Founding Engineer, Process Modelling & Product

Founding Engineer, Process Modelling & Product - San Francisco Bay Area (On-site) About Roosevelt Talent

Roosevelt Talent is a recruitment agency specializing in helping ClimateTech and frontier technology startups hire. We believe the right people are the foundation of every successful climate company. The teams solving the world's toughest energy challenges deserve a hiring partner that moves with the same urgency and ambition. The challenge: Traditional recruiting is expensive, and often misses the best candidates. We change that. We proactively find exceptional talent, deliver a premium candidate experience, and help startups hire top performers at a transparent, affordable cost. Reach out if you want a genuine hiring partner – not another mercenary.

About Our Client Roosevelt Talent is working with Nyad, a startup modernizing how the world manages wastewater. Across thousands of factories and treatment plants, operators still record data, collect samples, and run lab work by hand to make the decisions that keep water clean. When things go wrong, pollution spikes and companies spend big on emergency measures. With experienced operators retiring (the "silver tsunami"), a huge knowledge gap is opening. Nyad builds software tools for the operators who run the process, where biology meets machine learning and AI meets civil engineering. Their first product (microbiology analysis) is already winning contracts, and they're now expanding into plant operations and utility-wide operations. The team is 6 people, backed by Boost VC.

The Role Nyad is hiring its founding engineer: a physical engineer (chemical, mechanical, civil, or environmental) who has spent years modeling and simulating complex systems the traditional way, and who is genuinely excited about what AI can now do. Today, engineers plan systems with mathematical models and simulation. AI can now reason through what a physical system is likely to do. Your job is to build the software test rigs that run both side by side against real plant data, and answer the key question: "The AI says this outcome is likely. Does that make sense from first principles?" You'll own this capability end to end, turn it into product, and help shape the company from the ground up. This is a full-time, on-site role in the San Francisco Bay Area.

What You'll Do

• Model wastewater treatment processes in software: plant hydraulics (flow through pipes and tanks), biology (microbial growth, wasting rates), and chemistry (disinfection), often by stitching together open-source models
• Build the test harness that runs those models side by side with AI reasoning, and figure out which method fits each problem (accuracy, speed, and cost)
• Calibrate and validate models against real customer plant data, so Nyad can sell with confidence to municipalities that need proven results
• Scale the models from a single plant up to a whole utility system
• Work directly with plant operators, engineers, Nyad's microbiologists and the founders to separate the real problem from the first feature someone asks for
• Turn engineering insight into tools operators actually use, and help define what Nyad builds next: roadmap, priorities, and product direction

Qualifications & Skills Required

• Degree in chemical, mechanical, civil, or environmental engineering (physics, chemistry, or biology considered)
• ~5 years of hands-on modeling and simulation of complex systems (process modeling, CFD, FEA, or similar)
• Has built software tools themselves on top of engineering models or analysis (Python strongly preferred)
• Uses AI / LLMs hands-on in their own work, and is excited (not threatened) by what it can do
• Low ego: sees their degree as training in how to think, not as the source of their value
• Communicates technical ideas clearly to people from plant operators to executives

Nice to have:

• Wastewater treatment, water, or industrial process experience
• Biological process modeling (e.g., activated sludge models) or hydraulic modeling; tools like SUMO, SIMBA, BioWin, or GPS-X
• Startup experience, or an environment with lots of ambiguity where you just figure out how to move forward
• A multidisciplinary, non-linear career path across engineering and software

Benefits

• Base salary $125k–$175k plus ~1% equity
• Healthcare, dental, and 401(k)
• True ownership: you own this capability, and your decisions shape the product and company
• Direct exposure to industrial customers and cutting-edge environmental innovation
• The chance to build something that actually matters: clean water

Approximate Process

• Expect a concise interview process (they're looking to hire ASAP)
• Screening call with us (Roosevelt Talent)
• Call with Chris (Co-founder)
• Call with Virginia (Co-founder & CEO)
• In-person paid working session
• Offer

Note Nyad is unable to sponsor visas. Candidates must be authorized to work in the US.

If you are interested in this role and believe you are a good fit (ie: a physical engineering background, years of hands-on modeling and simulation, and you build software and use AI in your own work) apply today. If you have any problems applying, you can reach out to Silas@roosevelttalent.com with your updated resume and reason for interest.