Director, Pilot Plant Engineering — Rare Earth Scale-Up

Phoenix Tailings; Burlington (MA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Stock options

Unlimited PTO

Learning & development

Job summary

Phoenix Tailings is seeking a Director of Pilot Plant Engineering in Burlington to lead pilot-scale isolation and metallization programs. You will bridge R&D and Manufacturing, setting priorities, coordinating engineering work, and ensuring pilot lessons feed production requirements.

You will build and lead a high-performing team, develop SOPs, manage equipment, and drive strategies for scalable, reliable pilot operations in a fast-moving environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline; advanced degree is a plus.
• 8+ years in pilot plant engineering, process development, or related field.
• Proven leadership of pilot or scale-up projects from planning through execution and handoff.
• Strong project management across schedules, priorities, resources, risks, vendors, and multiple workstreams.

Responsibilities

• Lead pilot-scale engineering programs for rare earth separation and metallization technologies, driving projects from early development through production handoff.
• Establish project plans, priorities, schedules, milestones, and resource requirements for pilot initiatives.
• Coordinate work across R&D, engineering, operations, manufacturing, vendors, and external partners.
• Systematize pilot plant operations by establishing operating procedures, data collection practices, and maintenance standards.
• Oversee design, modification, commissioning, and improvement of pilot equipment and systems for evaluating and scaling processes.
• Plan and lead pilot campaigns to generate information for scale-up and commercialization decisions.
• Identify risks and gaps, driving timely solutions to keep programs on track.
• Translate pilot results into engineering recommendations for manufacturing and future capital projects.

Skills

Pilot plant engineering

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Process development

Scale-up

Technical documentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering

Advanced degree (preferred)

Job description

Phoenix Tailings is seeking a Director of Pilot Plant Engineering in Burlington to lead pilot-scale isolation and metallization programs. You will bridge R&D and Manufacturing, setting priorities, coordinating engineering work, and ensuring pilot lessons feed production requirements.

You will build and lead a high-performing team, develop SOPs, manage equipment, and drive strategies for scalable, reliable pilot operations in a fast-moving environment.