Technical Project Development Lead

Brisbane / South-East Queensland | Full-time | Hybrid | Reports to the CEO

Function: Project Development & Engineering Governance Environment: Industrial clean-tech scale-up

About Pelleton Renewables

Pelleton Renewables is a clean-tech company developing innovative solutions for the processing and conversion of high-moisture biowaste into renewable energy products. Our proprietary technology has progressed through laboratory and demonstration scale, and we are now building our first commercial reference projects in Australia. Our plants are built by EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) partners, while Pelleton provides the technology and the core process design.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Technical Project Development Lead to be the single point of ownership for Pelleton projects in Australia. The role reports to the CEO and works closely with our Sales, Process Engineering team, our Design Authority and our Global Technical Director. You will drive industrial projects from initial site qualification through techno-economic feasibility and contract finalisation to delivery oversight, making sure our technical designs become viable, well-performing plants.

This is a project development role, not a sales role. Your job is not to sell products, but to work with customers to turn technically complex opportunities into well-defined, viable projects. We are looking for someone with a strong engineering or industrial project background and the commercial judgement to make projects work for the customer and for Pelleton.

Responsibilities

Techno-Economic Project Development (40%)

Evaluate industrial customer sites, waste streams and energy requirements to identify and prioritise technically viable projects, and lead them through structured feasibility studies, technical assessments and project definition.

- Build strong relationships and credibility with plant management, operations teams, site engineers and senior decision-makers.

- Assess customer operations, waste-stream volumes and characteristics, site constraints, utilities and energy requirements.

- Identify, qualify and prioritise opportunities with credible technical, commercial and financing pathways.

- Lead opportunities from site qualification through technical assessment, feasibility and project definition, with clear requirements, battery limits and decision criteria.

- Develop techno-economic business cases, CAPEX/OPEX models, value propositions and proposals, and keep customer decisions moving.

Engineering Collaboration & Governance (25%)





Translate complex customer constraints into transparent technical scopes. Coordinate internal Process and Design Engineering resources, challenge engineering assumptions, and clear milestones with Pelleton’s Design Authority.

- Define the technical scope for each project: design basis inputs, feedstock envelope, capacity and site interfaces.

- Determine the testing, engineering and data required before any commitment is made.

- Review process flows and mass and energy balances with the engineering team, and challenge assumptions that do not fit the customer application.

- Clear technical milestones with Pelleton’s Design Authority, who approves all technical commitments before they are made to customers.

- Ensure pricing and scope reflect realistic engineering and execution requirements, and lead scope and commercial negotiations with customers.

EPC & Execution Interface (20%)

Serve as the principal client contact during execution, and manage the interface with our EPC partners to monitor project scope, schedules, deliverables and commissioning risks.

- Manage the EPC interface, including scope, schedule, responsibilities, risks and key deliverables, and control scope changes.

- Resolve technical, commercial and delivery issues, and support commissioning, performance testing and handover as required.

- Capture lessons learned to build repeatable, standardised solutions for future projects.

Team, Contractor & Supplier Coordination (10%)

Own and continuously update the supplier ecosystem (equipment, fabrication, services) to fit the requirements of the technical solution.

- Qualify suppliers and contractors, obtain and compare quotes, and feed pricing and lead times into project CAPEX and schedules.

- Coordinate internal team members, contractors and specialist consultants against agreed scopes and project milestones.

Market Development (5%)

- Develop Pelleton’s position in priority Australian markets (meat processing, water and waste utilities, agriculture), and identify new customers, partners and reference projects.

Qualifications & Experience

Education & Experience

- Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Environmental or Civil Engineering, or a related technical discipline,



strongly preferred.

- 8–15 years’ experience in project development, project engineering, technical sales, solutions engineering or industrial project delivery.

- Proven ability to evaluate industrial process flows and mass and energy balances, and to coordinate multidisciplinary engineering resources, suppliers and contractors.

- Experience developing project scopes, feasibility studies, business cases and pricing, and negotiating scope and terms with customers.

- Experience delivering industrial capital projects or process plants, ideally through EPC or EPCM partners.

Relevant industries: bioenergy, biomass or biogas; industrial wastewater or water treatment; meat and food processing; waste and resource recovery; industrial process equipment and OEMs; industrial heat and boiler systems; EPC/EPCM. Direct experience with Pelleton’s technology is not required.

Skills & Competencies

- Technical judgement: The engineering credibility to understand process and plant issues, challenge assumptions and identify technical risk.

- Techno-economic acumen: Confidence linking design choices to project economics, CAPEX/OPEX, pricing and contract terms.

- Project ownership: A track record of personally driving projects to outcomes and keeping multiple stakeholders moving.

- Customer credibility and communication: The ability to explain complex propositions clearly to operators, engineers and senior decision-makers.

- Entrepreneurial mindset: Comfort with autonomy, incomplete information and the realities of a growing scale-up.

Other Requirements

- Based in Brisbane / South-East Queensland, working hybrid between the office, our demonstration plant at Yatala, customer sites and home, with travel to customer, supplier and project sites.

- Current Australian driver’s licence, valid passport and authorisation to work in Australia.

What We Offer

- A meaningful role in taking an innovative clean technology from demonstration to commercial plants.

- A small, multidisciplinary and internationally connected team, with real influence on the Australian business.

- Competitive remuneration package plus participation in Pelleton’s Employee Participation Plan (EPP).

If you are an industrial project developer who enjoys working with site engineers as much as with commercial terms, we would like to hear from you.

To be prioritised and move faster in the process, send your CV + cover letter to ••••@pelletonrenewables.com with the title: Application for Technical Project Development Lead

📌 Technical Project Development Lead-Engineering (Brisbane)
🏢 Pelleton Operations
📍 Brisbane