Senior Facilities Manager

THEZERO INC.

Sunnyvale, CA Job Details Full-time $130,000 - $170,000 a year 12 hours ago Benefits Health insurance Dental insurance 401(k) Paid time off Vision insurance Retirement plan Qualifications Operations management Manufacturing facility experience Production planning Factory experience Senior leadership Full Job Description About Us TheZero is an exciting startup company with an ambitious vision to enable affordable transitions to net-zero-emissions economies. It is built on breakthrough technologies developed at Stanford University to convert organic waste feedstock from agricultural and food ecosystems into biochar. The key innovation is the reduction of biochar processing cost by a factor of 10 compared to traditional approaches, making the economics both compelling and scalable to about 15 billion tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to approximately one-third of global emissions. This transformative technology also creates the lowest cost solid biofuel that can economically replace coal in energy generation as well as in steel and chemical production, including oil, hydrogen and plastics. We are a fast-moving, expert team dedicated to scaling this impactful solution globally. TheZero was co-founded by Stanford faculty leaders Arun Majumdar and Yi Cui, and innovator Divya Chalise. Their vision fuels our mission to radically reduce carbon emissions by enabling affordable net-zero-emissions technology. We are currently building our core team, whose leadership and expertise will guide TheZero into its next phase of scaling and expansion. We value your contributions as central to this journey and offer an environment that encourages innovation, ownership, and collaboration. At TheZero, you will work closely across disciplines, including R D scientists, to drive cross-functional teamwork and deliver breakthrough climate solutions at scale. The Role As Senior Facilities Manager at TheZero, you will take our first pilot facility from cold commissioning through sustained nameplate production. This is the plant that proves our technology works at commercial scale - every system, procedure, and person on site will be operating for the first time, and you will be the one making the judgment calls that determine whether it performs. You will drive shakedown and performance testing through formal acceptance, verify that machinery and safety systems hold up before full-rate production, and hire and train the team that runs it. Because nothing here is inherited, the problems you solve and the standards you set become the operating template for every facility we build after this one. Your leadership will be crucial to achieving our ambitious CO2 sequestration targets and fueling TheZero's next phase of growth and expansion. What You'll Do Plant Commissioning and Setup

• Lead commissioning and operational setup of the plant, coordinating schedule and scope across EPC contractors, equipment vendors, safety and permit consultants, and local authorities to deliver a safe and on-time launch.
• Participate in factory and site acceptance testing (FAT/SAT) and design a maintenance program, including preventive and predictive maintenance programs, planned outages, uptime targets, and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) standards.
• Build and implement a site safety program, covering hot work, confined space, lockout/tagout, combustible dust housekeeping, hot product handling, mobile equipment traffic, and emergency response.
• Develop feedstock and biochar storage protocols to optimize inventory, moisture management, and mitigate self-heating and combustion risks.
• Coordinate inbound and outbound logistics with operations team to establish ticketing, truck routing and staging, receiving inspection and sampling, load-out, etc.
• Create and implement plant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and operational standards.

Team Setup and Leadership:

• Recruit, train, and manage a high-performing facilities team with a strong culture of safety, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Develop and deliver an onboarding and training program, including qualification standards for each role.
• Own site-level labor compliance, including wage and hour rules, timekeeping and payroll accuracy, break and rest requirements, overtime and shift differentials, OSHA 300 recordkeeping, etc.

Ongoing Plant Operations & Management:

• Run all day-to-day plant operations to safely achieve production, quality, yield, reliability, and cost objectives. Drive plant performance through proactive maintenance, operational discipline, KPI tracking, and regular reporting to leadership.
• Manage permit compliance (air permit, stormwater, waste handling, local fire and building), including monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting obligations.
• Manage inbound feedstock supply and outbound product logistics to optimize inventory, production scheduling, and customer deliveries.
• Drive continuous improvement to increase throughput, energy efficiency, labor productivity, equipment reliability, and operating performance while maintaining SOPs and capturing operational best practices. Who You Are
• 6+ years in process manufacturing or heavy industry, including 3+ years managing people and full accountability for a production area or plant.
• Direct experience commissioning and starting up a new plant, production line, or major capital project.
• Background in a thermal or bulk-solids process environment (pyrolysis, gasification, biomass power, pellet mills, kilns, lime/cement, pulp and paper, waste-to-energy, or similar).
• Demonstrated ownership of an industrial EHS program and a track record of strong safety results.
• Experience building and running a preventive maintenance program and managing to uptime/availability targets.
• Hiring and training experience in an hourly/technical workforce, ideally in a tight labor market. Working knowledge of wage and hour and OSHA recordkeeping obligations for an hourly workforce.
• Comfort dealing directly with regulators and local officials on inspections, reporting, and permit conditions.
• Experience working in fast-paced, high-growth environments. Compensation

Salary:

$130,000-$170,000/year, plus equity (based on experience with milestone-based vesting aligned to key company growth targets)

Benefits:

Health, dental, and vision insurance, mission-driven culture, and early-stage ownership Contact Interested applicants, please send your CV with your contact information and a summary of your expertise to Divya Chalise (), CTO & Co-founder of TheZero.

Location:

Bay Area (Sunnyvale/Fremont)

Pay:

$130,000.00 - $170,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) Dental insurance Health insurance Paid time off Retirement plan

Work Location:

In person