The future must be created.
01 THE ROLE
Chemistry is the invisible layer under every critical system, and the supply chain behind it has become a weapon. Ohr makes the molecules that matter most, from the atom up: energetics, propellants, rare-earth extractants and the ignition chemicals already in production today.
This role sits in the gap where most energetics programs stall — between chemistry that works at the bench and a process someone can actually build. You'll work directly with our R&D chemists and with our external partner laboratory, read their results as an engineer, and turn them into the early designs that scale-up decisions get made from.
THE KIND OF PEOPLE THIS WORK DEMANDS
Our mission demands more than great science. It requires a particular kind of team — visionary builders, hustlers, scientists, operators. Together, we carry both the technical depth to make the chemistry work and the commercial instinct to make the business thrive. People are our engine. Collaboration is our multiplier.
02 WHAT YOU'LL DESIGN AND BUILD
Translate bench and small-scale results from our R&D chemists into early engineering designs — mass and energy balances, block flow diagrams, preliminary equipment concepts, and technoeconomic inputs
Serve as the engineering interface to our external partner laboratory: shape test plans, interpret results, and pull them into our design basis
Design and run kilo-lab and small-scale campaigns that generate the data a scale-up decision needs, not just the data that is easy to get
Define analytical and characterization requirements alongside the chemists — specify what good looks like before anyone commits capital
Generate early hazard characterization data, including sensitivity, DSC and TGA, and compatibility studies, so the safety case starts with the design instead of catching up to it
Document design basis, assumptions, and open risks so the process engineering team inherits something defensible
Hand off to production process engineering and stay engaged through the first campaigns
03 WHAT YOU BRING WITH YOU
You're bilingual in a way most engineers aren't: you can follow a synthesis discussion with chemists in the morning and defend a mass balance to a process engineer in the afternoon. You get impatient with promising bench results that nobody has costed, and you're the person who asks what the next scale will need before the current one is finished. You likely have:
A degree in chemical engineering or chemistry — BS, MS, or PhD
7–10+ years across R&D and process engineering, with genuine time on both sides rather than a brief tour of one
Experience running or supporting scale-up campaigns from laboratory to kilo-lab scale
Experience working through external laboratories, partners, or contract research organizations
Comfort with design of experiments, applied statistics, and data that arrives incomplete
The ability to build a defensible mass and energy balance from imperfect bench data and state your assumptions plainly
Strong technical writing — design basis documents are a deliverable, not an afterthought
Strong plus
Energetics, propellants, or pyrotechnics experience
Nitration or energetic precursor chemistry experience
Technoeconomic modeling and early-stage cost estimation
Thermal hazard analysis (DSC, TGA, ARC) and small-scale sensitivity testing
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
AFTER 3 MONTHS
You're the engineering voice in R&D reviews, and the partner laboratory relationship runs through you
AFTER 6–12 MONTHS
At least one formulation has a documented design basis and early engineering package good enough to commit pilot capital against
R&D campaigns are designed around the data scale-up actually needs
The handoff from development to process engineering is a repeatable process rather than a series of meetings
04 REQUIREMENTS
This role involves access to data and systems subject to U.S. export control regulations, including ITAR. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, or a protected individual as defined under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3).
This role also involves access to explosive materials. Candidates must be eligible to serve as an “employee possessor” of explosive materials under federal law, meaning they are not a prohibited person as defined under 18 U.S.C. § 842(i).
05 COMPENSATION
This is an onsite role based in the Denver–Boulder Metro Area (Lafayette, CO), with travel up to 15% to laboratories, partner facilities, and test sites. Relocation Assistance provided. The annual base salary range for this position is $140,000 – $180,000, commensurate with experience, plus equity. Final compensation will be determined based on skills, experience, and qualifications.
Be a creationary.