Pilot Manager

Still Bright; Kenilworth (NJ); On-site; USD 114,300 - 139,700; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Competitive benefits

Job summary

Still Bright in Kenilworth, NJ is seeking a Pilot Plant Manager to oversee the daily operations of their innovative pilot system focused on sustainable metals extraction. The role requires strong leadership skills, with responsibilities including managing technician teams, ensuring safety and compliance, and coordinating logistics. Candidates should have a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant engineering field and a proven track record in process plant management.

Competitive salary starts at $127,000, along with equity participation and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in operating or managing a pilot plant or industrial production system.
• Direct people-management experience leading teams.
• Strong practical knowledge of process equipment and troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

• Oversee day-to-day operations of the pilot plant to ensure safety and reliability.
• Manage and develop the pilot technician team for operational efficiency.
• Coordinate logistics for feedstock and reagent supplies.

Skills

Operational leadership

Equipment maintenance

Safety protocol enforcement

Logistics coordination

Data collection and documentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in chemical, mechanical, or metallurgical engineering

Job description

Reports to: VP of Operations

Close collaboration with: VP Engineering, Product team, Lead Process Modeling Engineer

Location: Kenilworth, NJ (full-time, onsite)

Salary starts at: $127,000

Equity participation reflecting the scope and trust of the role

Competitive Benefits

Position Summary

Still Bright is bringing the first viable hydrometallurgical alternative to copper smelting to market at a moment when global copper demand is outpacing supply by historic margins. Our proprietary RACER (Rapid and Complete Electrochemical Reduction) process delivers fast, complete copper extraction while recovering precious and critical co-products, and as a closed-loop system it offers precise control over outputs and radically reduces environmental impact. Backed by top-tier investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Material Impact, the team is moving from pilot execution into the next stages of commercial deployment.

The Pilot Manager owns the safe, reliable, day-to-day operation of Still Bright’s integrated pilot system. The person in this seat is the operational anchor of the pilot: running campaigns, managing technicians and shift coverage, coordinating maintenance and uptime, enforcing safety, and ensuring that planned experiments actually run on schedule and produce trustworthy results. This is a hands-on, onsite role at the intersection of process engineering, controls, maintenance, and safety.

Working closely with process engineering and controls, the Pilot Plant Manager translates campaign plans into executed runs—managing feedstock and reagent logistics, equipment readiness, operating procedures, and the disciplined data and sample collection that the technical team depends on. As the company moves toward demonstration scale, this role builds the operating procedures, maintenance practices, and team that will carry forward into field deployment.

Key Responsibilities

• Own safe, reliable day-to-day operation of the pilot system, including campaign execution, scheduling, uptime, and shift coordination.

• Lead, schedule, and develop the pilot technician team; assign work and ensure coverage across campaigns.

• Manage equipment readiness, preventive maintenance, spare parts, and troubleshooting to maximize pilot availability.

• Coordinate feedstock, reagent, and consumable logistics in partnership with supply chain so campaigns run uninterrupted.

• Develop, maintain, and enforce standard operating procedures and run sheets for pilot operations.

• Serve as a frontline safety leader for pilot operations—enforcing PPE, lockout/tagout, hazardous-chemical handling, and emergency procedures in partnership with the Lab/Safety lead.

• Ensure disciplined, accurate operational data and sample collection during runs, and clean handoff of data and samples to engineering and the lab.

• Partner with process and controls engineering on commissioning, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement of the pilot, and help define operating envelopes for sustained operation.

• Support the transition of operating know-how toward demonstration-scale and field deployment.

Definition of Success

In the first 12 months, success looks like: a pilot that runs planned campaigns safely, on schedule, and with high availability; a trained and reliable technician team; documented SOPs and maintenance practices in place; trustworthy operational data and samples reaching the technical team; and zero preventable safety incidents.

Qualifications & Experience

Expected Competencies

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical, mechanical, or metallurgical engineering, or equivalent operational experience in a process plant.

• 5+ years of experience operating, maintaining, or managing a pilot plant, process plant, or industrial production system.

• Direct people-management experience leading operators, technicians, or maintenance staff.

• Strong practical knowledge of process equipment, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

• Demonstrated safety leadership in a chemical, process, or industrial environment.

• Strong organization and planning discipline—scheduling, logistics, procedures, and record-keeping.

• Able and committed to working full-time, fully onsite in Kenilworth, NJ.

Strongly Preferred Experience

• Experience commissioning and operating pilot- or demonstration-scale hydrometallurgical, chemical-process, or electrochemical systems.

• Experience managing feedstock/reagent logistics and uptime in a campaign-based operation.

• Familiarity with process controls, instrumentation, and data acquisition.

• Experience writing and enforcing SOPs and maintenance programs from the ground up.

Nice-to-Have

• Experience in mining, metals, minerals processing, or electrochemistry.

• Hazardous-materials handling certifications or formal safety training.

• Exposure to a startup or scaling organization moving toward demonstration and commercial deployment.

This job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of the duties and responsibilities of the position. Still Bright provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Still Bright complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Still Bright expressly prohibits and will never tolerate any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Still Bright especially encourages applicants from historically marginalized communities to join our mission of sustainable metals extraction.