Principal Metallurgist

Kunin Technologies•Chattanooga, TN

13d•Onsite

About The Position

Kunin Technologies is seeking a Principal Metallurgist to own the metallurgy behind its metal recovery projects. The role is responsible for understanding project feed materials, predicting their behavior through unit operations, and defining the evidence required for flowsheets to advance through stage gates. The Principal Metallurgist works alongside the Principal Process Engineer, who owns the flowsheet and engineering package, while this role owns the material and its metallurgical basis. The position leads characterization of feeds, intermediates, and residues; designs and runs test programs from bench to pilot scale; establishes metallurgical design data and scale-up factors; and demonstrates flowsheet robustness through variability and locked-cycle testing. It also manages external laboratories and specialist consultants, authors metallurgy sections of stage-gate reports and feasibility studies, presents findings to partners, offtakers, and investors, and mentors the Metallurgist and laboratory team. Kunin Technologies develops metal recovery flowsheets and reprocessing facilities for refinery effluents, tailings, and legacy sites. Its team works across metals including scandium, gallium, germanium, copper, cobalt, rhodium, and gold, and operates a 10,000-square-foot hydrometallurgical and organic synthesis laboratory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The role requires relocation to Chattanooga and travel to partner sites and metallurgical laboratories. Extended hours and weekends are frequently required for critical project milestones.

Requirements

10 or more years of experience in extractive metallurgy or hydrometallurgical process development.
At least one program taken from bench testing into an operating plant.
Practical experience with leaching, ion exchange, solvent extraction, and precipitation testwork.
Measured control of pH, Eh, temperature, residence time, and reagent dosing.
Fluency in mineralogy and analytical data, including XRD, QEMSCAN or MLA, ICP, and titrimetry.
Ability to turn analytical data into a closed mass balance.
Ability to design test matrices that answer stage-gate questions and report findings candidly.
Ability to communicate technical findings to investors and laboratory technicians.
Willingness to relocate to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Availability to travel to partner sites and metallurgical laboratories across the United States, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia.
Willingness to work extended hours and weekends frequently to support critical project milestones.

Responsibilities

Lead metallurgical characterization of feeds, intermediates, and residues, including mineralogy, deportment, speciation, and defensible sampling programs.
Design and conduct metallurgical test programs from bench to pilot scale, covering leaching, solid-liquid separation, ion exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallization, and electrowinning.
Close mass balances to the quality required for bankable studies.
Own the metallurgical basis of design, including kinetics, extraction and recovery curves, reagent consumptions, impurity deportment, and scale-up factors for engineering.
Run variability and locked-cycle testing to demonstrate flowsheet robustness across expected feed materials.
Select and manage external metallurgical laboratories and specialist consultants, and audit their work.
Author metallurgy sections of stage-gate reports and feasibility studies, and defend findings with partners, offtakers, and investors.
Mentor the Metallurgist and laboratory team on test design, data quality, and interpretation.
Travel to partner sites and metallurgical laboratories for sampling, test programs, and plant start-up.
Support critical project milestones through extended hours and weekend work when required.