Development Engineer

Development EngineerSanibev Inc. · Austin, Texas · Full-time, on-site · Founding technical hireThe opportunitySanibev Inc. is building the first genuinely automated draught line cleaning system — a self-cleaning keg coupler and faucet that clean a bar's beer lines in place on a schedule while the staff go about their night. Every bar in America cleans its lines manually or semi-manually, or pays someone to, or quietly skips it. We are replacing that with a system.The key components are designed and prototyped. The next steps involve testing, refining, and converting the prototypes into bar and restaurant ready and certified equipment.You are the engineer who takes it there.This role lives in our Austin design lab. You will build with your hands, wire what you design, run it until it breaks, understand exactly why, and build the better version. The work spans PLC controls, pneumatic actuation, food-safe fluid handling, chemical dosing, and instrumentation — a genuine mechatronics problem sitting on top of a fluids problem, and one you will own. You will report directly to the founder.Sanibev Inc. was founded by the team behind Taphandles Inc., a 27-year manufacturing organization with 300+ employees and a vertically integrated factory. When you need a part made, it gets made.What you will doBuild and commission the development system — PLC control architecture, pneumatic solenoid banks, chemical-rated diaphragm valve manifolds, recirculation pump, pressure and flow instrumentation, chemical and mixing tanks.Wire it from a blank enclosure — DIN rail layout, 24VDC distribution, fusing, terminal blocks, shielded analog runs, and the drawings that let the next person follow your work.Write and refine the control logic — cycle sequencing, dosing, rinse verification, fault handling, and safe-state behavior. Claude is a working partner for code here; your job is knowing what the program should do and reading it critically when it misbehaves.Design and run the tests that settle questions — chemical contact time, residual verification. Instrument it, log it, report what actually happened.Iterate the coupler and faucet mechanics with our design team and the factory, turning bench learning into producible parts.Keep the machine transferable — a maintained build log, current wiring diagrams, and a version-controlled repository.Prepare the path to certification — NSF/ANSI food equipment standards and UL 508A panel practice, built in from the start.The first ninety days. A fully instrumented development system running a complete, repeatable cycle end to end — logged, documented, and ready to iterate against.What you bringCore:Experience commissioning real machines that had to work at a customer's site on a real datePanel building from scratch, with the wiring discipline that survives inspection and field servicePLC I/O fluency — digital outputs driving solenoid banks, 4–20 mA analog scaling, and the instinct to trace a fault back to its rootPneumatics: manifolds, regulators, FRLs, actuator sizing, tubing routing that lives happily behind a barSanitary fluid plumbing — pumps, diaphragm valves, fittings, leak-free assembly at cold-room temperatureComfort reading and editing code, and keeping it under version controlThe temperament this job actually rewards: self-directed, persistent through the third failed approach, and energized by a problem nobody has solved yetStrong additions:Brewery, beverage plant, or food processing background — CIP cycles, sanitizer handling, three-tier realitiesChemical PPE discipline — you have handled concentrated sanitizers and respect themFusion 360 or SolidWorks for brackets and fixtures, plus 3D printing and light fabricationExposure to NSF, UL, or other equipment certification programsDraught systems experience of any kindA two-year automation degree plus field miles serves this role as well as an engineering degree. Show us what you have built.How we hireA conversation about your work. Bring photos or video of something you built because you wanted to build it.A conversation about a hard bug. Walk us through a problem that took you a week. We care about the diagnostic sequence and what you did while blocked.A paid one-day bench trial. A controller, some solenoids, a pressure sensor, a box of fittings, and a written objective. One day at the bench tells us both far more than another round of interviews.Compensation and benefitsBase salary: $95,000 – $125,000, depending on depth of hands-on commissioning experienceMilestone bonuses. Development milestones carry substantial cash awards. This is a founding technical role and is compensated as one.Health, dental, and vision coverage10 days per year regular PTO, accrued monthly (and increasing annually by 1 day/year up to a maximum of 21 days/year), plus company holidaysTo applySend a résumé and a few paragraphs on something you built end to end — what it had to do, what fought you, and how it turned out. Photos welcome and encouraged.paul@sanibev.comSanibev Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.