Full-Time
Lead Mechanical Technician
Via Separations
11-50 employees
Delivers energy-efficient membrane filtration
Compensation Overview
$80.8k - $110k/yr
Watertown, MA, USA
In Person
Occasional travel may be required to support field-deployed pilot units.
 General Maintenance & Repair (1) |
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- At least 10 years of hands-on experience assembling, fabricating, and maintaining mechanical and piping systems, including pumps, valves, piping, instrumentation, and basic electrical wiring.
- Ability to read and work directly from engineering drawings, P&IDs, and specifications.
- Experience using hand tools and shop equipment, including cut-off saws and pipe threading machines.
- Ability to work safely around hazardous liquids and gases.
- Experience ordering or specifying material for fabrication or maintenance work.
- Strong troubleshooting skills across mechanical, piping, and basic electrical and controls systems.
- Knowledge of reverse osmosis and high-pressure system components, operation, and safe handling.
- Ability to lead tasks and provide direction to others on a build or maintenance job.
- Ability to work independently with minimal oversight while prioritizing and managing tasks with sound judgment.
- Ability to use required personal protective equipment and strictly follow safety procedures when working with hazardous liquids and gases, pressurized systems, and powered shop equipment.
- Ability to lift up to 50 pounds, undergo background and drug screening, and spend extended periods standing while performing hands-on mechanical assembly and fabrication tasks.
- U.S. work authorization is required.
- Assemble and fabricate internal test equipment and skids, including pumps, piping, valves, instrumentation, controls, and electrical and wiring components.
- Read and interpret engineering drawings, P&IDs, and specifications to plan and execute builds accurately.
- Order and track materials required for builds, coordinating with engineering and procurement to ensure correct specifications and timely delivery.
- Use hand tools and shop equipment, including cut-off saws and pipe threading machines, to fabricate and install piping and structural components.
- Lead build sequencing and task assignment for assigned projects while ensuring work meets quality and safety standards.
- Support shipping and receiving activities, including building crates and packaging large items and equipment for outgoing freight.
- Coordinate with electricians, plumbers, and HVAC contractors to support the installation, maintenance, repair, and upgrade of laboratory equipment and facility systems.
- Maintain, inspect, and repair existing test skids and internal systems to keep them in safe and reliable operating condition.
- Troubleshoot mechanical, piping, instrumentation, and electrical issues on test equipment, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions.
- Coordinate with process and systems engineers on equipment modifications, upgrades, and recurring issues.
- Work safely around hazardous liquids and gases while following safety protocols and PPE requirements.
- Serve as a technical lead for build and maintenance activities, mentor colleagues, and help enforce shop safety and quality standards.
- Identify and promptly escalate safety concerns, near-misses, and process deviations.
- Prior experience in a laboratory, industrial test or fabrication, or field equipment deployment environment.
- Familiarity with plumbing, pipefitting, and/or piping codes and material standards, such as ASME B31.3, and basic instrumentation and controls wiring.
- Experience with chemical process equipment or corrosive service materials, such as stainless steel and specialty alloys.
Via Separations builds advanced membrane platforms for industrial filtration to replace energy-heavy thermal separations. Their membranes separate mixtures at the molecular level using specialized materials, enabling lower temperatures and substantial energy savings. This material-focused approach differentiates them from conventional filtration players by withstanding harsh process conditions and targeting sectors like chemical manufacturing, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and water treatment. Their goal is to cut energy use and costs in industrial separations by selling membranes, providing installation and optimization services, and licensing the technology.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Late Stage VC
Total Funding
$93.2M
Headquarters
Watertown, Massachusetts
Founded
2017
Get referred to Via Separations
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- April 2026 $36 million funding extends manufacturing and deployment capacity.
- DOE selected Via for up to $46.6 million supporting International Paper.
- Hundreds of millions of dollars of projects sit in the commercial pipeline.
What critics are saying
- Commercial revenue still depends on one pulp-and-paper beachhead and DOE conversion timelines.
- Refining and chemicals deployments remain unproven beyond pilots, delaying 2027 backlog monetization.
- Membrane fouling or uptime failures would destroy scale economics and kill the platform.
What makes Via Separations unique
- MIT spinout Via uses membranes to replace heat in industrial separations.
- April 2026 financing brought Aramco Ventures, Marathon Petroleum, and Climate Investment.
- Two years of continuous Grande Prairie mill operation validates commercial durability.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
401(k) Retirement Plan
12+ weeks of paid Family Leave
Paid Flex time off
Paid time off for Company holidays
Company Equity
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 4%2 year growth
↓ -1%Aramco Ventures backs Via Separations in $36 million round. News - 06 April, 2026 * Saudi Arabia's Aramco Ventures participated in a $36 million funding round for the US-based deeptech startup Via Separations, alongside Climate Investment and Marathon Petroleum. * Founded in 2016, Via Separations develops modular filtration systems that replace heat-based industrial separation processes with energy-efficient alternatives. * The funding will support global deployment, manufacturing expansion, and adoption of membrane-based separations across industrial sectors. Via Separations, a leader in process solutions for industrial separations, today announced $36 million in new funding with significant participation from new investors, including Climate Investment, Aramco Ventures, and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, alongside participation from existing backers, including Embark Ventures, The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), and Safar Partners. The investment will accelerate deployment of Via's modular filtration platform into the refining and chemical sectors, building on proven commercial performance in pulp and paper to help industrial operators reduce energy use, improve uptime, and strengthen operational resilience - with the added benefit of lower emissions. Via electrifies heat-based separation with modular filtration systems that integrate directly with existing equipment, drastically reducing the energy required for chemical separations. These thermal separation steps account for roughly 12 percent of global energy use, driving significant fuel and steam demand across industrial separations. By replacing them with a mechanically driven membrane process, Via's system can reduce energy use at the separation step by up to 90 percent, delivering lower operating costs, higher uptime, and a more flexible pathway to energy efficiency and electrification. The company has proven the technology at commercial scale in the pulp and paper sector, approaching two years of continuous operation at a pulp mill in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. Via is now expanding deployment into refining and chemicals, with hundreds of millions of dollars of capital projects in the commercial pipeline. The company also completed a pilot at a major Gulf Coast refinery last year. "Thermal separations represent one of the largest and least-addressed sources of industrial energy consumption," said Mike Bishop, Investment Director at Climate Investment. "Via's innovative membrane platform introduces electrification to processes that have depended on heat for more than a century. By seamlessly integrating into existing industrial infrastructure, the company provides a practical solution for reducing energy consumption, enhancing reliability, and significantly lowering emissions." "At Aramco Ventures, we invest in differentiated technologies that can deliver clear operational value at scale," said Tibor Toth, Senior Investment Director at Aramco Ventures. "Via Separations' modular platform addresses a critical step in industrial processing and has strong potential to enhance efficiency and unlock additional capacity within existing refining and chemical assets." "By proving our technology commercially in one sector, we've built the foundation to scale into the much larger refining and chemicals markets," said Shreya Dave, CEO of Via Separations. "This investment enables us to deliver more commercial projects across the product portfolio, expand manufacturing capacity, and accelerate global adoption of membrane-based separations."
Via Separations, a developer of industrial separation solutions, has raised $36 million in funding led by Climate Investment, Aramco Ventures and Marathon Petroleum Corporation. Existing investors including Embark Ventures, The Grantham Foundation and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center also participated. The company has developed modular filtration systems that replace heat-based separation processes with mechanically driven membrane technology, reducing energy use by up to 90 per cent at the separation step. Thermal separations account for approximately 12 per cent of global energy consumption. Via has proven the technology commercially in the pulp and paper sector, with nearly two years of continuous operation at a mill in Grande Prairie, Alberta. The funding will accelerate deployment into refining and chemicals sectors, with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of projects in the pipeline.
Fifteen percent of US energy consumption is dedicated to purifying streams in industrial processes. From polymers for plastic products, to active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugs, to nutrients for food products, traditional methods to separate and purify rely on heat. Via Separations is tackling this energy use in process separations by developing a novel, more resilient filtration membrane.
Lowering the embodied carbon of everyday products and materials by replacing thermal separations, a key process to separate substances based on boiling points, with an electrified filtration process.
Two Massachusetts-based projects aiming to decarbonize the industrial sector received more than $3.1 million total in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).