{"id":4090989,"url":"https://alion.io/job/zerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer","title":"Lead Mechanical Engineer","company":{"id":3863540,"name":"Zerocarbonsystems","domain":"zerocarbonsystems.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/zerocarbonsystems","size_band":"11-50","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":null},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Brighton, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":170000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":170000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":4,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AutoCAD","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-11T18:11:10Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-11","last_verified_at":"2026-11-11T20:12:13Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"Position Overview\nZero Carbon Systems seeks a Lead Engineer, Mechanical to design and build novel test rigs and machinery for direct air capture at our Brighton, CO site, while leading a team of up to five mechanical engineers, designers, and technicians. The ideal candidate will bring more than 10 years of experience designing and upgrading custom industrial equipment, a proven track record leading technical teams, and the hands-on, fail fast mindset that thrives in a startup environment. This full-time position, based in Brighton, CO, is onsite with less than 10% travel and reports to the Director of Mechanical Engineering.\nResponsibilities Include:\nLead and supervise a team of up to five mechanical engineers, designers, and technicians, overseeing their work and reviewing the quality and timeliness of their output\nOwn the mechanical design of new test rigs and the upgrade of older test rigs, in addition to individual technical contributions\nMentor and develop team members, providing technical guidance and coaching on design practices\nConduct performance reviews and lead hiring for the mechanical engineering team\nPartner with the project management team to scope projects and allocate engineering, design, and technician resources across the team's workload\nManage and execute full life-cycle development of process and mechanical equipment for test rigs\nOversee the design, assembly, commissioning, and operation of test rigs and DAC equipment at our test facility\nProvide design support for the ZCS DAC facilities on the Brighton site as needed\nSupport installs of vendor equipment in our Brighton facility, including Factory/Site Acceptance Testing and Installation/Operational Qualification\nPrepare cost estimates, budgets, and schedules for the design, fabrication, and procurement of new equipment\nDevelop and execute experimental procedures to evaluate new mechanical systems and validate them for use in ZCS DAC facilities\nEvaluate data from test rigs, pilot, and production equipment to determine overall performance, reliability, and safety\nDocument existing equipment, design retrofits and upgrades, and manage the fabrication and installation of those upgrades\nWrite technical documentation, including Standard Operating Procedures for machine operators\nTrain operations staff on new equipment and support their ongoing use and modification of that equipment\nConduct and participate in safety and design reviews, proactively raising concerns and developing solutions\nCollaborate with onsite Process, Maintenance, and Facilities engineers to ensure smooth equipment operation and project execution\nProvide onsite support to design projects and data analyses led by offsite team members\nRequirements Include:\nBachelor's degree in mechanical, chemical, or industrial engineering\nMore than 10 years of progressive responsibility designing, modifying, and upgrading custom industrial equipment\n4+ years of experience leading or supervising technical personnel, including mentoring, performance reviews, and hiring\nDemonstrated experience performing hand calculations, stress analysis, and finite element analysis (FEA) to design and validate mechanical equipment\nProficiency with 2D/3D CAD software; Autodesk Inventor/AutoCAD strongly preferred\nExperience designing and working with steam equipment, chemical process equipment, conveyors, or HVAC equipment\nFamiliarity with engineering design and manufacturing tools, including P&IDs, Process Flow Diagrams, Bill of Materials generation, and Engineering Change Orders\nSolid understanding of fluid dynamics, mechanics, thermodynamics, and materials science, with working knowledge of designing equipment using these concepts\nAbility to write clear, comprehensive technical documentation, including SOPs, Bills of Materials, and engineering drawings\nStrong verbal and written communication skills, including delivering detailed technical presentations in support of engineering reviews\nStartup experience and the ability to shift tasks and priorities quickly as company goals evolve, while working effectively on cross-functional teams\nAbility to lift and carry equipment as necessary\nPreferred qualifications:\nExperience working in the carbon capture space\nExperience working on small mechanical engineering teams\nExperience with prototyping and fail fast, learn fast projects","description_format":"text","description_chars":4352,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":4,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Environmental Science"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-11T20:12:13Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-11T22:32:44Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":170000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/zerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/zerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-11T22:32:44Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":44694,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-12T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":3863540},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3863540"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fzerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fzerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fzerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/zerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fzerocarbonsystems-lead-mechanical-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":4090989}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"zerocarbonsystems.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":4090989},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); 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