Greenhouse Climate Engineer
Design and reliability of the environmental control systems — thermal, humidity, CO₂, airflow, and spectral lighting — that hold every cultivation zone inside its specimen-specific climate envelope.
Role Summary
The Greenhouse Climate Engineer owns the actuation side of the facility's environmental control: HVAC and thermal loops, humidity and dew-point management, CO₂ dosing, airflow and pressure cascades between containment grades, and the Spectral Canopy Array lighting program. Where CHLORA decides the setpoint, this engineer designs and maintains the hardware and control loops that hit it — and proves they hold it. The role is accountable for keeping each zone inside its published climate envelope, for the pressure-cascade integrity that underpins containment, and for the energy efficiency of the whole environmental plant. Climate excursions feed directly into specimen stress and aggression, so this is a containment-relevant engineering role.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, commission, and maintain thermal, humidity, CO₂, and airflow control loops for every cultivation zone, holding setpoints within the per-specimen climate envelope.
- Engineer and verify the inter-grade pressure cascade so containment bays remain at correct negative/positive pressure, feeding Containment Integrity assurance.
- Operate and tune the Spectral Canopy Array lighting program — photoperiod and spectral recipes — coordinated with cultivation schedules.
- Integrate climate actuation with CHLORA via the control console so automated setpoints reliably translate into actuator action; validate in staging before cutover.
- Hold climate stability against Canopy Vitality targets and investigate excursions before they raise the Aggression Index.
- Maintain the environmental plant to its reliability SLO (≥ 99.5% zone-in-envelope time) and lead root-cause analysis on climate excursions and equipment faults.
- Serve the engineering on-call rotation (1 week in 4), responding to P1 climate/pressure incidents within 15 minutes and protecting containment-critical zones first per SOP — Emergency Breach.
- Drive energy optimization of the environmental plant and document control designs, runbooks, and change records under change control.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's in mechanical, HVAC, controls, mechatronics, or biosystems engineering; 7+ years in controlled-environment, HVAC, or industrial control (Staff-level depth).
- Deep control-loop, psychrometrics, and airflow/pressure-cascade design experience.
- Hands-on commissioning and reliability engineering of environmental plant at scale.
- Current CHLORA Operator and able to obtain GCL-3 clearance and GCL-2 in-bay medical fitness.
Preferred Qualifications
- Controlled-environment agriculture or cleanroom/biocontainment HVAC background.
- Spectral/horticultural lighting design and photobiology familiarity.
- Energy modeling and building-automation systems experience.
Certifications Required
Certification curricula are delivered through the Verdant Academy; currency is tracked on the HR Training Matrix.
| Certification | Status at Hire | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| CHLORA Operator | Required (or ≤60d) | 24 months |
| Climate & Pressure-Cascade Systems | Required | 24 months |
| Toxin Handling Tier 1 | Required ≤90d | Annual |
| Emergency Response — Basic | Required ≤90d | Annual |
Physical & Hazard Requirements
- Work at height, in plant rooms, and in confined spaces; lift up to 22 kg.
- Tolerate hot, humid, and high-CO₂ zones; wear PPE appropriate to bay grade.
- Pass GCL-2 medical fitness and respond to on-call interruption.
Compensation Band
Career Path
Greenhouse Climate Engineer (E4) advances to Principal Engineer (E5) or the Bio-Systems Engineering Lead management track. Adjacent moves include Bio-Systems Engineer (VC-HR-J041) and CHLORA Operations Analyst (VC-HR-J052).