Principal Scientist – Catalysis and Process Development

Location

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Relocation and working Visa support is available for the successful candidate.

Employment Type

Full Time

Reporting To

CEO

Remuneration Details

AU$140,000 – AU$180,000, plus superannuation and access to company ESOP.

About Facet Amtech

Facet Amtech is developing a breakthrough technology platform, targeting the production of clean ammonia directly from air and water. Our process involves feeding air and water to a reactor vessel where the catalyst simultaneously separates hydrogen from water and reduces nitrogen from the air, immediately combining the two into ammonia. This avoids the major plant infrastructure costs (SMR or electrolysers) needed to produce pure hydrogen feedstock in existing grey, blue and green ammonia systems. At the same time, energy efficiency is improved due to the lack of generated waste-heat, driving cost of production well below grey ammonia prices.

We are an ambitious deep-technology company operating at the intersection of scientific discovery, engineering innovation and commercialisation. Our vision is to fundamentally transform ammonia production through the development of a scalable, low-emissions alternative to conventional ammonia manufacturing. By combining advances in catalysis, materials science, reaction engineering and process development, we are building a technology capable of delivering meaningful economic and environmental impact across one of the world’s most important industrial sectors.

Facet Amtech has recently moved to an independent facility to accelerate laboratory-based R&D, catalyst manufacturing scale-up and pilot work. We are based in Newcastle (Australia), a city which is fast becoming one of the country’s largest energy transition hubs. The region’s strong industrial heritage and research base sits alongside a coastal lifestyle and easy access to the surrounding Hunter Valley, with a cost of living well below that of Australia's capital cities.

The Role

Facet Amtech is seeking an exceptional Principal Scientist to drive our world-first clean ammonia process. Leading the R&D team, you will provide scientific direction across catalyst development, process integration and pilot-scale technology development.

This is a role for someone who wants to use their skills to bring cutting edge research into the real world, contributing directly to global decarbonisation and sustainable industrial development. As Facet Amtech grows, this role is expected to play a key role in building and leading the future of our catalyst and process development capabilities.

Working with the science and engineering team, you will contribute across several areas including:

• Catalyst development, manufacturing, material characterisation and process integration
• Feedstock and product gas characterisation
• Analysis and interpretation of experimental data
• Development of reliable, repeatable experiment protocols and quality control

The role requires hands-on laboratory work within the R&D team to translate fundamental research into larger scale projects. This unique opportunity to work on complex technical problems requires a high level of attention to detail and a tenacity to identify and resolve unexpected system behaviours.

The successful candidate will combine scientific rigor with attention to detail, intellectual curiosity, strong problem-solving skills and practical execution, helping Facet Amtech transform breakthrough science into a commercially meaningful technology capable of global impact.

Key Responsibilities

Scientific Leadership

• Provide scientific leadership across catalyst, reactor and process development activities.
• Drive a culture of intellectual curiosity, scientific rigor, critical thinking and evidence-based decision        making.
• Undertake technical reviews and scientific decision-making processes across the organisation.
• Develop technical reports, summaries and strategic recommendations.
• Establish clear technical priorities and development objectives.

Scientific Analysis and Problem Solving

• Guide catalyst synthesis, screening, optimisation and scale-up activities.
• Apply materials science and chemistry principles by performing characterisation experiments to              develop mechanistic understanding of catalyst behaviour and performance.
• Ensure experimental procedures, data, analyses and conclusions are appropriately documented and      traceable.
• Apply first-principles thinking to challenge assumptions, identify root causes of behaviours, and              progress the technical development.
• Critically evaluate experimental design, data quality and interpretation.
• Support theoretical model development in line with thermodynamic, kinetic and process constraints.
• Translate catalyst requirements into reactor operating conditions and testing methodologies.
• Work with the R&D and engineering teams to develop bench-scale and continuous operation pilot-          scale systems.

Essential Qualifications & Experience

• PhD in Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering or a closely related discipline.
• Deep expertise in heterogeneous catalysis, catalytic materials and reaction mechanisms.
• Strong understanding of catalyst characterisation techniques and interpretation.
• Proven ability to solve highly complex multidisciplinary scientific problems.
• Experience leading research programs within small technical teams.
• Strong experimental design and data analysis skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Desirable Experience

• Ammonia synthesis, nitrogen activation, hydrogenation catalysis or related technologies.
• Technology scale-up from laboratory to pilot or full-scale operation.
• Industrial R&D, technology development, start-up or scale-up environments.
• Understanding of theoretical catalyst and process modelling approaches, such as DFT, CFD, reactor        modelling, thermodynamics/kinetics and process simulation packages.
• Experience contributing to intellectual property generation and patent development.