Head Of Research And Development

Earth back to earth 🌎. GaeaStar combines traditional craftsmanship with additive manufacturing techniques, creating technology for a world where convenience does not destroy our planet.

Our motivation is simple: We believe we have a responsibility to eliminate the negative impact of single use products. Inspired by how street vendors serve tea 🫖 in India, we are developing technology to print ultra-thin 🌱clay cups, bowls and plates that disintegrate naturally after use. At scale, locally and ready in mere seconds. It’s a simple solution to a massive problem for our planet: Every year, over 500 billion disposable cups are used worldwide, most of which end up in our oceans and landfills.

We recently closed our Seed funding round to grow our team and scale production in San Francisco and Berlin. This is your chance: Join us near the beginning of it all.

# Your Role

This position is based in our San Francisco, CA headquarters 🌍.

We’re looking for a Head of Research & Development to hire, lead, and develop a best-in-class team of engineers that will continuously experiment with, develop, and implement new solutions to produce ceramics at scale across the US and EU.

We spent the last few years developing our additive manufacturing process, which is at the core of production in our microfactories. And today, our Berlin studio already produces 1000s of cups each month while we get our San Francisco line up and running. Following our recent seed round, our goal is to –at least –10x production globally over the next few months. Fortunately, more and more partners are looking for truly sustainable solutions, and demand will continue to far outstrip our supply.

At the same time, we believe that we need to go beyond the initial tech and develop truly novel solutions across the production process and the end-to-end product lifecycle. As we grow GaeaStar, the team you build will be our north star. Our ambition: Every few months, we’re overhauling chunks of our technology & manufacturing process. And one day, we’ll together fully realize our vision of countertop machines making our truly sustainable cups. For a world where convenience doesn’t destroy our planet 💚

• 🌍Care deeply about impact. Our cups are geo-neutral. They don’t need to be recycled. We spent a lot of time thinking about the end-to-end product lifecycle already, and there’s so much more to do. Whatever you do, you keep the impact on our environment and the community around us at the heart of it.
• 🦾 Long-term vision coupled with short development cycles. We win when we consistently delight our partners –business owners, their customers, community leaders, and investors. There’ll be both low-hanging fruit and long-term initiatives, but at the end of the day, it’s about demonstrating that we care about their challenges.
• 🔭 Dare to think different. Always. This team will be the north star. Our ambition is to come up with radically novel solutions to reduce waste. You’ll join the leadership team and own the R&D agenda.
• 🧠Secure our intellectual property. Identify what’s new and noteworthy. Encourage patent applications. Keep an eye on the industry.
• 🧑🏭Work hand-in-hand withproduct and operations to scale. You’ll listen to feedback, identify problems, initiate research, generate new ideas, experiment, deliver prototypes, and see them through to implementation.
• 🚀Grow GaeaStar with us around the globe. We’ll challenge you to take on altogether new responsibilities at times. Rapidly learn and iterate with us. We’re a small company with huge ambitions.
• 👏Assemble & develop a world-class team of engineers. Help us identify and hire the best people for the job and cultivate a culture of creativity & continuous learning.
• 🍶Perfect our cups & oversee the development of altogether new products. People are surprised when they first try one of our cups: it’s an all around better experience than the incumbent.

# Your Profile

• 🍶Expert in additive manufacturing and / or ceramics. What we’re trying to do isn’t easy. The team will look to you for thought leadership.
• 👏Inclusive, transformative leader. You’re not afraid to hire outstanding, diverse talent who will outperform you. You’ve honed your ability to rally the team around you while holding yourself and others to a high standard. You dig deep to provide thoughtful, relevant feedback. You encourage ownership & empowerment.
• 🎓PhD or Master’s degree. You’ve graduated top of your class in mechanical engineering (with emphasis on robotics, additive manufacturing, mechatronics), industrial engineering, material sciences, or a related field.
• 🔬 12+ years of hands-on industry experience. We’re looking for a seasoned engineer who can draw from a broad range of experience – someone who has taken their fair share of ideas & prototypes through to real-world implementation in a production environment.
• 💡Forward thinker. True inventor. You pride yourself on your ability to come up with something truly new.
• 🌎 Deeply passionate about actual sustainability and our mission. Ideas become reality through sheer force of will. Share your story with us. How do you relate to what we’re trying to build?
• 🔩True Builder. Always solving a puzzle. You love what you do because it gives you the tools to solve problems through technology, for yourself, your community, or the world. You have a high level of craftsmanship married with the ability to get things done.
• 🧗♂️5+ years of engineering leadership. Think: Executive team member in a high-growth, fast-paced company or founder through multiple stages of growth.
• 🏡Location. You live within commuting distance of our San Francisco office in the Dogpatch, or you’re willing to relocate. Some international travel (e.g. to Berlin) may be required.

We are one team. We celebrate our diversity 🌈and believe in equal opportunities regardless of race, gender, citizenship, age, religious beliefs, physical ability, marital status, or sexual orientation. And we expect the same from you!

# Why GaeaStar?

• And all the usual benefits you’d expect.
• A great challenge – what we are doing here is not easy!
• Opportunity to get in on the ground floor following our Seed funding round.
• We’re a lean startup with lots of room to innovate, learn together, and move quickly.

# Reach Out to Us!

To apply, tell us why you’d like the job and email your CV or LinkedIn to careers[at]gaeastar.com

We’d also love to hear from you if you have questions or feedback. Perhaps we can even tailor this position to your skills and interests: What would you want to do with the role? Johannes, our Head of People, will reach out to you.