Director of Engineering

Location: Tacoma, WA (onsite with flexibility, travel to customers sites and industry events as needed, expect ~5 trips per year)

Department: Engineering (Product Development, Manufacturing, Go-to-Market)

Reports to: Chief Technology Officer

Work authorization requirements: Must be authorized to work within the United States

Compensation: $130-180K stock options & standard company benefits (details below)

About us 

Aquagga is a rapidly scaling cleantech startup leading the global mission to end PFAS contamination, the largest environmental pollution challenge of the 21st century. We work with customers in the environmental remediation and industrial wastewater industry, deploying containerized treatment systems to completely destroy PFAS with no toxic byproducts. We are looking for passionate and highly motivated individuals with diverse backgrounds and skill sets,  committed to making a social and environmental impact nationwide. Help revolutionize the industry as we enter uncharted waters.

Role Summary

The Director of Engineering will lead our organization through the transition from breakthrough PFAS destruction technology to a commercially deployable industrial platform. This role is accountable for aligning people, priorities, and execution to deliver a manufacturable, certified, regulatory compliant, and field-ready commercial PFAS destruction system based on our hydrothermal alkaline treatment (HALT) process.

This is a senior leadership role - success depends less on individual technical heroics and more on setting clear direction, communicating effectively, and holding teams accountable to realistic timelines and quality standards. This role ensures the organization makes good decisions quickly, focuses on the right problems, and delivers reliable systems that earn customer and regulator trust.

Primary success metric: Commercial PFAS destruction system design finalized and manufacturing-ready by end of 2026.

Why This Role Matters

Aquagga is moving from proven pilots to scaled deployment. The Director of Engineering determines whether that transition happens with clarity and confidence, or with churn and rework. This role helps set the technical vision with other internal leaders, translates business needs into executable plans, and ensures engineering delivers what the company commits to customers, partners, and investors.

Why This Role Matters

Strategic & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Set and communicate a clear engineering vision aligned with company strategy, commercialization goals, and customer needs.
• Define product timelines, milestones, and decision gates; hold teams accountable to delivery commitments.
• Elevate risks early; technical, schedule, resource, or compliance, and drive structured mitigation plans.
• Serve as a key engineering voice to executive leadership and the board, including preparation of clear updates, narratives, and decision materials.

People Leadership & Organization Management

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of mid- to senior-level engineers across mechanical, electrical/controls, and systems or product development disciplines.
• Establish clear ownership, decision authority, review cadence, and performance expectations across the engineering organization.
• Maintain a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and safety.
• Allocate engineering resources against the highest-value work; make and communicate tradeoffs when capacity is constrained.

Product & Delivery Oversight

• Guide design maturation for commercial PFAS destruction systems, ensuring reliability, serviceability, safety, and repeatable deployment.
• Ensure engineering documentation (drawings, BOMs, test plans, SOPs, risk analyses) supports manufacturing, deployment, and long-term operations.
• Delegate detailed technical decisions to strong engineering leads while reviewing, approving, and aligning decisions to overall system goals.

Manufacturing, Suppliers & Partners

• Interface with and vet key suppliers, fabricators, and manufacturing partners.
• Ensure designs are manufacturable, scalable, and aligned with partner capabilities and quality expectations.
• Establish and oversee manufacturing readiness reviews, production handoffs, and build-quality feedback loops.

Communication, Reporting & External Engagement

• Communicate engineering plans, progress, and risks clearly across the organization.
• Prepare and deliver presentations, written updates, and decision briefs for leadership, investors, and partners.
• Engage with customers to understand technical needs and constraints, translating them into product requirements and priorities.
• Support commercial efforts through technical reviews, proposal input, and customer discussions as needed.

Quality, Compliance & Risk

• Refine and maintain strong QA/QC practices and accountability for engineering risk management, while delegating execution appropriately.across hardware and software.
• Oversee certification and compliance readiness (e.g., ASME pressure vessels, UL, NEC, EU PED, and applicable international standards).
• Act as a senior technical backstop for safety-critical decisions.

Qualifications

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical/Controls, Manufacturing, Civil, or related engineering field.
• 10 years of engineering experience, including 5 years leading multidisciplinary teams
• Professional Engineer license desirable but not required
• Demonstrated success leading teams through complex product development and commercialization efforts.
• Experience in industrial systems, energy, water/wastewater, chemical processing, or adjacent regulated industries preferred.
• Proven ability to create structure in ambiguity, prioritize effectively, and drive execution through others.



Personal Attributes

• People-first engineering leader with a strong ownership mindset.
• Clear, confident communicator who can align teams and leadership around a shared direction.
• Proven ability to  operate strategically while trusting and empowering technical experts.
• Alignment with our values of curiosity, professionalism, and impact.

Company benefits include a competitive paid time off (PTO) policy & paid sick leave; Medical/Dental/Vision Benefits; monthly health & wellness stipend; annual professional development stipend, and 401(k) program with employer match. Aquagga is an equal opportunity employer and  considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.