Mechanical and Equipment Engineer

Who we are

Europe’s chemical industry faces an existential crisis resulting from a deep dependence on volatile fossil feedstocks, regulatory pressures, and cut-throat competition from China and the Middle East. Locally abundant bio-based feedstocks offer an escape route from fossil feedstock dependency, but chemical companies lack the technologies to bring them online.

At Level Nine, we’re building an AI-driven catalyst discovery platform to produce key chemical building blocks from locally abundant bio-based feedstocks, reducing dependence on volatile global feedstock markets while using existing chemical manufacturing infrastructure.

About the team & role

We are an interdisciplinary team of scientists and operators, supported by leading advisors, networks, and VCs across Europe. We’re based in Berlin, one of Europe’s leading deep-tech hubs. We are not looking for corporate specialists who need a finished process and mature documentation. We need high-agency analytical builder who are curious, reliable, technically grounded people who can create structure while the process is still evolving.

As we transition towards executing our industrial demo plant, we are translating our process and R&D breakthroughs into a robust, modular engineering design. This is a mission-critical role for an engineer focused on physical operability, ensuring our process can reliably run in the real world, not just exist on a PFD. You will be the technical owner responsible for sizing, specifying, verifying, and procuring our critical unit operations, mastering the challenges of cohesive lignin powders, wetting, de-agglomeration, slurry transfer, agitation, filtration/cake washing, solvent recovery, and maintainability.

You will join our core engineering team and will work on real, hands-on engineering with direct impact - building our mechanical basic design package, directly interacting with specialised skid-mounted engineering suppliers, supporting our in-house R&D rigs, and facilitating customer sampling campaigns by eliminating equipment-induced variation.

TASKS

Equipment Sizing, Specification & Verification:

• Perform first-principles mechanical sizing and sanity checks, and verify vendor calculations for pressure vessels, agitators, pumps, heat exchangers, centrifuges, membrane modules, and skid packages across our process options
• You won't be expected to do formal code stress/fatigue calculations from scratch (vendors, notified bodies, and specialist consultants own formal code calculations). Your job is to act as an internal sanity-check filter and technical challenger, rigorously questioning vendor assumptions, power numbers, slurry pump head losses, and heat transfer coefficients
• Draft equipment data sheets, mechanical specifications, and material selection diagrams compatible with organic solvents, oxidants, and acidic intermediates, with an emphasis on understanding how to work with pressurised vessels

Basic Design Package & FEED Supplier Management:

• Co-author Level Nine's basic design package deliverables (including PFDs, equipment lists, battery limit definitions, and 3D frame or skid layouts) translating the process design basis into clear mechanical specifications
• Lead mechanical interactions with specialised engineering suppliers through conceptual design, basic design, detailed engineering, and construction.
• Review vendor 3D CAD models (Navisworks Freedom/NWD format) for ergonomics, maintenance clearance, piping stress, transportability, and frame integration
• Oversee equipment fabrication, shop inspections, pressure testing, FAT, and SAT

In-House R&D & Partner Campaign Support:

• Optimise physical design, cleanability, filtration, maintenance, and partner equipment readiness to facilitate customer sampling campaigns with high repeatability and minimal batch-to-batch variation
• Maintain, upgrade, and troubleshoot mechanical systems on our in-house 30 L pilot reactor, condenser and distillation setups, Nutsche filter units, pumps, and mixers.
• Design quick-change mechanical fixtures and sampling ports for experimental trials

Site Co-Location & Battery Limit Logistics:

• Map physical battery limits (ISBL/OSBL interfaces) for utilities (steam, cooling water, compressed air, nitrogen) and waste streams across candidate co-location sites
• Evaluate structural floor loadings, crane hoisting requirements, door access dimensions, and frame height constraints to inform strategic decision-making

REQUIREMENTS

• 3–5+ years of hands-on experience handling challenging physical streams. You understand the real-world failure modes of wetting, clumping, viscosity, slurry pumping, filtration/cake washing, fouling, cleanability, and equipment access
• Proven track record performing first-principles engineering sizing, generating basic design documentation, and managing skid or modular fabricators through detail design, FAT, and SAT. You have experience with small-to-medium scale modular skid plants rather than purely managing corporate mega-scale refineries
• Comfort with structured engineering calculations, experimental/equipment logs, and lightweight data tools such as Excel, Google Sheets, Python, or dashboards
• Professional German proficiency (B2/C1+, essential for direct technical negotiations with German fabricators, equipment vendors, local authorities, and site hosts) and fluent English
• High agency, first-principles thinker, and practical problem-solver. You enjoy getting your hands dirty in pilot facility troubleshooting or on fabrication shop floors, and you adapt quickly when process parameters evolve

Pluses:

• Experience with technical lignin, biomass processing, or slurries
• Proficiency in 3D CAD modelling and review software (Navisworks, AutoCAD, SolidWorks)
• Practical familiarity with ATEX equipment selection and Pressure Equipment Directive (PED 2014/68/EU)
• Experience with modular skid-mounted transport logistics

Though we have a number of hard criteria above, our hiring ethos is focussed on attitude over aptitude. This is far from a desk-only job, and we seek an out-of-the-box thinker who brings an entrepreneurial spirit and a can-do attitude. If you believe that mechanical engineering can unlock strategic value beyond standard CAD designs and equipment datasheets, this role is a one of a kind opportunity to define the next generation of industrial manufacturing.

Ultimately we are looking for someone for this role who can match our ambition, resilience, and excellence. You're encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. Your skills and passion are what will stand out and set you apart. We strongly welcome diverse perspectives and people who have the courage and conviction to make real change.

To apply, please submit your CV along with 3–5 sentences about yourself and why you're interested in working at Level Nine. Please don't send us a standard cover letter. Instead, please send a brief answer to the following questions:

1. What is a complex mechanical or solids-handling problem you have diagnosed and fixed on a plant or rig through sheer persistence and practical troubleshooting?

2. What is something you geek out about outside of work that makes you uniquely you?

3. If you could learn any new skill (professional or otherwise), what would it be and why? Please be specific.