Scaling American rare earth metal production that's cheaper, faster, and fundamentally cleaner.

Senior Process Engineer

San FranciscoOn-site$135K - $350K6 - 10 years
We're building a new kind of metalmaking operation from the ground up — one where rare earth extraction and refining happen in a continuous, closed-loop system rather than the batch-based, solvent-heavy processes that have defined this industry for decades. As our first dedicated process engineering hire, you'll own the design and optimization of high-temperature reactor systems, material handling flows, and separations trains that turn raw feedstock into finished metal at production scale. This isn't retrofit work — you'll be laying out greenfield process architectures, running HAZOPs on novel unit operations, and working shoulder-to-shoulder with metallurgists and equipment vendors to make design decisions that shape the physical plant. If you've ever wanted to see your P&IDs come to life in steel and refractory, this is the project.

What they're looking for

  • 6–10 years in process or mechanical engineering within high-temperature manufacturing — metals, ceramics, industrial gases, or mineral processing
  • Deep fluency in PFD and P&ID development, mass and energy balances, and equipment sizing for reactors, furnaces, and thermal systems
  • Hands-on experience commissioning new process lines or pilot plants, including troubleshooting instrumentation and controls alongside operations teams
  • Working knowledge of process safety frameworks (HAZOP, LOPA, PHA) applied to novel chemistries or unproven unit operations
  • Comfort in an on-site, build-from-scratch environment where you're authoring SOPs one day and turning wrenches on a prototype skid the next

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This role is one we're recruiting for on behalf of a client company; the client's identity is kept confidential at this stage. A Fluency recruiter will follow up with details.

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