Process and Synthetic Chemist, Mining & Metals

Ohr; Colorado; On-site; USD 125,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Ohr in Boulder/Lafayette, Colorado is seeking a Process and Synthetic Chemist to design and run synthesis campaigns delivering 100 g of characterized material. You will optimize routes by cost per kilogram and own hazard assessments from calorimetry to quench design, while proposing new candidates and defending sequences to product lines.

The role requires hands-on expertise in phenolic, aromatic, and heterocyclic synthesis, hydrogenation, and data interpretation (NMR, HPLC, GC, MS).

Qualifications

• PhD in organic or process chemistry with 3+ years beyond it, or BS/MS with 8+ years industrial route development.
• Able to conduct phenolic, aromatic, and heterocyclic synthesis.
• Experience with catalytic hydrogenation and pressure reactor operation.
• Track record delivering 100 g of characterized material against a date.
• Experience with cost modeling per kilogram at route selection.
• Treat hazard as input to route choice rather than only as a control problem downstream.
• Ability to interpret NMR, HPLC, GC, and MS data.

Responsibilities

• Run synthesis campaigns delivering 100 g of material.
• Select routes by delivered cost per kilogram.
• Own hazard case for routes including calorimetry and quench design.
• Propose and triage new candidates on Ohr's platform chemistries.
• Judge duties the binding chemistry can reach for lead ligands.
• Sequence campaigns and defend to product lines.
• Operate bench equipment and write process documentation.

Skills

Hydrogenation reactor operation

Hazard assessment in route design

Analytical data interpretation (NMR, H

Cost modeling per kilogram

Synthesis campaign execution

Documentation for reproducibility

Team collaboration

Education

PhD in organic or process chemistry

BS/MS with 8+ years industrial route development

Tools

Reaction calorimetry equipment

1–20 L jacketed reactors

Column chromatography

Job description

The future must be created.

01 THE ROLE

Chemistry is the invisible layer of all critical industries, and the old supply chain is being weaponized. We don't refine petroleum. We create the molecules that matter most — from the atom up.

As a Process and Synthetic Chemist in Ohr's mining and metals vertical, you are the portfolio. Its product lines sell into mineral processing, hydrometallurgical refining, and electro- and metal finishing. Some of those molecules have not been made yet. A product line cannot begin its own evaluation until there is a molecule to evaluate, and that molecule comes off your bench.

THE KIND OF PEOPLE THIS WORK DEMANDS

Our mission demands more than great science. It requires a particular kind of team — visionary builders, hustlers, scientists, operators. Together, we carry both the technical depth to make the chemistry work and the commercial instinct to make the business thrive. People are our engine. Collaboration is our multiplier.

02 WHAT YOU'LL DESIGN AND BUILD

• Run the synthesis campaigns that carry the portfolio through its decision year, each sized to deliver 100 g of characterized material, across heterocyclic, aromatic, chelating-ligand, and phenolic condensation chemistry
• Select routes on delivered cost per kilogram. Step count, step type, yield and reagent choice are the levers, and on raw-material-heavy products they are the only ones. Route calls made on modeled cost are yours to defend or overturn
• Own the hazard case your route creates rather than inheriting one: reaction calorimetry and thermal characterization of the phenolic cure before conditions are fixed, quench design with cooling and acid-gas handling on corrosive workups, and the handling case for carcinogenic reagents used at scale
• Propose and triage new candidates on Ohr's platform chemistries. Most die on a cost sheet in the week they are proposed, which is the cheapest form of discovery available and a standing part of the job rather than a separate exercise
• Judge which duties the binding chemistry can reach. Ohr's lead chelating ligand binds hard trivalent cations, and the selectivity argument extends to gallium from zinc and alumina circuits, manganese and magnesium in battery-metal liquors, and nickel and cobalt refining
• Sequence campaigns that converge on the same quarter, and defend that sequence to the product lines waiting on it
• Operate and specify the bench: jacketed 1 to 20 L reactors with dosing and temperature control, a pressure and hydrogenation reactor, rotary evaporation and column chromatography, reaction calorimetry, and a dedicated hood for highly hazardous reagents
• Write the process documentation that lets a second chemist repeat your campaign without asking you

03 WHAT YOU BRING WITH YOU

You want a bench where the molecules do not exist yet and the list of molecules is still open. A role that runs syntheses to a specification somebody else wrote would bore you inside a quarter. You are comfortable killing your own candidate on arithmetic before it reaches the bench. You likely have:

• A PhD in organic or process chemistry with 3 or more years beyond it, or a BS/MS with 8 or more years of industrial route development
• Hands‑on depth in phenolic, aromatic, and heterocyclic synthesis, with a broad working repertoire of classical bond‑forming reactions
• Catalytic hydrogenation and pressure reactor operation
• A record of delivering 100 g of characterized material against a date, not only a milligram‑scale proof that a reaction works
• Cost modeling per kilogram at the route‑selection stage, with a specific example you can walk through
• A habit of treating hazard as an input to route choice rather than only as a control problem downstream of it
• Enough structural characterization to stand behind your own material: NMR, HPLC, GC, and MS interpretation

Strong plus

• Heterocyclic chemistry
• Condensation polymer chemistry and molecular weight control on a phenolic oligomer
• Metal extraction chemistry: chelating ligands, solvent extraction reagents, flotation collectors, or ion exchange resin synthesis
• Reaction calorimetry and runaway exotherm characterization
• Working inside procurement controls, including documented explosives precursors
• Flow chemistry, particularly on exothermic or corrosive steps

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

After 3 months

• The first campaign's material in hand and characterized at 100 g, with a defensible number for the organic loading its product line needs to clear

After 6–12 months

• The lead chelating‑ligand campaign is delivered, or killed on evidence, so the product lines that depend on it have real dates instead of placeholders
• Two or more new candidates enumerated, costed and triaged on paper, with at least one standing ready behind a line that fails its 2027 kill test

04 EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE

This role involves access to data and systems subject to U.S. export control regulations, including ITAR. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, or a protected individual as defined under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3).

05 COMPENSATION

This role is onsite at Ohr's laboratory in the Boulder / Lafayette, Colorado area, five days per week. Relocation Assistance provided. The annual base salary range for this position is $125,000 – $180,000, commensurate with experience, plus equity. Final compensation will be determined based on skills, experience, and qualifications

Be a creationary.