Company Description
PureLine Aquatic Farms is an Ontario-based live aquatic food producer specializing in the controlled cultivation of blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus) for serious aquarists, ornamental fish breeders, and research laboratories.
We operate to an exacting standard — verified monocultures, monitored indoor systems, strict purging and handling protocols. Our focus is narrow by design. We're building a production operation where consistency and biological integrity aren't aspirational, they're the product.
We're at an early stage, establishing our first commercial facility now. This is a ground-floor opportunity to build something serious from day one.
Role Description
You will be the technical lead for our production system — responsible for designing, building, operating, and continuously optimizing how we grow blackworms at commercial scale.
This is not a research position. There is no existing playbook. You will be working in a hands-on production environment where the measure of success is pounds harvested per week, consistency of quality, and cost per pound produced. We think in yield, FCR, and output per square foot.
Day to day this role is roughly 40% system design and biological decision-making, and 60% physical production work — water changes, harvesting, cleaning, quality checks, and packing. If that split doesn't appeal to you, this role isn't the right fit.
If it does, you'll play a central role in how this system is built and run, contributing directly to the production decisions that shape the business.
What You'll Do
- Design and build our flow-through production system from the ground up — tray configuration, water flow, temperature management, aeration, feeding protocols.
- Establish and maintain baseline metrics: biomass per tray, weekly yield, FCR, water parameters, mortality rate.
- Optimize continuously — run deliberate experiments, track results, adjust variables, document everything.
- Perform daily production operations: water changes, feeding, monitoring, harvesting, cleaning.
- Maintain strict biosecurity, contamination control, and handling protocols consistent with our monoculture standards.
- Work closely with the founding team on production planning, equipment decisions, and scaling strategy.
What We're Looking For & Background that fits:
- Degree or diploma in aquaculture, aquatic biology, animal science, or a closely related field — or equivalent hands-on production experience.
- Experience operating and maintaining live aquatic systems — tanks, recirculating systems, flow-through systems, or hatchery environments.
- Familiarity with water quality management: dissolved oxygen, temperature, ammonia, pH, nitrogen cycle.
- Comfort with physical, hands-on work in a production environment.
- Self-directed — able to identify problems, form hypotheses, and work toward solutions without waiting to be told.
Mindset that fits:
- You think about biological systems in terms of output and efficiency, not just health and observation
- You're comfortable with ambiguity and building without a blueprint.
- You find the idea of optimizing a production system from scratch genuinely exciting, not anxiety-inducing.
- You understand that "we need more data" is sometimes the right answer, but "we need more worms" is always the real goal.
Nice to have but not required:
- Experience with invertebrate culture or live feed production (brine shrimp, daphnia, tubifex, blackworms)
- Familiarity with Lumbriculus variegatus biology
- Experience in a commercial aquaculture or hatchery setting
- Background in feed nutrition or feed conversion optimization
Compensation & Details
- Base salary: $42,000 – $46,000 depending on experience
- Performance bonuses tied to production milestones as the operation scales.
- Total potential compensation at full production milestones: $58,000 – $62,000+
- Location: North York, Toronto — facility currently being established
- Start date: Late June or July 2026
- Relocation: We welcome candidates only from within Canada.
We're honest about what this is: an early-stage startup with real upside and real uncertainty. The base is below what an established lab or government position would pay. The tradeoff is autonomy, and the chance to build something serious from the ground up.
Pay: $42,000.00-$46,000.00 per year
Application question(s):
- Do you have hands-on experience operating or maintaining live aquatic systems — such as tanks, recirculating systems, flow-through systems, or hatchery environments?
- This role includes significant daily physical work alongside the technical responsibilities — water changes, harvesting, cleaning, and packing. Are you comfortable with that?
- Do you currently reside in Canada?
Work Location: In person
