VP / Senior Manager, Operations and Engineering

Role overview

This opportunity is with NEU Battery Materials, a startup backed by SGInnovate. Founded in 2021, NEU is a Singapore-based climatetech company that created a patented electrochemical redox process for recycling used lithium batteries. Its core work focuses on recovering valuable lithium from lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries used in electric vehicles and energy storage applications, helping build a circular supply chain. NEU has been recognized for its work in electrification and circularity by organizations and publications such as the Temasek Foundation, BloombergNEF, and Forbes Asia.

The company is hiring an experienced VP / Senior Manager, Operations and Engineering to join the engineering team at an important scale-up stage.

Objectives

• Deliver projects on schedule and keep spending within the approved capital budget.
• Improve operational performance metrics such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), plant uptime, yield, and cost efficiency against plan.
• Maintain strong operational safety and secure all necessary permits and regulatory approvals.
• Develop the Operations & Engineering function and put standard operating procedures in place.

Engineering scale-up and project delivery

• Lead the full transition of NEU’s proprietary recycling process from laboratory scale to commercial scale by coordinating internal development, external partners, and EPCs.
• Oversee process layout, utility planning, and supporting infrastructure work.
• Set the project scope, timeline, capital budget, and resourcing plan, while ensuring on-time and on-budget execution.
• Turn insights from lab and pilot work into practical, scalable, and cost-conscious commercial engineering solutions.
• Act as the internal lead and coordinator for EPCM contractors or external engineering consultants.
• Source, assess, and manage engineering consultants, EPCs, and contractors.
• Review engineering outputs, technical drawings, and safety-related documents.
• Ensure quality, technical, and safety standards are consistently achieved throughout the scale-up process.
• Define and apply engineering standards for quality, safety, and commercial readiness.
• Convert validated R&D findings into strong and scalable process specifications.

Local operations

• Work closely with internal teams, contractors, and suppliers to keep all workstreams aligned.
• Own the complete material flow, starting from feedstock intake through to outbound materials.
• Improve OEE, uptime, cost per ton, and other plant-level performance indicators.
• Manage operating costs and identify opportunities to reduce costs for future commercial plant design.
• Support process validation, performance testing, and troubleshooting during commissioning.
• Handle relevant Singapore permits and approvals, including NEA, SCDF, MOM, and PUB.
• Ensure compliance with requirements for chemical handling, workplace safety, waste management, and environmental discharge.
• Create scalable compliance frameworks that can also be applied in international markets.
• Coach and develop junior engineers in plant design, vendor coordination, and commissioning activities.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Process, or Industrial Engineering. An MBA or PMP certification would be an added advantage.
• At least 8 years of experience scaling industrial processes from lab or pilot stage to commercial operations, or in EPCM/operations leadership, preferably in lithium, chemical, or recycling environments.
• A strong history of moving technologies from pilot to full-scale production, including EPCM or plant project management from concept through commissioning.
• Solid knowledge of plant engineering design, commissioning, and manufacturing systems.
• Hands-on operations management experience covering material handling, SOP creation, logistics, maintenance, and EH&S.
• Experience mentoring engineers and collaborating across functions in R&D-driven settings is preferred.
• Strong analytical ability and structured problem-solving skills.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Familiarity with international environmental and industrial safety standards, especially in the US and EU, is useful.
• Additional advantage if you have knowledge of flow batteries, redox flow processes, electrochemical systems, or fuel cells.

Additional information

This role is based in Singapore and is tied to onsite work. The position is part of a startup environment focused on scaling a proprietary battery recycling technology into commercial operations.