Senior Formulation Chemist

MIGHTY FIRE BREAKER, LLC / CITROTECH (NYSE AMERICAN: CITR) Senior Formulation Chemist On-site / Oceanside, CA Full-time Reports to R&D Manager ABOUT CITROTECH CitroTech is a publicly traded wildfire defense company (NYSE American: CITR) manufacturing EPA Safer Choice certified, citrus-based, phosphate-free fire inhibitor products. Our products protect homes, infrastructure, and forests from wildfire — without the environmental and health concerns of legacy phosphate retardants. We are headquartered in Oceanside, CA and growing rapidly as we advance USFS qualification, expand utility and railroad partnerships, and scale into municipal fire department markets. THE OPPORTUNITY CitroTech is rapidly advancing its R&D pipeline — including USFS Qualified Products List submissions, EPA Safer Choice product family expansions, and next-generation concentrate formulations. We are hiring a Senior Formulation Chemist to work alongside our R&D Manager on the next wave of product development, regulatory submissions, and production scale-up support. This is a hands-on lab role with exposure across the entire product lifecycle: formulation, testing, regulatory submission support, and production support. You will be in the lab daily, partnering closely with R&D leadership, external testing labs, and university research partners. WHAT YOU WILL OWN ■ Formulation development and optimization for citrus-based fire inhibitor and related specialty chemical products. ■ Hands-on lab testing and validation: pH, viscosity, stability, corrosion, fire performance, and material compatibility. ■ Coordination with external testing labs and university research partners on specialized testing (corrosion, ASTM fire performance, environmental impact). ■ Documentation and submission support for regulatory pathways: EPA Safer Choice, USFS, Caltrans, NFPA, and similar. ■ Quality and batch consistency support for production — partnering with Operations on BOM accuracy, raw material specifications, and yield. ■ Patent and intellectual property documentation in support of company IP strategy. ■ Lab discipline and documentation that produces audit-ready data on every test. WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN 12 MONTHS ■ Active, measurable contribution to USFS Qualified Products List submissions and other regulatory milestones. ■ Successful EPA Safer Choice product family expansions, including concentrate submissions. ■ Lab data and documentation that meets or exceeds external auditor and regulator expectations. ■ A collaborative, productive working relationship with R&D leadership and external partners. YOU ARE A STRONG FIT IF ■ You have a Chemistry degree (BS minimum, MS or PhD preferred) with at least 5 years of hands-on formulation experience in industry. ■ You have formulated aqueous-system products before — fire retardants, agricultural chemicals, coatings, cleaning chemicals, surfactants, or similar specialty chemical formulations. ■ You are familiar with regulatory submissions — EPA, FIFRA, USFS, ASTM, NFPA, or similar pathways. You know what "audit-ready" data looks like. ■ You are hands-on in the lab. You do the work yourself; you do not direct others to do it for you. You are comfortable being the bench scientist in a small, scrappy R&D team. ■ You are detail-oriented and documentation-disciplined. Your data is reproducible, your records are complete, and your colleagues never have to ask you to redo something. ■ You are tech-savvy and AI-enabled. You actively use AI tools — Claude, ChatGPT, or similar — to accelerate literature review, documentation, and analysis. CitroTech runs an AI-native workflow. ■ You are direct, accountable, and low-ego. You raise issues early, document decisions in writing, and take ownership of outcomes. BONUS POINTS ■ Background in fire retardant, fire suppression, or fire safety chemistry. ■ Direct experience with EPA Safer Choice submissions and the Safer Choice Community portal. ■ Corrosion testing experience or inhibitor chemistry background. ■ Surfactant chemistry or specialty cleaning chemical formulation experience. ■ Patent / IP documentation experience. ■ Familiarity with USFS 5100-304 specifications and Qualified Products List process. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS ■ Base salary: $95,000–$130,000 commensurate with experience and credentials. ■ Performance bonus tied to R&D milestones and company performance. ■ Equity participation in a publicly traded company. ■ Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), PTO, and standard benefits package. ■ Direct exposure to executive leadership and a meaningful role in product strategy. ROLE LOGISTICS ■ Location: Oceanside, CA. This is an on-site lab role. ■ Schedule: Standard business hours with flexibility for testing windows and external lab coordination. ■ Travel: Occasional — to external testing labs, university partners, and trade events. ■ Start date: As soon as possible. HOW TO APPLY Please send a resume and a brief note (1–2 paragraphs) addressing the following: ■ A specific formulation challenge you owned end-to-end — the problem, your approach, and how you validated the solution. ■ Your experience with regulatory submissions (EPA, USFS, ASTM, FIFRA, or similar) — what you submitted, what was approved, what you learned. ■ Why an EPA Safer Choice wildfire defense company appeals to you at this point in your career. Send to: andrew@citrotech.com Mighty Fire Breaker, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Pay: $95,000.00 - $130,000.00 per year Benefits: 401(k) Dental insurance Health insurance Life insurance Education: Bachelor's (Required) Ability to Commute: Oceanside, CA 92058 (Required) Willingness to travel: 25% (Preferred) Work Location: In person