Founding Plant Manager
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What you'll do
- Lead the project: Oversee basic and detailed engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of our first industrial production plant.
- Manage partners: Align external contractors and site infrastructure, ensuring timelines, budgets, and quality standards.
- Build the team: Hire, onboard, and train the first plant operations team.
- Set the standards: Develop and implement SOPs for new processes, ensuring safety and compliance at all times.
- Run the plant: Transition into Plant Manager role to deliver safe, reliable, and efficient operations.
- Continuously improve: Optimize production processes to maximize performance, quality, and yield.
- Transfer culture: Embed MicroHarvest’s entrepreneurial, collaborative culture into the new location.
What they're looking for
- Degree in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, or related field.
- 5+ years’ experience in chemical/biotech/process manufacturing in a responsible role.
- Proven track record in investment projects of significant size.
- Strong knowledge of process optimization, troubleshooting, ESHQ, and process safety.
- A natural leader who can balance structure and efficiency with startup agility.
- Hands-on, pragmatic, and team-oriented with strong time management.
- Fluent in English and German.
- Motivated by sustainability and eager to join a fast-growing biotech startup.
Summarised by NextRaise from the employer’s description, which follows in full below.
Full description from employer
Location: Leuna Chemical Park (with onboarding time in Hamburg and Lisbon)
About the Role
At MicroHarvest, we are scaling the next generation of bioprocessing. Our first industrial-scale production plant at Leuna Chemical Park is a cornerstone of this journey — a mid eight-figure investment and a start-up targeted for late 2027.
We are hiring a founding Plant Manager who will first lead the investment project — from engineering and procurement through construction and commissioning — and then transition into running the plant, building the team, systems, and culture that will define MicroHarvest operations for years to come.
This role is for a builder at heart: someone who thrives on switching between strategic leadership and hands-on execution, and who wants to shape a facility that will set new standards in sustainable protein production.
What You’ll Do
- Lead the project: Oversee basic and detailed engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of our first industrial production plant.
- Manage partners: Align external contractors and site infrastructure, ensuring timelines, budgets, and quality standards.
- Build the team: Hire, onboard, and train the first plant operations team.
- Set the standards: Develop and implement SOPs for new processes, ensuring safety and compliance at all times.
- Run the plant: Transition into Plant Manager role to deliver safe, reliable, and efficient operations.
- Continuously improve: Optimize production processes to maximize performance, quality, and yield.
- Transfer culture: Embed MicroHarvest’s entrepreneurial, collaborative culture into the new location.
What We’re Looking For
- Degree in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, or related field.
- 5+ years’ experience in chemical/biotech/process manufacturing in a responsible role.
- Proven track record in investment projects of significant size.
- Strong knowledge of process optimization, troubleshooting, ESHQ, and process safety.
- A natural leader who can balance structure and efficiency with startup agility.
- Hands-on, pragmatic, and team-oriented with strong time management.
- Fluent in English and German.
- Motivated by sustainability and eager to join a fast-growing biotech startup.
Why Join Us
At MicroHarvest, you’ll do more than manage a plant — you’ll shape the future of sustainable protein production.
- Impact: Your work will directly contribute to solving the global challenge of feeding the world sustainably.
- Ownership: Lead one of the most important projects in MicroHarvest’s journey — our first industrial site.
- Collaboration: Work closely with our founders, engineering partners, and a highly experienced biotech team.
- Culture: Join an ambitious, international, and diverse startup where curiosity and teamwork drive everything.
This is a once-in-a-career opportunity: to build and lead a plant from scratch and leave your mark on the future of food.
Company
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