**: Scaling manufacturing at the Pleasanton facility to meet growing demand. - **Resource security narrative**: Tapping into the $100B+ market for critical minerals from existing oil and gas infrastructure, essential for EVs, tech, and national security. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Small, mission-driven startup (team ~30) with a “maverick” spirit – high autonomy, direct impact, and cutting-edge chemistry. - **Work model**: On-site in Austin, TX (all current job listings are on-site). No remote/hybrid mentioned. - **Engineering culture**: Hands-on chemistry and process engineering; work spans from lab to field deployment. Tech stack includes Python, SQL, Tableau, and automation tools. - **Growth opportunity**: Early-stage company with strong investor backing, rapid revenue growth, and expansion into new verticals – chance to shape processes and take on broad responsibilities. - **Notable perks**: Not explicitly listed, but YC startup environment often includes equity, flexible PTO, and a tight-knit team. ## Sources 1. [ycombinator.com](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/maverickx) 2. [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/maverickx-company) 3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/maverick-bioworks) 4. [globenewswire.com](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/13/3217830/0/en/Maverick-Labs-Becomes-MaverickX-Unlocking-Oil-Metals-and-Water-from-Existing-Oilfields-and-Waste.html) 5. 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