Metallurgical Engineering Intern

Solcoa Industries•San Francisco, CA

38d•$35 - $45•Onsite

About The Position

Solcoa Industries is an American rare earth metals producer headquartered in Alameda, California. We convert rare-earth oxides and magnet manufacturing scrap into the high-purity metals and alloys at the foundation of electrification, automation, and defense — the materials inside every fighter jet, EV, wind turbine, and phone. For decades, the West has depended on China to produce these materials. Solcoa is rebuilding that supply chain at home: we're one of the very few producers outside China, and the only one developing new chemistries and a proprietary process to produce these metals at lower cost than conventional routes — without the harmful emissions. Join our process team and help turn rare earth magnet waste into high-purity metals. You'll support our reactor operations, assist with alloy production, and keep our documentation tight—working with metallurgists, chemists, and technicians to move quickly from lab scale to production.

Requirements

Pursuing a BS/MS in Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Science, or related field
Exposure to pyrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, or high-temperature processing (coursework or labs).
Hands-on experience from labs, foundry work, internships, or personal projects (furnaces, casting, heat treatment)
Detail-oriented, disciplined documentation, and reliable follow-through
Comfortable in a fast-paced, hardware-centric environment and willing to get your hands dirty
On-site availability; able to start soon

Nice To Haves

Experience with vacuum or inert-atmosphere furnace operation
Familiarity with rare-earth metallurgy, molten salt electrolysis, or reactive metal processing
Basic thermodynamic analysis skills (Ellingham diagrams, phase diagrams, FactSage/HSC a plus)
Welding or basic machining experience (mill/lathe)
Python/MATLAB for data analysis

Responsibilities

Assist with high-temperature and high-vacuum reactor operations.
Help characterize feed materials and products using ICP-OES, SEM-EDS, LECO O/N.
Run furnace cycles, collect process data, and summarize results to inform design iterations
Maintain organized logs of process parameters, equipment conditions, and sample tracking
Support equipment maintenance: vacuum systems, induction coils, thermocouples, and gas handling
Contribute to safety-first culture and continuous improvement on the facility floor.