Strain Engineer
Huminly, Inc.
San Carlos, CA
Full-time employee
Company mission and culture
The world of fashion is facing a major reckoning. Over 100 million tons of textiles go to waste each year, of which less than 1% goes back into new clothing. Existing recycling methods are unable to handle the heterogeneity of textile waste - until now.
Huminly uses enzymes to enable infinite recycling of textiles. We’re hellbent on improving textile-to-textile recycling from less than 1% to over 90% in the next 4-5 years before taking on global plastic pollution more broadly over the next decade. Using just water, salt, and enzyme, we distill the different materials in textile waste and harness them to make brand-new clothes, over and over again.
At Huminly, we can’t fathom how society’s single-use economy makes sense for future generations and can’t bear to witness Mother Earth get covered in textile and plastic waste. We’re recruiting passionate warriors who are ready to stand up for this planet.
Your role at our company
Scientists at Huminly innovate at the cutting edge of fundamental science to create tangible impact on a global scale. In this role, you will help build our very own industrial workhorses that are really good at making the enzymes that drive Huminly’s core technology.
From designing new genetic constructs that boost enzyme yield to screening highly productive isolates, you will work closely with us to design, build, and test Huminly’s strain arsenal from the microwell plate up to 100-liter fermenters. You will leverage your experience and intuition in strain development to unlock technoeconomic efficiency that will drive global adoption of our breakthrough recycling process.
This interdisciplinary role is perfect for the ambitious engineer eager to oversee ideas all the way to real-world application. Your day-to-day will span building and testing toolkits of genetic components, executing high-throughput enzyme testing workflows, and collecting data on real-world testing as we translate our revolutionary technology into the hands of our customers.
As one of Huminly’s early team members, you will work alongside a highly motivated team in a fast-paced, mission-driven work environment. Every improved strain you help develop will directly lower the cost of our process and propel us on our journey to scale and impact.
This role will be a great fit for you if you:
- Have a M.S. or Ph.D. in Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, or related field, or equivalent experience
- Have engineered recombinant organisms to achieve multiple-fold improvement in protein production levels
- Have successfully developed and validated fermentation SOPs at 100+ liter scale
- Are comfortable managing multiple parallel workflows in lab at any given time
- Are experienced in standard analytical techniques involving plate readers and mass spectrometry
- Routinely leverage constrained resources to meet ambitious experimental timelines
- Prioritize speed, efficiency, and creativity to cover ground and deliver results as quickly as possible
We offer competitive salary and equity compensation commensurate to experience, along with medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage.
Please note this role will require frequent standing and walking for extensive periods of time as well as repetitive motion and lifting of equipment weighing 50 pounds or more.