Senior Hydrometallurgy Process Engineer – Scale-Up Leader

Phoenix-Tailings; Burlington (MA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Stock options

Unlimited PTO

Learning & development

Job summary

Phoenix Tailings is seeking a Senior Process Engineer - Hydrometallurgist to lead hands-on development, optimization, and scale-up of hydrometallurgical systems for critical and rare earth metals. You will translate lab results into scalable process designs and collaborate with R&D, engineering, and pilot operations teams.

Ideal candidates bring deep wet chemistry experience, proficiency in leaching, purification, precipitation, and solid-liquid separation, and a track record of moving processes

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in hydrometallurgy, wet chemistry, chemical process development, mineral processing, metals refining, or related chemically intensive systems.
• Strong hands-on experience with hydrometallurgical unit operations including leaching, precipitation, filtration, solid-liquid separation, solvent extraction, purification, and crystallization.
• Demonstrated experience translating laboratory or bench-scale data into pilot-scale or commercial process development decisions.
• Strong understanding of aqueous chemistry, solution speciation, acid-base chemistry, impurity control, reagent behavior, and process optimization.
• Experience developing mass balances, process flow diagrams, experimental plans, technical reports, and operating procedures.
• Experience mentoring junior technical team members or leading technical workstreams in a laboratory, pilot, or industrial environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, execution, and analysis of hydrometallurgical experiments including leaching, purification, precipitation, solid-liquid separation, and solvent extraction.
• Develop and optimize process conditions for laboratory, bench-scale, and pilot-scale systems.
• Translate experimental results into process flow diagrams, mass balances, operating windows, equipment specifications, and scale-up recommendations.
• Provide technical leadership for wet chemistry, including solution chemistry, pH control, filtration, and process troubleshooting.
• Support equipment sizing and selection for reactors, filtration systems, thickeners, mixer-settlers, and pumps.
• Lead root-cause analysis and troubleshooting for process performance issues.
• Collaborate with engineering, R&D, and operations teams to develop pilot-scale test plans and operating procedures.
• Mentor junior engineers and technicians in experimental design, lab execution, safety practices, and technical documentation.
• Maintain clear technical records and prepare reports for internal design reviews and leadership discussions.
• Support scale-up of Phoenix Tailings’ critical metals production processes from R&D through deployment.

Skills

Hydrometallurgy

Wet chemistry

Process development

Pilot-scale

Mass balances

Education

Chemical Engineering / Metallurgical Engineering / Materials Science

Job description

Phoenix Tailings is seeking a Senior Process Engineer - Hydrometallurgist to lead hands-on development, optimization, and scale-up of hydrometallurgical systems for critical and rare earth metals. You will translate lab results into scalable process designs and collaborate with R&D, engineering, and pilot operations teams.

Ideal candidates bring deep wet chemistry experience, proficiency in leaching, purification, precipitation, and solid-liquid separation, and a track record of moving processes