Metallurgical Test Engineer – Hydromet Startup

Kunin; Chattanooga (TN); On-site; USD 105,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Kunin Technologies seeks a hands-on metallurgical engineer to lead bench-scale hydrometallurgical testwork in its Chattanooga lab for next-stage gate decisions. You will convert feed samples into test programs and report results the engineering team can design from.

You will execute leaching, ion exchange, solvent extraction, and related steps, ensuring mass balances and defensible data. This is an early-stage startup with autonomy and high expectations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in metallurgical, chemical, or mineral processing engineering and 2–6 years of hydrometallurgical or mineral processing testwork.
• Experimentalist fluent in leach, ion exchange, and solvent extraction bench testing with control of pH, temperature, and reagent addition.
• Skilled in laboratory data handling: mass balances, recovery calculations, and clean spreadsheets or scripts that someone else can audit.
• Comfortable with analytical techniques (ICP, titration, XRD) and knows when a number should not be trusted.
• Excited about working hard to push projects farther, faster in an early-stage startup environment with extreme autonomy, opportunity, and high expectations.
• Team player who keeps the laboratory safe, the records complete, and the Principal Metallurgist informed.

Responsibilities

• Planning and executing bench-scale hydrometallurgical testwork: leaching, solid-liquid separation, ion exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation, and crystallization.
• Preparing and characterizing samples: sub-sampling, head assays, size distributions, and the chain of custody that keeps a result defensible.
• Closing mass balances on every test and flagging the ones that do not close before they reach a report.
• Operating and maintaining laboratory equipment: reactors, columns, filters, mixer-settlers, and the analytical instruments the program depends on.
• Writing test procedures, maintaining laboratory records, and producing the data packages behind stage-gate reports.
• Supporting pilot campaigns on site and at partner facilities, including shift coverage during continuous runs.

Skills

Hydrometallurgical testwork

Lab data handling

Analytical techniques (ICP/XRD)

Experimental testing

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in metallurgical, chemical, or mineral processing engineering

Job description

Kunin Technologies seeks a hands-on metallurgical engineer to lead bench-scale hydrometallurgical testwork in its Chattanooga lab for next-stage gate decisions. You will convert feed samples into test programs and report results the engineering team can design from.

You will execute leaching, ion exchange, solvent extraction, and related steps, ensuring mass balances and defensible data. This is an early-stage startup with autonomy and high expectations.