Head of Engineering

Solcoa Industries; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous stock options

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Company-provided lunch

Visa sponsorship available

Job summary

Solcoa is seeking a Head of Engineering to lead the engineering team and scale up a new rare earth metal production process. You will own the entire program from research through process development and full-scale reactor design, including the engineering, construction, and commissioning of Solcoa’s first commercial facility.

You will define weekly goals and long-term milestones, manage hiring needs, and coordinate with capital projects to ramp up the largest U.S.

Qualifications

• Lead the engineering team to develop and scale rare earth metal production processes.
• Own the engineering, construction, and commissioning of Solcoa’s first commercial facility.
• Oversee process development and reactor design initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Process Design: design the metal production process to cost parity with China, identify bottlenecks.
• Reactor Design: lead modular high-temperature reactor development and engineering.
• Solcoa One: deliver operating process at first commercial plant and lead process engineering.
• Organization: define weekly goals, identify hiring and capital budget needs.

Skills

Process design

Reactor design

Project leadership

Scale-up experience

Tools

CFD simulations

3D CAD

Job description

Making the Metals Powering the World

Solcoa is building the next generation of American metalmaking, starting with rare earths — the metals of power and motion. We've developed a new chemistry that converts rare earth oxides into high-purity metals — the materials inside every EV, fighter jet, wind turbine, and data center — cleaner, cheaper, and faster than any conventional process. Now we're scaling it to thousands of tonnes of annual production.

The Role

Head of Engineering will lead Solcoa's Engineering team with the goal of developing and scaling up novel rare earth metal production processes. You will own a full metal production development program. This includes development starting from research, process development, and full scale reactor design. You will also own the engineering, construction, and commissioning of Solcoa’s first commercial facility.

What You’ll Do

• Process Design. Own the design of the metal production process that will bring metal production to cost parity with China. In this capacity, you will identify bottlenecks and radically simplify Solcoa’s process.
• Reactor Design. You will lead the design and engineering of the modular high-temperature metallothermic reduction reactors capable of producing rare earths at high yield and high throughput. You will organize the research, simulations, and mechanical engineering teams for the engineering and fabrication of it.
• Solcoa One, Process Design. You will identify key requirements, milestones, and be responsible for the delivery of the operating process at Solcoa One, our first commercial metal production plant. Head of Engineering will lead the process engineering team, responsible for designing the process and balancing of the plant. You will work with the Head of Capital Projects to engineer, staff, commission, and ramp up the largest rare earth metal production plant in the United States.
• Organization. You will define weekly goals and long-term milestones for the individual contributors on the research team, process development team, and mechanical engineering team. You will identify hiring needs and capital budget needs for achieving the metal capacity goals set by Solcoa’s leadership. You participate in the major decisions that define the direction of Solcoa’s metal production business.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive base salary.
• Generous stock options.
• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision insurance.
• Company-provided lunch daily.
• Visa sponsorship available if needed.