Hydrometallurgical Engineer (Founding Team)

Riven Systems; New York (NY); On-site; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Riven Systems seeks a Hydrometallurgical Engineer to advance chemistries from bench-scale to pilot-scale within an automated platform. You will collaborate with experts in ML, process modeling, autonomous experimentation, and our commercial team to accelerate development.

Riven is building a lean, interdisciplinary team and welcomes applicants with experience across related roles to contribute from multiple angles.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in a relevant engineering/chemistry field.
• 2+ years in industrial hydrometallurgical, separations, or process development.
• Experience designing, executing, and documenting bench-scale campaigns.
• Understanding of leaching, solid–liquid separation, solvent extraction and precipitation.
• Ability to analyze data, perform process calculations, and draw conclusions.
• Comfort working across lab, process engineering, analytical, and customer-facing duties.
• Clear interdisciplinary communication and quick learner in new domains.
• Ability to prioritize, execute, and collaborate with a high degree of agency.

Responsibilities

• Design, execute, and analyze bench- and pilot-scale solvent extraction experiments guiding development.
• Help set technical strategy for moving programs from vial-scale screening to pilot testing.
• Work with customers and commercial teams to define needs, run campaigns, present results, and scope next phases.
• Inform technical trade-off studies including scoping-level capital and operating cost estimates.

Skills

Bench-scale campaign design

Data analysis

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Customer-facing communication

Rapid learning & adaptability

Education

B.S./M.S. in Chemical or Metallurgical Engineering or Chemistry

Tools

METSIM

SysCAD

HSC Chemistry

Aspen Plus

ICP-OES

ICP-MS

Job description

About the role

As a Hydrometallurgical Engineer you will help rethink how new chemistries move from bench-scale to pilot. You will work closely with experts in machine learning, process modeling, autonomous experimentation, and our commercial team to build out an automated platform for hydrometallurgical development.

Riven is hiring a lean, interdisciplinary team and experience spanning multiple roles is welcome. Apply to whichever role is closest to your skillset.

Initial Responsibilities

• Design, execute, and analyze bench- and pilot-scale solvent extraction experiments that guide process development and scale-up.
• Help set technical strategy for moving programs from vial-scale screening through pilot testing, including campaign priorities and scale-up criteria.
• Work with customers and commercial teams to define technical needs, run campaigns on customer feedstocks, present results, and scope subsequent phases.
• Inform technical trade-off studies, including scoping-level capital and operating cost estimates.

Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Chemistry, or a related discipline.
• 2+ years of industrial hydrometallurgical, separations, or process development experience.
• Experience independently designing, executing, and documenting bench-scale experimental campaigns.
• Understanding of core hydrometallurgical unit operations, including leaching, solid–liquid separation, solvent extraction, and precipitation.
• Ability to perform process calculations, analyze experimental data, and draw sound technical conclusions.
• Comfort working across laboratory, process engineering, analytical, and customer-facing responsibilities.
• Clear interdisciplinary communication and the curiosity to quickly learn and execute in new domains.
• Ability to prioritize, execute, and collaborate with a high degree of agency, a willingness to be wrong, and the ambition to build something that has never existed before.
• Trust, humor, rigor, and an excitement to work in a scrappy, interdisciplinary early-stage environment.

Bonus Points

• Familiarity with ICP-OES or ICP-MS workflows.
• Experience with process simulation tools such as METSIM, SysCAD, HSC Chemistry, or Aspen Plus.
• Experience with chromatography, adsorbents, or other solid-phase separation materials.
• Experience working with lanthanide solvent extraction.
• Experience in the mining industry.
• Exposure to pilot operations, equipment specification, or techno-economic analysis.