Algae Production Lead

Piper Maddox is partnering with an exciting biotechnology energy company based in California, that uses engineered microalgae to produce low-carbon liquid fuels at commercial scale. They are currently growing operations, engineering, and science teams, and are looking for an Algae Production Lead that will help bring the technology online. This is a rare opportunity to help launch a new category in the multi-billion-dollar SAF and liquid-fuels markets from the ground up.

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day algae cultivation operations across pilot and commercial-scale systems, including large-scale ponds and photobioreactors; Own the full cultivation cycle, including inoculation, pond management, harvest scheduling, turnover between runs, and contamination control; Monitor culture health and performance using key analytics including density, dry weight, nutrients, microscopy, and contamination screening; Lead and develop production and laboratory teams, ensuring strong operating standards, accountability, and decision-ready data; Partner with R&D, engineering, and operations teams to troubleshoot cultivation challenges, optimize productivity, and continuously improve scale-up and production performance

Requirements

5–8 years in algae mass cultivation — phototrophic production at pilot or commercial scale (raceways, PBRs) is the target profile; Has run cultivation at genuine scale, not bench — the largest pond here is 1 million liters; Owns the day-to-day growing operation: inoculation, pond management, harvest scheduling, turnover between runs, and contamination control; People management experience over production and/or lab teams; Fluent in the analytics that drive production decisions — density, dry weight, nutrients, microscopy, contamination screening — and holds the team to clean, decision-ready data; Comfortable translating protocols from R&D and the greenhouse into what actually holds up in the field, and feeding learnings back

Nice to have

Large-scale industrial fermentation considered as an adjacent background