Gunther van Molendorff

Technical Advisor - Rijkswaterstaat

Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands

About

Engineering Leader | Deep Tech Innovator | Driving Product Vision & Scalable Systems I’m a mechanical engineering leader with 6+ years of experience in building complex systems, scaling teams, and driving product innovation from R&D through market launch. I've led the full lifecycle of Direct Air Capture technologies, building a team from 1 to 15 engineers and launching multiple products to market readiness. My strength lies in bridging first-principles engineering with scalable execution, enabling innovative, sustainable products across green tech, hardware-software systems, and deep tech. -> On the path to CTO

Experience

  • Technical Advisor Industrial Automation at Rijkswaterstaat
    Mar 2026 - Present · 4 mos

  • Skytree (Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands)
    • Technical Project Development Manager EMEA
      Jun 2025 - Mar 2026 · 10 mos

      Skytree is engineering the CO2 transition by building machines to capture CO2 from the air and repurpose it for good: whether it’s reused across different industries or stored permanently. Our DAC technology transforms atmospheric CO₂ into a valuable resource: powering applications like renewable fuels and chemicals, greenhouse operations, beverage carbonation and water treatment. Our modular DAC machines and unique DAC Park architecture allow us to deploy in any climate, at scale - empowering more industries to switch to a circular CO2 source and contribute to a cleaner planet. With more than 10 years of applied research starting at the European Space agency, we have the engineering excellence and the patented technology to enable the shift towards decarbonization. Our machines are already hard at work, capturing over 10M tonnes of CO2 by 2030.

    • Manager Mechanical Engineering
      Aug 2024 - Sep 2025 · 1 yr 2 mos

    • Team Lead - Mechanical Engineering
      Apr 2023 - Aug 2024 · 1 yr 5 mos

      Skytree harnesses carbon through the power of decentralized direct air capture technology (DDAC). We believe by creating modular solutions to capture carbon at customer sites we can accelerate the health of our planet and society. That is why we created one of the worlds smallest and simplest carbon capture processes to transform how food is grown, improve water treatment as well as provide clean air across the buildings we work in. DDAC reduces emissions from supply chains, closes the carbon loop, saves energy and provides a viable pathway to a smarter carbon future. We are on a mission to change people’s relationship with carbon, fast tracking the health of society and our planet. Join us to transform carbon capture https://skytree.eu

  • Pro Project Machinery (Full-time · 1 yr 4 mos)
    • Lead Mechanical Design Engineer
      Jul 2021 - Apr 2022 · 10 mos

      - Head of Mechanical Design department - Time management and progress planning for team - Full machine design - CAD - Consult with clients - Strength calculations - Operational structure improvements

    • Mechanical Design Engineer
      Jan 2021 - Jul 2021 · 7 mos

      - CAD - Concept design - Workshop assistance - Procurement - Fast pace designing - Strength calculations

  • Mechanical Engineer at Mechanical Consulting Engineers (FDB&A)
    Feb 2019 - Aug 2020 · 1 yr 7 mos

    - Finite Element Analyisis - Fluid calculations, pump spec and high pressure pipeline design - Fire and Safety - CAD in various softwares - Coding

  • Vacation Student at WSP in Africa
    Nov 2018 - Dec 2018 · 2 mos

    Worked in the HVAC department Conducted on-site inspections Created CAD renderings Worked with clients Performed HVAC simulations