Mechanical Engineer – Biomass Cook Stove Development

About the role

Onja is seeking a Mechanical Engineer to lead the design, development, and scale‑up of improved biomass cook stoves for its clean‑cooking carbon offset project. The role will take stove concepts from early prototypes through testing, iteration, and production, ensuring they meet performance, durability, cost, and manufacturability requirements.

Key responsibilities

• Lead design and development of wood‑ and charcoal‑based cook stove prototypes using existing models and international examples.
• Build, test, and refine prototypes, analysing results and user feedback to improve fuel efficiency, emissions, safety and durability.
• Balance project requirements such as cost, manufacturability, and user needs while considering local material availability.
• Develop scalable manufacturing designs, including material selection, component specifications, tooling, assembly methods and quality‑control processes.
• Collaborate with the Onja Carbon team, local suppliers and testing laboratories to ensure reliable, affordable production.

Required profile

• Solid engineering foundation with curiosity, resourcefulness and a willingness to test, learn and improve.
• Experience designing cookstoves, combustion systems or comparable manufactured products is an asset.
• Ability to work in a practical, hands‑on environment and adapt designs to local constraints.

Required skills

• Mechanical design and prototyping.
• Understanding of combustion principles and fuel‑efficiency optimization.
• Material selection and manufacturing process knowledge.