Chemist I - Functionalization Scale-Up

Role details

WHO WE ARE

Kunin Technologies is revolutionizing the critical mineral supply chain by implementing advanced separation technologies to capture value from overlooked resources.

Metals are everywhere, in solar panels, smartphones, electric vehicles, and more. As ore grades plummet globally, traditional extraction methods are failing. China dominates critical minerals markets by developing superior separation technologies that extract value from materials American mines discard as waste.

Utilizing Kunin Technologies' breakthrough performance ion-exchange media, significantly more value can be produced from each resource, reducing waste and unlocking metal abundance.

To achieve metal abundance, humanity must bring separation science down its own Moore’s Law: fix the idiot cost index for micro and nano scale separation materials. This requires mass manufacturing novel ion-exchange media form factors which previously struggled from high costs.

THE ROLE

We are scaling the chemistry that turns a base polymer into ion-exchange media from bench flasks to continuous production. Functionalization is the step that installs the ion-exchange groups: the activated polymer reacts in a bath, is converted, washed and dried, and is then tested for capacity and uniformity. Today those recipes are proven at the gram scale. Your job is to take them to kilogram batches and then onto the demonstration line, with the same capacity and the same uniformity at production rate.

You run the functionalization scale-up program at the bench and on the mini-pilot. You map how capacity, conversion and uniformity respond to reagent concentration, temperature, residence time, bath age and pickup; you find the operating windows that hold at larger batch sizes and longer bath life; you develop the wash and dry steps so finished media meets residual-reagent and moisture specifications; and you write the recipes, SOPs and QC methods that the Polymer Process Engineer carries onto the demonstration line. You run your trials with the laboratory technicians and the analytical chemist and close the reagent, water and waste balances on every campaign.

You report to the Lead Organic Chemist and are part of the Ion-Exchange Manufacturing team in Chattanooga, TN delivering the demonstration line by the end of 2027. By the end of 2027 we expect functionalization recipes locked at kilogram batch scale with capacity and uniformity matching the bench, bath-life and reagent make-up limits established, wash and dry operating windows and residual specifications set, and a validated QC method set in use for media release.

This demonstration line becomes the basis of a greenfield manufacturing facility in Series A – B, at 10X the scale. By 2030, we want to be the world’s largest volume producer of ion-exchange media.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Scale functionalization reactions from bench to kilogram batches and the mini-pilot: reagent concentration, temperature, residence time, bath age and pickup windows.
• Run designed experiments on capacity, conversion and uniformity; identify the variables that control each and the windows that hold at scale.
• Develop the post-reaction conversion, wash and dry steps: conversion kinetics, rinse-water quality, residual-reagent limits and drying profiles.
• Establish bath life, reagent make-up and recycle limits for continuous operation.
• Run bench and mini-pilot campaigns with the laboratory technicians and the analytical chemist; close reagent, water and waste mass balances.
• Build and validate the QC methods: degree of functionalization, ion-exchange capacity, uniformity within and between batches, and release testing.
• Write recipes, operating windows, SOPs and hazard reviews, and hand the package to the Polymer Process Engineer for the demonstration line.

QUALIFICATIONS AND PREFERRED SKILLS

• Bachelor’s degree in chemistry or chemical engineering and 1-3 years of hands-on laboratory experience.
• Good foundation in organic and polymer chemistry; comfortable running multi-step reactions on solid polymers.
• Experience handling aggressive chemistry: acids, bases, reactive reagents, organic solvents, or inert-atmosphere work.
• Practitioner of designed experiments with measured control of concentration, temperature, residence time and pickup.
• Competent with titration, ion-exchange capacity measurement, moisture analysis and clear experimental write-ups; comfortable with Excel or Python for data analysis.
• Creative problem solving that turns bench results into recipes a production line can run.

COMPENSATION

This role will pay $90,000 - $110,000, benefits, and equity.

Company facilities include gym, sauna, and ice bath.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Position located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• Must be a U.S. citizen.
• Extended hours and weekends frequently required to support critical project milestones.

"The Whole World Is Ion-Exchange And The Rest Are Merely Details!"

Dr. Robert Kunin of Rohm and Haas, The Pioneer of the Ion-Exchange Industry, 1951