Scientist I/II, Adsorbent Chemistry

Alta Resource Technologies, Inc.; Boulder (CO); On-site; USD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Medical, dental, and vision plans

Flexible time off

Paid parental leave

Paid sick leave

Company holidays

Job summary

Alta Resource Technologies in Boulder, CO seeks an experienced scientist to establish in-house resin synthesis and functionalization, develop analytical methods, and drive improvements in adsorbent materials for the separation process.

This bench-heavy role involves 70% hands-on lab work, designing experiments, documenting results, and collaborating with protein chemistry and process engineering teams to scale resin production and ensure reproducibility.

Qualifications

• Hands-on wet chemistry experience and ability to convert outcomes into quantitative data.
• Structured experimental campaigns with variable isolation and data interpretation.
• Strong lab notebook and SOP documentation practices.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement in-house resin synthesis and functionalization methods.
• Characterize resin properties and report results with uncertainty analysis.
• Link material properties to process outcomes with cross-functional teams.
• Establish bench-scale workflows and identify critical parameters for scale-up.
• Translate workflows into specifications for larger-scale production.

Skills

Hands-on laboratory experience

Material synthesis & functionalization

Analytical method development

Experiment design & data analysis

Documentation habits

Education

Master's or Ph.D. in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, polymer science, or related field

Tools

Spectroscopy

Thermal analysis

Microscopy

Porosity analysis

Titration

Chromatography

Job description

Alta Resource Technologies (Alta) is a next generation mining company that uses synthetic biology to separate critical minerals from conventional and unconventional resources, including e-waste. Founded in 2023, the company is expanding its team in Boulder, CO. The exponential growth of new tech industries, as well as the information technology sector, are driving historic growth in mineral demand and stressing existing supply streams. Meeting new demand, diversifying the supply chain, and producing minerals in a more sustainable manner requires the rapid development, deployment and scaling of new technologies. This mineral challenge represents a historic opportunity for technology development and value creation. Alta is proud to be at the vanguard of this mega trend.

Location: Boulder, CO

Reports To: Principal Scientist / Group Lead — Adsorbent Chemistry

Role Summary

You’ll be joining a small R&D team working on the resins and sorbents at the center of Alta’s separation process. This role establishes in-house resin synthesis and functionalization capabilities, develops analytical methods to characterize resin properties and performance, and drives iterative improvements in adsorbent materials to meet process performance, reproducibility, and scale-up requirements.

Key Technical Responsibilities

• Resin Synthesis & Functionalization: Develop and implement in-house methods for porous resin synthesis, surface functionalization, and ligand attachment to produce adsorbents with defined chemical and physical properties.
• Resin Characterization: Develop and qualify analytical methods for resin composition, functional group density, ligand loading, porosity, and particle properties — and know the limits of each method well enough to say when a result should not be trusted.
• Performance Evaluation: Connect those material properties to process outcomes — protein immobilization, adsorption capacity, selectivity, stability, and separation performance — working alongside our protein chemistry and process engineering teams.
• Process Development: Establish reproducible synthesis and functionalization workflows at the bench, optimize reaction conditions, and identify the critical process parameters that govern resin quality.
• Tech Transfer: Translate those workflows into process specifications that let others produce the same resin at larger scale, and support integration into Alta’s adsorbent manufacturing workflows.

This is a bench-heavy role; expect roughly 70% hands-on laboratory work.

Communication and Documentation

• Maintain rigorous experimental records, author SOPs and test methods, and analyze and interpret data.
• Communicate results, risks, and recommendations clearly to cross-functional R&D and process engineering teams, to executives, and to external stakeholders.
• Plan, document, and execute detailed experiments for projects related to sorbent synthesis and characterization, including troubleshooting and identifying next steps.

Required Qualifications

• M.S. or Ph.D. in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, polymer science, or a closely related field, with hands-on laboratory experience at the following levels:
• Scientist I: M.S. plus 3–5 years, or Ph.D. plus 0–2 years. A record of strong technical expertise and independent contributions to research projects.
• Scientist II: M.S. plus 5+ years, or Ph.D. plus 2–5 years. Proven ability to lead projects, method development, and data analysis.
• Hands-on experience making or modifying materials, such as polymers, porous solids, inorganic or hybrid materials, surfaces and coatings, catalysts, membranes, or functionalized particles, and relating how they were made to the properties they ended up with.
• Experience characterizing materials with several complementary techniques (for example spectroscopy, thermal analysis, microscopy, surface or porosity analysis, titration, elemental analysis, or chromatography), and the judgment to recognize when a measurement is unreliable or outside its valid range.
• Solid practical wet chemistry skills: running reactions, handling reagents safely, and turning chemical outcomes into numbers through quantitative assays, titration, gravimetry, or instrumental analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to run structured experimental campaigns: isolating variables, designing around confounds, and drawing defensible conclusions from noisy data.
• Rigorous documentation habits, including detailed lab notebook or ELN records and written procedures that other people could reproduce.
• Comfort working with limited supervision amid shifting priorities in a fast-paced R&D environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience making cross-linked porous beads by suspension, emulsion, or dispersion polymerization using a porogen or diluent to drive phase separation — styrene–divinylbenzene, methacrylate/acrylate systems, polyHIPE, or seeded-swelling (Ugelstad) routes.
• Immobilization of proteins, peptides, or enzymes on a solid support, with measurement of loading, retained activity, and leaching.
• Post-polymerization modification of a porous support: chloromethylation, epoxide ring-opening, amination, and activation chemistries (NHS ester, maleimide, aldehyde, tosyl, epoxy).
• Working command of at least two porosity or particle characterization techniques, such as N₂/Ar physisorption (BET, BJH or DFT pore size distributions), mercury intrusion porosimetry, inverse size-exclusion chromatography, SEM, or laser diffraction particle sizing.
• Packed-bed column evaluation: breakthrough curves, dynamic binding capacity, pressure drop, and multi-cycle load/elute/regenerate studies.
• Materials lifetime and degradation testing: evaluating chemical and mechanical stability under aggressive process conditions over repeated use cycles.
• Design of experiments and statistical analysis
• Prior experience at a resin, chromatography media, or sorbent manufacturer.

Backgrounds We Welcome

We do not expect any one candidate to arrive with all of the above. Strong applicants have come to this problem from several directions, and we read all of them seriously:

• Bioseparations / protein chromatography — you understand how a protein moves inside a pore and why it sometimes cannot.
• Polymer and colloid chemistry — you have made porous materials and controlled their structure through formulation.
• Sorbent and separations engineering — you have built a functional material and used it for separations.
• Synthetic, surface, or bioconjugation chemistry: you have attached molecules to surfaces, particles, or bi

The starting pay range for this position is $100,000 - $125,00 USD, plus equity, commensurate with educational background and work experience.

Benefits include:

• 401(k)
• Medical, dental, and vision plans (or equivalent)
• Flexible time off
• Paid parental leave
• Paid sick leave
• Company holidays

EOE

Alta Resource Technologies is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We believe that varied perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds strengthen our team and drive better outcomes for our clients and partners.

We welcome and encourage applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Our hiring decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and the needs of the business. Alta participates in e-Verify for all positions.

If you require accommodations at any point in the hiring process, please let your recruiter know.