Mechanical Engineer

About us

Vow is a food company - a very different one. We’re creating real meat products from animal cells instead of the animal itself. 

We’re bringing together cutting-edge innovations in science, engineering, culinary and design to make sustainable food that’s both irresistible and available to billions of people worldwide.

The role:

Vow is building a first-of-its-kind cultured meat factory in Sydney. This factory will make Vow’s first product, serve as a model for all of Vow’s future factories, and act as a testing ground for new technologies and processes. 

As a Mechanical Engineer at Vow you'll be responsible for designing, building, testing and maintaining equipment and utilities for commercial manufacturing of cultured meat.

You’ll use your technical knowledge and work with a world-class team to make food that is sustainable, abundant and irresistible. 

The experience you will bring:

• Experience in the design, vendor selection, fabrication, assembly, testing and handover of plant and equipment.
• Demonstrated extreme ownership of product outcomes at every stage of development and production.
• Experience applying knowledge of solid mechanics, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics to design problems.
• Ability to size, specify, select and install common process equipment (pressure vessels, pipes, valves, heat exchangers, pumps).
• Ability to draft 3D models and manufacturing drawings in CAD software, preferably using Siemens NX.
• Strong understanding and application of drafting standards and GD&T (ASME Y14.5) in creating drawings.
• Ability to select or design safe systems to meet relevant standards (e.g. for pressure vessels AS1210 or ASME BPCV Section VIII or EN 13445). 
• Experience with manufacturing process development, facility/line layouts and common quality tools (PFMEA, 5 Whys, etc).

Bonus if you have:

• Familiarity with food or bioprocessing equipment (e.g. mixers, fermenters, pumps, filters, centrifuges).
• Any kind of hobby or extra work experimenting with any of the above.
• Experience using Siemens NX for drafting.
• FEA and CFD experience.
• Hands-on experience in fabrication of stainless steel equipment, including common manufacturing processes and machines such as mills, lathes and benders (manual and CNC).

You will:

• Design and build automated processing plant and equipment systems that enable Vow to increase its manufacturing capacity from tons per year to tons per week.
• Involve users in the development of your systems, especially initially in determining user requirements.
• Translate user requirements into hardware designs, documented in an appropriate manner (e.g. P&ID, 3D model, GA drawings, manufacturing drawings).
• Work with vendors to source parts as fast as possible.
• Work with vendors and Vowzers to fabricate, assemble and test the system.
• Perform a high-quality handover of the system to the user, including successful user acceptance testing, training, operation and maintenance manuals, and a commitment to appropriate ongoing support.
• Build a world-first cultured meat factory that will serve as the prototype and inspiration for all that follow!

What success looks like:

• In the first month, you’ll help finish a work-in-progress automated food processing system, or improve an in-use system.
• By the end of 3 months, you’ll be designing and building a new processing system.
• In your first year, you’ll deliver multiple processing systems that enable a world-first cultured meat product, and materially reduce cost and improve quality in existing products and processes.

Who we are and why join:

• We are building a diverse, mission-led dream team of “Vowzers.” Our mission is to make food products for everyone. To do that well we need a workforce that’s representative of the people we serve. We celebrate multiple approaches and points of view - so we’re building a culture to match. Be yourself and come as you are.
• Work on cutting-edge technology. We’re bringing together cutting-edge innovations in science, engineering, and food, to recreate the world’s most tantalising and unique culinary experiences. All without compromising on ethics or our planet along the way. Since our inception in 2019, we have held the title of being the first startup to cultivate meat from the cells of an undomesticated animal, and have served up our exotic meats ranging from kangaroo dumplings to alpaca sliders in tastings with world-renowned chefs.
• Work with and learn from the best. Our team includes some of the world’s top scientists, innovators, operators, and creatives with decades of industry experience. Despite our experiences though, we all strive to build, break, learn, and repeat. We see the impossible as temporary and strive to learn and support our company and fellow Vowzers' growth as much as possible.
• We’re fully funded and ready to go. We are a growing Aussie biotech start-up backed by Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Grok Ventures, Tenacious Ventures, P7 Ventures, Toyota Ventures, and PeakBridge VC.

Vow perks and benefits:

• Everyone is an owner. In addition to competitive base salaries, each and every ‘Vowzer’ owns equity in the company so we can all benefit from our hard work and future success.
• Generous paid parental leave. We offer 8 weeks of paid caregiver leave and an additional 8 weeks paid leave for the birth giver.
• Generous relocation budget & support. Support for interstate or overseas team members and their families (including pets!)
• Flexible working hours and location. We value work-life balance. While we’re mostly back in the office, you’re free to choose the best way for you to work.
• Unlimited personal leave. At Vow we recognise that sometimes you need time off to recuperate, look after your mental health, or simply deal with an emergency. We put unlimited personal leave in place to empower you to truly bring your best self to work every single day and you are always paid for days taken off as personal leave.
• Heaps of tasty samples from our culinary centre. Our fantastic "food inventors" on the Vow team are always cooking up new product prototypes, and all Vowzers are given the opportunity to taste, give feedback, and learn from their culinary prowess.
• An awesome converted warehouse “campus” in Alexandria. Complete with a glass-walled lab, manufacturing line, free snacks, a culinary centre, and professional-grade coffee machine in our cafe, as well as a DIY workshop for all hands-on projects.
• Human and dog friendly office! An inclusive community and culture, in a welcoming office, complete with friendly “Vowzer” dogs!
• A variety of social clubs. We encourage all our Vowzers to build the culture with us and share what you love by creating social clubs across the business. From book clubs to hiking groups, we’re always looking for ways to learn and engage with our team.

You don’t have to have every listed requirement and skill to be a great fit - you may even teach us something about what we should be looking for! If you are passionate about this opportunity and think you have the skills to succeed, please apply! If not, but you know someone who might be interested, please share this post.