Materials Engineer

Mariana Minerals•San Francisco, CA

4d•$100,000 - $140,000

About The Position

Mariana Minerals is seeking a highly motivated Materials Engineer to join our R&D and product development team. The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, developing, and optimizing processes for novel material synthesis - from lab-scale proof-of-concept to pilot and commercial scale implementation. This position will play a critical role in translating laboratory discoveries into scalable, economically viable production processes.

Requirements

MS degree in Materials Science, Chemistry, Materials Engineering, or Chemical Engineering (PhD preferred).
Hands-on experience in materials synthesis (e.g., solid-state, hydrothermal, precipitation, or other chemical synthesis techniques).
Proficiency with materials characterization tools such as XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, TGA/DSC, and spectroscopic methods.
Experience with process design, equipment specification, and scale-up of laboratory processes to pilot or production scale.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven approach.
Excellent communication and teamwork skills in a multidisciplinary environment.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with process simulation tools (e.g., OLI systems or equivalent) is a plus.

Responsibilities

Conduct lab-scale and pilot scale wet chemical synthetic experiments to validate proof-of-concept ideas and develop new material formulations.
Design and execute experiments to establish reaction parameters, yield optimization, and reproducibility.
Evaluate and select equipment and process configurations for pilot-scale and commercial-scale operations.
Develop process flow diagrams (PFDs), process and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), and mass/energy balances.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams including R&D scientists, operations, and external vendors to ensure smooth scale-up.
Support process safety reviews, risk assessments, and environmental compliance planning.
Collect and analyze process data to identify areas for optimization, cost reduction, and performance improvement.
Prepare technical documentation, reports, and presentations for internal and external stakeholders.
Work closely with cross-functional teams including lab technicians, pilot plant engineers, process engineers, project execution teams, and more to scale designs from lab through to commercial scale
Work closely with the software and machine learning teams to automate capital project execution workflows and develop reactor and plant optimization algorithms