We're pulling agricultural solutions from 2075 into today. Farmers and our planet can't wait 50 years for inevitable innovations - we need people who can collapse that timeline.
Our Mission
Field Zero is an applied research group building agricultural solutions for 2040 and beyond. We're a small team working on changes that farming will need in 15+ years, not next season. We work directly with farmers to understand future challenges, build potential solutions, and rigorously test our ideas. Most will fail - that's part of our process. We're not interested in incremental improvements. We're here to develop fundamental changes in how farming works, even if they seem impractical today.
How We Work
Our small team works differently from traditional research groups. Rather than splitting into separate projects or working from predetermined solutions, we collaborate to identify what needs to be built in the first place. We spend significant time understanding problems deeply before moving to solutions, and everyone contributes to this exploration phase.
We believe the best innovations come from combining diverse perspectives early in the process. When we do start building, you might find our biologists sketching mechanical designs, our engineers running biological experiments, and everyone contributing to fundamental questions about what we're trying to achieve. This cross-pollination of ideas and skills is core to how we innovate.
The Role
You'll bring strong building and prototyping skills to a team that tackles everything together. We spend time in the field understanding problems, then work across disciplines to imagine solutions. One day you might be building automated sampling rigs with our biologist, the next rethinking soil sensors with our chemist. What we'll build isn't predetermined - we figure that out together. Then we build fast, test ruthlessly, and iterate based on what we learn.
We need someone who's happiest when they're making things work. You might be a mechanical engineer who loves electronics, an agricultural engineer who automates everything they touch, or someone who's been building their own farm equipment since they were young. What matters is your ability to build working solutions in real-world conditions.
Core Expertise
While everyone on the team contributes to all aspects of our projects, you'll bring particularly strong hands-on building experience, demonstrated through:
- Proven track record of building working prototypes that survive field conditions
- Strong mechanical, electrical, or agricultural engineering fundamentals
- Experience with rapid prototyping tools and techniques
- Ability to move from concept to working prototype quickly
- Understanding of agricultural equipment and field conditions
- Track record of building things that actually work
The complexity of agricultural environments demands both technical knowledge and practical experience. We need someone who can build solutions that work in the real world, not just in the lab.
Your Approach
You combine technical expertise with:
- Bias for action - you'd rather build a quick prototype than have a long discussion
- Ability to work with imperfect information and iterate rapidly
- Comfort switching between mechanical, electrical, and software solutions as needed
- Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
- Skill in explaining technical concepts to non-technical audiences
- Willingness to coach other teams members as you go
- History of learning whatever you need to know to solve the problem at hand
What Sets Exceptional Candidates Apart
We especially value candidates who:
- Get excited about exploring undefined problem spaces
- Have experience building to test ideas rather than building to spec
- Show a track record of creative problem-solving with limited information
- Demonstrate ability to work in uncertain conditions
- Bring passion for discovering simple solutions to complex problems
- Can point to projects where you helped shape both what to build and how to build it
Our Environment & Approach
We operate completely free of bureaucracy. No endless meetings, no approval chains, no death by process. Just the freedom to experiment, build, and solve problems. We follow Ben Rich's principle that "the fastest path to good solutions is through aggressive elimination of bad ones." This means:
- Rapid prototyping of new concepts
- Immediate field testing in real conditions
- Quick abandonment of non-viable approaches
- Focus on practical solutions that actually work
- Continuous iteration based on real-world feedback
Location & Resources
Based in Cambridge, you'll have:
- Complete prototyping workshop.
- Field testing sites (TBC)
- Access to Farmers
- Flexible workspace designed for focused work
- Competitive compensation and customizable benefits
Structure & Recognition
We maintain a flat organization where success isn't measured in promotions but in:
- Working prototypes and solutions
- Patents and innovations
- Direct impact on agricultural practices
- Real-world implementation of your creations
A Note on Our Profile
We maintain a low profile intentionally. While you might not find much about us online, we are:
- Fully funded with strong financial backing
- Offering secure, guaranteed compensation
- Equipped with established facilities and resources
- Building for the long term, with the resources to do it right
Our discretion is about maintaining focus, not hiding instability.
Note
If you're someone who's always building things - whether that's in a professional engineering role or in your garage - we want to hear from you. We value demonstrated ability over credentials. What matters is your capacity to turn ideas into working solutions quickly and reliably.
The best candidate for this role might be working on their own automated greenhouse, tinkering with farm equipment, or building robots in their spare time. If you're happiest when you're making things work, we want to talk to you.