OPEX Engineer

About the company

Zymofix is a dynamic and innovative scale-up dedicated to fostering sustainable and circular agriculture. We specialize in creating effective and economically viable microbial products designed to reduce farmers' reliance on agrochemicals while maintaining high productivity. Positioned at the forefront of sustainable agriculture, we are committed to delivering cutting-edge solutions that empower farmers to grow healthy crops and improve yields without resorting to chemical fertilizers. Zymofix is planning the construction of an industrial-scale demonstration plant in 2027.

Your tasks

Job Description & Key Responsibilities As a OPEX engineer you will drive the continuous improvement culture within the production facility. In this role you will look beyond the surface, diving deep into the process to eliminate waste and scale manufacturing efficiency to the next level.

• Process Optimization: you are responsible for identifying, implementing, and ensuring process improvements to increase efficiency, quality, and safety.
• Follow-up on KPI’s; apply value stream mapping and execute Gemba walks.
• Based on data driven analysis, you identify hidden opportunities and propose improvements.
• Lead independently cross functional improvement projects with minimal supervision.
• Standardization & training: write, revise, and standardize Standard Operating Procedures to embed new best practices firmly into daily operations; deliver training modules to build a site-wide OPEX mindset. Responsible for keeping training matrix up-to-date and organizing training accordingly, in collaboration with the production team lead.
• Identify root causes of technical anomalies/malfunctions or inefficiencies.
• Provide support with day-to-day technical problems; act as a point of contact for problem solving.
• Support implementation of new equipment, systems or workflows.

Requirements

We’re looking for an energetic and enthusiastic personality with excellent communication skills, capable of inspiring and engaging teams to bring meaningful change and challenge the status quo, while respecting strict quality and safety.

The role requires strong analytical and problem-solving skills, preventive way of thinking, a high degree of independence, and the ability to collaborate effectively with a multidisciplinary team.

You might be our perfect match if you meet the requirements below. But don't worry if you don't tick every box, we dare you to apply anyway. You never know if there’s another role at Zymofix that's a better fit for your skills.

• A master’s degree in engineering/biotech with a minimum of 3-5 years of experience in a continuous Improvement or OPEX role within a manufacturing environment;
• Proven track record of applying operational excellence techniques as Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in a production setting.
• Analytical and data-driven, out-of-the-box thinking, solution-oriented mindset, and a hands-on approach.
• Experience in biochemical process know-how and change-management is a plus.
• A structured way of working, with an eye of detail, excellent communicator able to engage people, with a drive for continuous improvement.
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written; fluency in Dutch is a plus.