Full-Stack Hardware Engineering Intern
Farmless
We’re building the protein breweries of the future. Our process is up to 5,000× more land-efficient than animal or plant protein. In the coming years, we’ll run our first commercial facilities producing thousands of tonnes of protein.
This internship is about helping build the systems that make that possible.
The role
We’re looking for someone who builds things. Not just in CAD, but in the real working systems.
You will own projects from day one. As an example, our last intern made a custom ultra high temperature device from scratch, designing, sourcing all the parts, building, testing and implementing it.
You’ll work across mechanical design, electrical systems, and basic software. The goal is simple: take ideas from a blank page to a working machine, fast.
What your day looks like
No two weeks are the same. You might:
design a custom fermenter component in CAD
build a frame in the workshop (grinding, drilling, welding)
wire a control cabinet and integrate sensors
debug a system that’s not behaving the way it should
modify hardware because the first version didn’t work
This is hands-on engineering. Things break, leak, overheat, or behave unexpectedly. You fix them. The systems you build will run real fermentations.
How we work
We’re a small, high-talent-density team. Every person here matters.
We work on site because hardware is built together. You walk to the system, test it, change it, test again. We build from first principles. If “industry standard” slows us down, we rewrite it.
There is real autonomy. The person closest to the problem decides. If something is broken, you fix it.
Speed matters. We build, test, learn, and iterate quickly. Mistakes are fine. Repeating them isn’t.
You’ll get your hands dirty. Workshop, wiring, wet systems, messy setups, that’s part of the job. If you’re looking for a standard 9 to 5 internship, this is not it. Your learning curve is as steep as you can handle it.
What you’ll work on
Design and build custom components (CAD → fabrication → assembly)
Work in the workshop: drilling, tapping, grinding, basic machining, welding
Build and wire electrical systems and control cabinets
Integrate sensors, actuators, and control logic
Debug and improve real systems under time pressure
Help improve how we design and build our hardware
Who you are
You don’t need to know everything yet. But you need to be serious about building.
You study mechanical, mechatronics, or a related field
You’ve built things outside of uni: projects, machines, electronics, anything real
You like being in a workshop and working with tools
You’re comfortable figuring things out without waiting for instructions
You move fast and learn quickly because you enjoy it
If you have experience with welding, electronics, or embedded systems, that helps.
We’re going beyond the limiting constraints of photosynthesis. We use natural fermentation to turn simple ingredients into complex proteins. It’s what we've been doing for millennia with wine, beer, bread and yoghurt.
Yet most fermentations rely on sugars - which are derived from crops grown on agricultural land. Our fermentation platform relies on an easily storable and shippable renewable energy based feedstock. This allows us to break free from the limiting constraints of photosynthesis.
We’re building the spiritual successor to the Haber-Bosch process. While Haber-Bosch led to cheap synthetic fertilizer which currently feeds half of humanity, we have found a way to produce amino acid complete proteins up to ±5000X more land efficient than animals. By rough approximation this could multiply the carrying capacity of the earth by an order of magnitude. The result of our ambition should be visible from space.
About us
We’re a small, highly technical and deeply curious team with deep food and fermentation expertise with backgrounds from the Vegetarian Butcher, Perfect Day to Nature’s Fynd and many more.
We’re flat and interdisciplinary by design. We value autonomy, speed, and ambition. You’ll have the freedom to build, and the responsibility to do it well.
We’re based within the city ring of Amsterdam – for a reason. We want to attract the best people from around the world and believe that Amsterdam is a great place to settle – and bike to work. On top of that, the Netherlands is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. The Dutch have a mindset to push the boundaries of food production and have the practical expertise to scale up our fermentation platform.
We believe hardware startups can thrive in Europe. If we can get approval here, we can do it anywhere (and we want Europe to accelerate).
We’ve raised +€10M from world-class investors including World Fund, Vorwerk Ventures, Revent, and Nucleus Capital, and European and national grants.