Co-Founder in Residence, Decarbonising Industrial Process Heat

Join Us as a Founder in Residence in Climate

We're on the lookout for entrepreneurial individuals with technical and commercial domain expertise with keen interest in founding, and building a global scale, impact driven, high growth company from ground up (full-time).

We are seeking applications from experienced industry, startup and engineering based technology development professionals from anywhere in the world to work with us on decarbonising industrial heat.

You’ll work closely with the DSV team and the current Founder in Residence for this area to co-found and spin-out a new company. Once the new venture is incorporated with pre-seed investment from DSV, you and your co-founders will own the majority stake in the business and continue receiving support from the DSV team post-spinout.

The role is full-time, initially remote (can work from anywhere) with possible relocation once the new venture is incorporated.

The Opportunity

Addressing the manufacturing needs of cement, steel, chemicals, aluminium, fertiliser, pulp & paper, glass, and industrially-produced food and drinks depends delivering huge quantities of heat to dozens of manufacturing processes. To supply so-called "process heat" to these processes, such as drying, fermenting, melting, boiling, steaming or curing etc, currently requires burning billions of tonnes of fossil fuels generating 7.5 Gt/yr of emissions. Currently as much as 35% of these emissions are created from processes that occur below 120˚C, a temperature that is economical to electrify via heat pumps. Reducing these emissions in the immediate term (7 - 10 years) would allow humanity to stay on track for Net Zero by 2050.

Our Approach

Converting our current fossil fuel usage to renewable energy through electrification of heating sources is already underway in some production settings, but progress is stifled by extremely challenging economics. Even at 100% heater efficiency, in the USA, operating costs for direct electrification (e.g. electric boilers) using grid electricity are 5 times higher than existing natural gas systems and in Europe the operating costs are double even today. The only device capable of bridging this OPEX gap is industrial-scale heat pumps. Despite this, the capital cost of heat pumps must fall by 10 times to a similar cost as fridge compressors and internal combustion engines, and installation costs by 2 - 3 times before they can become competitive with existing natural gas powered heating. We aim to achieve this cost reduction by selling a fully-integrated, modular heat pump solution.

Requirements

Who Should Apply

Most suitable candidates will likely meet most of the following criteria:

• Previously led or managed commercial delivery of an innovative engineering, industrial, or hardware technology venture with broad understanding of technical product development and R&D commercialisation;
• Industry-specific know-how and commercial knowledge (e.g. forming strategic partnerships, industrial value chains, procurement, etc.), particularly:
• experience engaging directly with food & beverage ingredients manufacture, paper & pulp making or non-metallic minerals manufacture;
• experience selling turnkey industrial equipment for manufacturing use and operation;
• good understanding of power markets across different geographies e.g. day ahead, intraday etc.;
• Experience in startup ecosystems and fundraising (via venture capital, private equity, grants or funds);
• Strong entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to translate scientific discoveries into commercial opportunities, ideally with experience conducting techno-economic analyses and market assessments;
• Experience of working in a leadership role, applying project management and collaborative skills with colleagues across different teams.

Benefits

Our Offer

By joining DSV, you will be part of a team of operators who have founded companies and led the translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds, and government agencies. Here’s what we offer:

• Access to optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources, and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch;
• Opportunity area-specific know-how from our network of Partners and Advisors;
• Up to £250k in investment to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data;
• Guaranteed income of £4,166 per month paid as a consultancy fee until the company is launched and the pre-seed investment is secured;
• Majority equity stake in the new company for you and your co-founders;
• Continuous post-spinout support, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment, and team-building;
• Collaborative support from dozens of Founders currently at DSV across sectors.

About DSV

Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive.

We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out and invest into science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures.

We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.