Polymer Process Engineer

Kunin Technologies•Chattanooga, TN

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Kunin Technologies is hiring a Polymer Process Engineer to develop the process chemistry for continuous, roll-to-roll production of ion-exchange media. The role owns the chemistry that converts a base polymer sheet into ion-exchange media, including reactive bath formulation, reaction conditions and residence time, post-reaction conversion, washing and drying kinetics, and the capacity and uniformity tests used to qualify each roll. The engineer will work alongside the Chemical Process Engineer, who owns the wet-end hardware, and collaborate with laboratory technicians and an analytical chemist. The first deliverable is a complete process chemistry package covering locked recipes, operating windows, quality-control methods, release specifications, and reagent and water mass balances for a demonstration line. That line is planned to be delivered by the end of 2027 and will provide the basis for a greenfield manufacturing facility at ten times the scale. The company aims to become the world’s largest-volume producer of ion-exchange media by 2030. The position is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and reports to the Director of Polymer. Intermittent travel to partners’ facilities may be required. Extended hours and weekends are frequently required to support critical project milestones. Candidates must be U.S. citizens.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, plastic/polymer engineering, textile engineering, materials engineering, or chemistry.
Good foundation in organic and polymer synthesis.
Experience handling aggressive chemistry such as acids, reactive monomers, solvents, or inert-atmosphere work.
Experience with designed experiments and measured control of concentration, temperature, residence time, and pickup.
Comfort with Python or Matlab for data analysis and automating test or analysis tasks.
Creative problem-solving across polymer chemistry, material handling, and fluid mechanics.
Must be a U.S. citizen.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with a continuous coating or finishing process, such as battery electrode coating, paper coating, membrane casting, textile dyeing and finishing, or nonwovens; heavily preferred.
Direct experience with ion exchange; not required, but a plus.

Responsibilities

Develop and lock reactive process chemistry for continuous ion-exchange media production, including bath formulation, solvent system, additive levels, temperature, and residence-time windows.
Develop post-reaction conversion, washing, and drying steps, including conversion kinetics, rinse-water quality, residual reagent limits, and drying profiles.
Build quality-control methods for degree of functionalization, ion-exchange capacity, uniformity across and along the roll, and finished-media release specifications.
Run bench and mini-pilot trials with laboratory technicians and the analytical chemist, and close reagent, water, and waste mass balances.
Translate bench recipes to the demonstration line with the Chemical Process Engineer, including pickup targets, line speed, bath turnover, and reagent recovery.
Write the process chemistry package, including recipes, operating windows, SOPs, QC methods, and hazard reviews for aggressive chemistry.
Specify reagent handling, solvent recovery, and waste treatment for the developed chemistry.