Smart Kitchen R&D set-up engineer

Smart Kitchen R&D & Setup Engineer - Kefilo

Role: Smart Kitchen R&D & Setup Engineer / Founding Team Member
Company: Kefilo
Compensation: Equity Only
Work Mode: Remote / Part-time
Commitment: 20-25 hours/week

About Kefilo

Kefilo is building a human transformation ecosystem focused on functional nutrition, preventive wellness, gut health and lifestyle redesign.

We are building beyond a traditional food-delivery model, with a focus on personalized nutrition, healthy food products, transformation programs and scalable food production.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Smart Kitchen R&D & Setup Engineer who can help design and build Kefilos next-generation kitchen infrastructure, with a focus on semi-automation, process optimization, equipment integration and scalable food production.

The long-term vision is to develop a compact, technology-enabled kitchen capable of producing high volumes of standardized meals with minimum manual intervention.

This is an equity-based founding team opportunity for someone who wants to take ownership of the kitchen R&D and setup function from concept to implementation.

Key Responsibilities

• Design the layout and workflow for Kefilos smart and semi-automated kitchen infrastructure.

• Research, evaluate and recommend food processing, cooking, packaging, storage and material-handling equipment.

• Identify opportunities to automate repetitive kitchen activities such as preparation, cooking, portioning, dispensing, packing and cleaning.

• Develop systems to improve production capacity, consistency, food safety, labour efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

• Work on the design of a compact kitchen capable of scaling toward high-volume meal production.

• Coordinate with equipment manufacturers, fabricators, automation companies and engineering vendors for prototyping and implementation.

• Develop technical specifications, equipment requirements, process flows, layouts and setup documentation.

• Conduct trials and R&D to evaluate equipment performance, production processes and automation opportunities.

• Integrate sensors, IoT, control systems, data collection and automation wherever commercially practical.

• Develop SOPs and process controls for semi-automated kitchen operations.

• Analyse production bottlenecks, energy consumption, labour requirements, wastage and throughput to continuously improve the system.

• Work closely with food scientists, nutritionists, operations and the founder to ensure the kitchen supports standardized and nutrition-focused food production.

• Research emerging technologies in food automation, robotics, smart manufacturing and dark-kitchen infrastructure.

• Help develop a scalable kitchen model that can eventually be replicated across multiple locations.

Ideal Candidate

• Degree or practical background in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Industrial Engineering, Automation, Robotics, Food Engineering or a related field.

• Experience with industrial automation, manufacturing systems, process engineering or equipment design.

• Understanding of PLCs, sensors, IoT, robotics, control systems or industrial automation is an advantage.

• Experience in food processing, commercial kitchens, food machinery or manufacturing is highly preferred.

• Strong understanding of production workflows, capacity planning, equipment selection and process optimization.

• Ability to work with vendors, fabricators and technical teams to convert concepts into working systems.

• Strong problem-solving and hands-on R&D mindset.

• Comfortable working in an early-stage environment where systems need to be designed and built from scratch.

• Strong ownership and entrepreneurial mindset.

What You Get

• Founding Smart Kitchen R&D & Setup Engineer position at Kefilo.

• Equity participation.

• Direct collaboration with the founder and multidisciplinary team.

• Opportunity to design and build Kefilos smart kitchen infrastructure from the ground up.

• Ownership of kitchen automation, process engineering and production scalability.

• Opportunity to work on an ambitious food-tech and smart manufacturing project.

• Potential to grow into a core engineering and operations leadership role as Kefilo scales.

Important

This is an equity-only opportunity with no fixed salary at the current stage.

The expected contribution is 20-25 hours per week on a remote, part-time basis. However, the role may require occasional coordination with equipment vendors, manufacturers, fabricators or the physical kitchen setup as the project progresses.

We are looking for someone genuinely interested in building long-term value and taking ownership of a critical R&D function.

The founder onboarding process includes 3-4 strategic discussions followed by a 1-month NDA-based collaboration phase to evaluate technical capability, execution, ownership and long-term alignment.

Equity will be structured based on contribution, responsibility and commitment, with a 5-year vesting structure for core founding members.

Fixed compensation will be introduced after fundraising and revenue stabilization.

If you are primarily looking for a fixed-salary engineering position, this opportunity may not be suitable at the current stage.