Lead Engineer

Company

Sixone’s mission is to enable a world where blended plastics products can be circularly recycled back into existing supply chains instead of being sent to landfill. Sixone is a leading technology startup company developing advanced recycling technologies for blended plastics and plastic based products. The technology applies process digitalization and advanced analytics to build a recycling system to enable efficient plastics recycling. Our goal is to revolutionize the economics of recycled materials through innovative processing and materials technologies.

Overview of Role

The Lead Engineer is a high-impact, dual-mandate role responsible for rapidly transforming Sixone's recycling technology from development into reliable, operational capacity. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, you will balance hands-on technical completion with project planning and people leadership.

You will lead two distinct areas of focus:

1. Engineering Development: Supporting a team of mechanical and process engineers to drive Process Scale-Up, lead external technology transfer, and finalize industrial equipment design.
2. Operational Readiness: Directing commissioning, support production campaigns, and training teams for long-term operations.

Core Responsibilities

1. Process Scale-Up & Engineering Development

• Technology Transfer: Lead the technical transfer of R&D processes and prototypes into industrial-scale equipment designs.
• Vendor & Design Management: Oversee equipment vendors and integrators. Drive the finalization of equipment design, support the creation and approval of BFDs, PFDs, stream tables, P&IDs, control logic, data sheets, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Technical Completion: Diligently complete, check and review the work, reports, and calculations of other engineers to ensure absolute technical accuracy.
• Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify and mitigate technical roadblocks across mechanical, chemical, and control subsystems.

2. Commissioning & Initial Production Operations

• Commissioning Leadership: Plan and oversee equipment installation, pre-commissioning, and full commissioning activities.
• Field Execution: Author comprehensive commissioning procedures, write technical reports, and manage initial startup production campaigns.
• Validation & Handoff: Oversee initial production runs to validate performance against R&D targets. Train internal or contractor teams to assume long-term operations.

3. People Leadership & Culture

• Team Building: Actively mentor, coach, and develop engineers as the department grows.
• People Management: Identify areas for development, including performance management, career pathing, and support annual appraisals.
• Collaborative Culture: Maintain an approachable, communicative presence. Walk the floor, engage in open dialogue with teammates, and provide respectful, clear direction.

4. Project Management & Strategy

• Planning & Scheduling: Own the end-to-end project schedule, budget, and resource allocation.
• Cross-functional Alignment: Act as the primary liaison between R&D, Operations and external partners.