Head of Process Technology & Ion-Exchange Innovation

Kunin; Chattanooga (TN); On-site; USD 160,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Kunin Technologies seeks a senior scientist to own the selection, development, and validation of process technologies that anchor its separation flowsheets. This role leads bench and pilot work, develops process models, and fosters collaborations with national labs and universities to drive scalable, cost-effective solutions.

You will coordinate with vendors and internal teams to optimize leaching, ion-exchange, solvent extraction, and related unit operations, ensuring readiness for deployment

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Extractive Metallurgy, or Hydrometallurgy.
• 7+ years in hydrometallurgical process development and technology evaluation.
• Experience with bench and pilot campaigns across leaching, solid-liquid separation, ion-exchange, solvent extraction, and precipitation.
• Proficient in process simulation tools such as MetSim, HSC Chemistry, SysCAD, or Aspen Plus.
• Ability to lead vendor evaluations and establish external research collaborations.

Responsibilities

• Own selection, development, and validation of process technologies for Kunin's flowsheets.
• Lead laboratory experiments to optimize kinetics, selectivity, throughput, purity, and regeneration chemistry.
• Pilot test hydrometallurgical unit operations to validate bench-scale results against targets.
• Develop process models integrating mass balance, equilibria, and kinetics to drive cost and design decisions.
• Roadmap technologies across leaching, ion-exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallization, electrowinning, and effluent management.
• Collaborate with National Laboratories, universities, and corporate R&D teams.

Skills

Hydrometallurgical development

Lab experiments

Process modeling

Vendor evaluation

Cross-functional leadership

Pilot-scale testing

Communication to execs

Education

Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering / Extractive Metallurgy / Hydrometallurgy

Tools

MetSim

HSC Chemistry

SysCAD

Aspen Plus

PHREEQC

OLI Studio

Job description

Kunin Technologies seeks a senior scientist to own the selection, development, and validation of process technologies that anchor its separation flowsheets. This role leads bench and pilot work, develops process models, and fosters collaborations with national labs and universities to drive scalable, cost-effective solutions.

You will coordinate with vendors and internal teams to optimize leaching, ion-exchange, solvent extraction, and related unit operations, ensuring readiness for deployment