Lead Chemist

Job Title: Analytical Chemistry Lead

Department: Materials Team

Reports To: VP of Materials

Location: Brighton, CO

Position Summary:

ZCS is a fast-growing company focused on Direct Air Capture to address climate change. We are seeking an experienced Analytical Chemistry Lead to help lead our team of chemists developing and optimizing CO₂ capture technologies. The ideal candidate will combine deep analytical expertise with practical experience in evaluating sorbent formulations, reaction intermediates, and process samples within small-scale development and larger, pilot-scale conditions. The ideal candidate will be able to lead the team in evaluating the available equipment, selecting new devices and developing new analytical methods that enable the fast turnaround of process and R&D relevant data. This role is central to ensuring reliable, high-quality analytical data that drives innovation and process efficiency in next-generation carbon capture systems.

As a startup, we are also looking for a flexible addition to our team that can contribute to multiple areas of technology development, so the ideal candidate will have the ability to support various R&D activities in the lab and downstream in a variety of process developments.

This role will manage a small group of chemists and collaborate closely with the synthetic team, process / mechanical engineers, and senior leadership to ensure we are gathering high quality data to support development across the entire company. This is a key role suited to someone who thrives in a fast-moving R&D-to-pilot environment and can balance the need for innovative analytical techniques with low cost, high-frequency data generation.

Objectives & Responsibilities

- Conduct analytical testing of R&D formulations, process liquids, and off-gas streams to quantify CO₂ capture capacity, degradation products, and impurity profiles.

- Develop, validate, and implement analytical methods to characterize amine-based sorbents and other materials using techniques such as HPLC, GC, MS, FTIR, NMR, titration, and other methods of solution analysis.

- Develop, validate, and implement fast-turnaround analytical methods for basic process information, such as organic concentration, density, viscosity, CO₂ loading, and CO₂ capacity in aqueous samples.

- Support R&D studies by monitoring reaction kinetics, material stability, and mass balance across lab- and pilot-scale systems.

- Provide analytical data for mechanistic studies, material screening, and process optimization.

- Collaborate with process engineers and chemists to interpret results and recommend operational or formulation adjustments.

- Maintain and calibrate analytical instrumentation; ensure compliance with laboratory quality and safety standards.

- Prepare clear technical reports, SOPs, and data summaries for internal teams and external partners.

- Participate in cross-functional reviews and contribute to project planning by identifying analytical bottlenecks and improvement opportunities.

- Collaborate with modelers and data scientists to store results in a database, and to reduce data to correlations / predictive tools.

- Manage a team of analytical chemists

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, & Experience

Required Qualifications

- Education: Bachelors, Masters or PhD Degree.

- Experience: Minimum 7+ years of analytical chemistry experience, including at least 3 years in industrially relevant R&D or process environments including but not limited to carbon capture, gas separation, or chemical process industries.

Technical Expertise

- Strong background in quantitative and instrumental methods (e.g. FTIR, NMR, UV-Vis, Titration, GC, HPLC, Viscometry, etc.)

- Experience analyzing amine containing materials, CO2 containing materials, and degradation pathways for organic materials.

- Familiarity with solid, liquid, and vapor phase techniques for understanding mass distribution and molecular identification throughout complex systems.

- Excellent data interpretation, troubleshooting, and analysis documentation skills.

- Proficiency in many types of analytical equipment from various well-known suppliers.

- Strong, clear communication style with the ability to interface across R&D, engineering, operations, and senior leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience with project management.

- Experience with new-to-the-world, R&D-to-pilot scale operations supported by known and newly developing analytical techniques.

- Exposure to small-team startups or R&D environments where priorities shift quickly.

Physical Requirements

- Ability to work onsite and in the R&D area regularly moving between the analytical lab, wet lab, and the operations floor.

Compensation: $130,000- $150,000

Last Revision Date: 19-Nov-25