Jobs at Kunin Technologies

Develop and scale the process chemistry for continuous production of ion-exchange media. Responsibilities include reactive bath formulation, conversion, washing, drying, QC methods, process operating windows, bench and pilot trials, mass balances, reagent recovery, waste treatment, SOPs, and hazard reviews. The engineer will translate laboratory recipes to a demonstration roll-to-roll line and collaborate with chemical process engineering on equipment and production scale-up.

Design and integrate an automated roll-to-roll production line for ion-exchange media, including web transport, unwind/rewind systems, tension control, drives, PLCs, HMI/SCADA, recipes, data logging, safety systems, and commissioning. The role leads line-level controls integration and troubleshooting across sensors, actuators, electrical components, drying, baths, and connected unit operations, with frequent extended hours during critical project milestones.

Summer engineering intern assigned to electrical and instrumentation, controls, mechanical, or chemical process engineering. Responsibilities include owning an engineering deliverable, producing technical documents and calculations, supporting pilot commissioning, calibrating instruments, analyzing pilot data, and coordinating with vendors on specifications and quotes. The role is based in Chattanooga for approximately 12 weeks during summer 2027 and may lead to a full-time opportunity.

Summer commercial intern supporting critical-mineral project development. Responsibilities include sourcing candidate resources, contacting mines and industrial partners, arranging samples, maintaining resource databases, modeling project and process costs, analyzing assay and mass-balance data, and preparing partner briefing materials. The role works directly with the CEO and engineering team in Chattanooga, includes occasional domestic travel, and may lead to full-time employment.

Leads finance for a venture-backed industrial technology company, overseeing close, GAAP accounting, cash and runway, government contract accounting, FP&A, tax, controls, board reporting, fundraising, deal structuring, project finance, and finance team development. The role is intended to progress to CFO, with responsibility for joint ventures, royalties, offtake agreements, debt financing, and Series A capital strategy.

Chief of Staff supporting the CEO across partnerships, negotiations, contract structuring, hiring, and administrative coordination. Responsibilities include preparing deal materials, researching counterparties, tracking contract redlines, managing executive and team searches, triaging inbound requests, coordinating schedules, and tracking commitments across multiple ventures. The role requires frequent travel, extended hours, discretion, exceptional writing, modeling skills, and comfort operating in a fast-paced early-stage environment.

Owns mechanical engineering for a modular chlorination and metal recovery plant. Responsibilities include specifying process equipment, piping, valves, materials of construction, and skid layouts; evaluating vendors; supporting factory acceptance testing; and overseeing installation, testing, pre-commissioning, and mechanical completion. The role requires corrosive-service equipment expertise, coordination with process engineers and contractors, site travel, and leadership across multiple future capital projects.

Own the electrical and instrumentation scope for a chlorination and metal-recovery plant. Develop the electrical basis of design, load list, single-line diagrams, hazardous-area classification, instrument index, I/O list, and safety instrumented system requirements. Specify and review MCCs, drives, panels, instruments, cabling, and contractor designs. Support HAZOP, factory acceptance, energization, loop checks, interlock testing, commissioning, and future capital projects, with potential leadership across multiple projects.

Leads a DARPA-funded nanocrystal catalyst research program, including experimental design, sample preparation, testing, metrology, data analysis, milestone reporting, and mentoring an Engineer II. Also develops metal recovery processes from bench and pilot testing through mass and energy balances, process design bases, P&IDs, and equipment specifications. Oversees laboratory safety, SOPs, cross-functional coordination, and government sponsor presentations.

Lead process engineering for hydrometallurgical metal recovery projects from flowsheet development through plant commissioning. Develop mass, energy, and water balances; create techno-economic models; author PFDs, P&IDs, equipment specifications, and operating procedures; size unit operations; run pilot campaigns; support scale-up, FEED, detailed engineering, commissioning, and startup. The role requires close collaboration with metallurgy teams and EPCM partners in a high-autonomy startup environment.

Leads bench-scale hydrometallurgical testwork, including leaching, ion exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation, and crystallization. Plans experiments, prepares and characterizes samples, closes mass balances, operates laboratory equipment, maintains records, and produces engineering data packages. Supports pilot campaigns at company and partner facilities, including shift coverage. Requires strong analytical, laboratory data-handling, safety, and reporting skills in an autonomous startup environment.

Lead government relations for a critical-minerals technology company, focusing on Department of Defense financing, federal agencies, congressional committees, state incentives, policy intelligence, and outside lobbyist management. The role builds relationships across defense, energy, and commerce programs; advances Tennessee and Texas economic-development initiatives; monitors regulations and export controls; and briefs executives and policymakers. Frequent extended hours and monthly travel to Chattanooga and Oak Ridge are required.

Leads critical-mineral hydrometallurgical projects from flowsheet development and techno-economic evaluation through pilot testing, detailed engineering, construction, vendor selection, and facility startup. Owns stage-gate decisions, process design, equipment specifications, EPCM coordination, brownfield integration, product qualification, and achieving nameplate production. Requires extensive autonomy, leadership, travel, relocation to Chattanooga, and occasional extended hours to meet project milestones.

Lead metallurgy for critical-mineral recovery projects, including feed characterization, sampling, bench-to-pilot test programs, mass balances, variability and locked-cycle testing, and scale-up data for engineering design. Manage external laboratories and consultants, author metallurgy sections of feasibility studies, support stage-gate decisions, and mentor metallurgists and laboratory staff. The role requires extensive hydrometallurgical expertise, frequent extended hours, relocation to Chattanooga, and travel to partner sites and laboratories worldwide.

Lead selection, development, validation, and commercialization of hydrometallurgical process technologies for critical mineral separation. Responsibilities include bench and pilot experimentation, process modeling, vendor evaluation, technology roadmapping, joint research collaborations, and cross-functional scale-up alignment. The role requires hands-on leadership across leaching, ion exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallization, electrowinning, and effluent management, with frequent international travel for installation and commissioning.

Model fluid flow through ion-exchange modules using CFD and reduced-order models, including manifold distribution, pressure drop, channeling, residence time, and mass transfer. Design and operate flow-loop experiments to validate models, collaborate on module internals and seals, characterize breakthrough performance, and develop hydraulic QA protocols for production modules. The role supports hydraulic scale-up, customer project design, manufacturing integration, and collaboration with production teams and external partners.

Owns purification and distillation process development for critical-metal chlorination plants. Responsibilities include bench fractional distillation, continuous mini-pilot design and operation, column and condenser design, impurity separation, ppb-level product purification, performance-test protocol development, and commissioning the commercial distillation train. The role requires collaboration across chemistry, process engineering, analytics, and capital projects, with frequent extended hours and travel to the partner site for commissioning.

Leads delivery of an overseas group 14 metal chlorination plant from basic engineering through commissioning, performance testing, and handover. Owns scope, schedule, cost, quality, HSE, estimates, contractor and fabricator management, integrated planning, project controls, and board reporting. Builds Kunin’s capital projects function and leads future plant feasibility studies and concurrent project delivery. Requires extensive overseas travel, extended site stays, and frequent extended hours.

Scale mini-pilot results into the design basis for a first-of-a-kind metal chlorination and recovery plant. Own basic engineering deliverables including process flow diagrams, heat and material balances, equipment datasheets, materials selection, control philosophy, HAZOP preparation, utilities, and effluent summaries. Review detailed engineering, evaluate vendors, witness factory acceptance tests, support commissioning, execute performance testing, and develop operating procedures and training materials.