Polymer Process Engineer

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 automating the roll-to-roll processing of ion-exchange media. This is a similar serial production challenge to battery electrodes. You own the process chemistry that turns a base polymer sheet into ion-exchange media: formulation of the reactive bath, reaction conditions and residence time, post-reaction conversion, washing and drying kinetics, and the capacity and uniformity tests that qualify every roll. You work alongside the Chemical Process Engineer, who owns the wet-end hardware. You own the chemistry that runs through it.

If you have experience in any of the following: running a pad-dry-cure finishing line, a slot-die coater, a membrane casting line, a dye range, battery electrode coating, paper coating, membrane casting, textile dyeing and finishing, and nonwovens, these are the backgrounds we are looking for and we’re interested in talking to you. Direct experience with ion exchange is not required although a plus: continuous coating and finishing fundamentals transfer. Ultimately, we are looking for someone that would thrive and be excited to sit at the interface of polymer chemistry, chemical process engineering, and mechanical engineering.

You report to the Director of Polymer and are part of a dozen-person, rapidly growing team in Chattanooga, TN delivering this line by the end of 2027. Your first deliverable is a complete process chemistry package: locked recipes, operating windows, QC methods and release specifications, and the reagent and water mass balances the demonstration line is designed to.

This demonstration line becomes the basis of a greenfield manufacturing facility in Series A – B, at 10X the scale, with automated material handling and integrated back-end exchange media equipment packaging.

By 2030, we want to be the world’s largest volume producer of ion-exchange media.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and lock the reactive process chemistry for continuous production of ion-exchange media: bath formulation, solvent system, additive levels, temperature, and residence-time windows.

• Develop the post-reaction conversion, wash, and drying steps: conversion kinetics, rinse-water quality, residual reagent limits, and drying profiles.

• Build the QC method set: degree of functionalization, ion-exchange capacity, uniformity across and along the roll, and release specifications for finished media.

• Run bench and mini-pilot trials with the laboratory technicians and analytical chemist; close reagent, water, and waste mass balances.

• Translate bench recipes to the demonstration line with the Chemical Process Engineer: pickup targets, line speed, bath turnover, and reagent recovery.

• Write the process chemistry package: recipes, operating windows, SOPs, QC methods, and hazard reviews for aggressive chemistry.

• Specify reagent handling, solvent recovery, and waste treatment for the chemistry you develop.

QUALIFICATIONS AND PREFERRED SKILLS

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, plastic/polymer engineering, textile engineering, materials engineering or chemistry.

• Good foundation in organic and polymer synthesis.

• Hands-on experience with a continuous coating or finishing process: battery electrode coating, paper coating, membrane casting, textile dyeing and finishing, or nonwovens, heavily preferred.

• Experience handling aggressive chemistry: acids, reactive monomers, solvents, or inert-atmosphere work.

• Practitioner of designed experiments with measured control of concentration, temperature, residence time, and pickup.

• Comfortable with Python or Matlab for data analysis and automating test or analysis tasks.

• Creative problem solving that brings together polymer chemistry, material handling, and fluid mechanics disciplines.

COMPENSATION

This role will pay $90,000 - $120,000, benefits, and equity.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Position located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Travel to partners’ facilities may be intermittently required.

• 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