Principal Process Engineer

Kunin Technologies•Chattanooga, TN

2d•$155,000 - $300,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Kunin Technologies is revolutionizing the critical mineral supply chain by implementing advanced separation technologies to capture value from overlooked resources. Metals are everywhere, in solar panels, smartphones, electric vehicles, but as ore grades plummet globally, traditional extraction methods are failing. China dominates critical minerals markets by developing superior separation technologies that extract value from materials American mines discard as waste. Utilizing Kunin Technologies' breakthrough mass manufacturable nano-separation systems, significantly more value can be produced from each resource, reducing waste, and unlocking metal abundance. To achieve metal abundance, humanity must bring separation science down its own Moore’s Law: fix the idiot cost index for micro and nano scale separation materials. This requires mass manufacturing novel ion-exchange media form factors which previously struggled from high costs.

Requirements

10+ years in process engineering including both flowsheet development and detailed engineering.
Capable of developing a hydrometallurgical process from paper, to lab, to pilot, to construction, and even to operation.
Willing to author PFDs, P&IDs, equipment specifications regardless of level of experience.
Intentional about project stage-gates and comfortable killing a project and moving onto the next.
Excited about working hard to push projects farther, faster in an early-stage startup environment with extreme autonomy, opportunity, & high expectations.
Confident enough to lead a team of talented people, and humble enough to listen to them. Eager to change your mind in the face of new information.

Responsibilities

Leading flowsheet development end to end, comminution and physical concentration through leaching, solid–liquid separation, ion exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallization, electrowinning, and product polishing, plus residue disposition, reagent regeneration, water balance, and effluent management.
Owning techno-economics of the flowsheet to assess project viability and inform company Go/No-Go decisions.
Determining where scaled testing is necessary to de-risk key unit operations, define critical engineering parameters, and produce sufficient product samples for offtake partners.
Leading pilot testing where necessary to collect above data and produce the necessary samples.
Leading basic and detailed engineering including process design, major equipment design, brownfield integration design, FEED, and the complete engineering package including managing EPCM support.
Identifying, vetting, and selecting key process technology vendors from pilot through commercialization.
Leading Kunin’s facility construction scope including managing EPCM support.
Ensuring successful facility start-up driving the facility to nameplate capacity producing on-spec product.