Pilot Plant Mechanical Engineer — Automation & Scale-Up

Mariana Minerals; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Mariana Minerals seeks a highly motivated Mechanical Engineer to join the San Francisco Pilot Plant team. You will support design, installation, and maintenance of innovative refining processes for critical minerals, bridging R&D and Operations to ensure safe, cost-effective, scalable equipment for production.

You will collaborate with process engineers and scientists to translate requirements into modifications, maintain documentation, and drive reliability improvements while supporting rapid

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or higher in Mechanical Engineering with hands-on design/scale-up experience.
• Experience in automated manufacturing, plant design, or minerals processing is preferred.
• Strong troubleshooting, communication, and teamwork skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, fabricate, install, modify, start up, and commission pilot plant equipment and systems.
• Troubleshoot mechanical issues and implement reliable, safe solutions.
• Collaborate with process engineers and R&D to translate requirements into equipment changes.
• Create and maintain engineering docs: P&IDs, equipment specs, drawings, CAD models, manuals.
• Identify opportunities to improve reliability and performance.
• Support development of software to enhance equipment design and plant operations.
• Travel to Mariana sites for projects and commissioning.

Skills

Mechanical Design

Equipment Troubleshooting

Technical Writing

Team Collaboration

Safety & Compliance

Education

B.S./M.S./PhD in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

CAD (AutoCAD/SolidWorks)

Job description

Mariana Minerals seeks a highly motivated Mechanical Engineer to join the San Francisco Pilot Plant team. You will support design, installation, and maintenance of innovative refining processes for critical minerals, bridging R&D and Operations to ensure safe, cost-effective, scalable equipment for production.

You will collaborate with process engineers and scientists to translate requirements into modifications, maintain documentation, and drive reliability improvements while supporting rapid