Company overview

Lydian is developing the lowest cost sustainable fuels from waste CO2, water, and renewable electricity to decarbonize the aviation industry. Our breakthrough technology replaces oil and gas refining with fully electrified, modular, and flexible reactor systems that produce fuel with 95% lower emissions than traditional jet fuel.

Since our founding in 2021, Lydian has achieved key milestones in record time, including the production of our first liquid fuel from our pilot system, capable of producing 10,000 gallons of fuel per year for a fraction of the capital and time of alternative approaches. We are building a motivated, diverse, and collaborative team that is passionate about addressing the growing climate crisis and is committed to excellence in their work. In particular, we look for tenacious people who are energized by solving the hardest, highest impact problems that come their way.

Position overview

Lydian is looking for a 6-month Catalyst Development R&D Co-op for Spring 2026 to design, synthesize, and develop catalyst and coating materials, including chemical synthesis, slurry formulation, monolith coatings, and reactor testing, as well as optimization and scale-up of these methods to enable pilot-scale demonstrations. You will interface with engineers and scientists across various domains in order to inform your experimental design and research priorities.

This is an hourly position based in Boston, MA and has a minimum commitment of 6-months.

Responsibilities

• Synthesis of novel catalyst formulations to meet demanding reactor requirements (operation for 1000+ h at 1000+ °C)

• Development of slurry coatings with different powders, binders, rheology modifiers and solvents

• Reactor testing to efficiently identify the most promising formulations for further development

• Scale-up of promising formulations to coat large substrates (catalyst monoliths > 5 in long)

• Working effectively with partners, including automotive catalyst suppliers, to develop scalable manufacturing techniques

• Using advanced characterization techniques to develop understanding of materials and degradation mechanisms, and working with external partners who can perform some techniques under our guidance

• Collaborating with the other projects to understand and incorporate requirements and cooperatively solve problems

Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. candidate in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, or related major

• Hands-on, proactive mentality when it comes to lab work and pushing ideas forward

• Interest in high-temperature materials science. Experience in high temperature materials like refractory alloys, advanced ceramics, and superalloys preferred but not necessary.

• Interest in building, running, upgrading, and/or maintaining materials test equipment. Experience in basic prototyping, machining, fabrication, or similar is a plus.

• Experimental planning skills including methodical and efficient DOEs to achieve project goals

• Experience documenting experimental procedures, collecting data and performing statistical analyses of datasets

• Focus on safety and assessing/mitigating risks when running experiments in a lab

• Desire to work in a fast-paced environment and solve interesting technical problems

• Alignment with our mission, vision, and virtues

Company culture and benefits

• Paid lab/engineering-focused internship with a collaborative in-person technical team

• Challenging, meaningful work that can directly impact company success

• Opportunities for networking/exposure within the climate tech community

• Mentorship from a great team of engineers and scientists