---
title: 'Chemist I - Functionalization Scale-Up at Kunin Technologies'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/chemist-i-functionalization-scale-up-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-pw8sz7re39fe'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-11'
---

# Chemist I - Functionalization Scale-Up at Kunin Technologies

- **Company:** Kunin Technologies
- **Location:** Chattanooga, TN
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-11-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin/1adb5775-f901-4639-999f-77974b65bef4

## Job description

## 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.

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

## About Kunin Technologies

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Kunin Technologies develops modular ion-exchange equipment to recover critical minerals from U.S. mining waste streams, helping mines unlock byproduct metals.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Early-stage, pre-revenue)
- **Headquarters**: Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
- **Founded**: 2025
- **Founders**: Daniel Rau (CEO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Critical mineral extraction, mining technology, industrial process engineering
- Target customers: U.S. mining operations (B2B, Industrial/Enterprise), particularly mines that produce copper, lithium, or other primary metals and want to recover secondary byproducts like gallium, germanium, scandium, rhenium, and vanadium
- Mission or purpose statement: “Bringing mining back to America” by recovering trillions of dollars in stranded critical minerals from existing mining waste

## Products & Services
- **Modular Ion-Exchange Skids**: Pre-assembled, prefabricated treatment trains that use proven ion-exchange resin technology (invented by the company’s namesake, Robert Kunin, during the Manhattan Project) to separate target metals from mining wastewater and tailings streams.
- **Byproduct Financing & Asset Ownership Model**: Kunin helps mine owners finance critical mineral byproduct assets, sharing upside from recovered metals that would otherwise be lost.
- **Multiphysics Digital Twins & Process Controls**: Automated optimization systems that maximize metal capture rates and speed of recovery for each specific mining operation.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (early-stage startup)
- **Key Metric**: Small team of ~2-6 employees (as of mid-2026); active hiring spree with 4 open positions
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Tied into Department of Energy projects; selected by the DOE Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to restart domestic primary gallium recovery; based at Brickyard in Chattanooga
- **Growth Signals**: Selected for DOE critical minerals program; reports its technology can uplift mine revenue by 10–30% over 10 years; U.S. mining industry facing critical supply shortages due to Chinese export restrictions on gallium, germanium, and other metals — creating massive tailwind for its market

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proven Chemistry, Novel Form Factor**: Uses ion-exchange resin chemistry with decades of in-field operating experience — no new material science required. The innovation is in the modular form factor and automated process controls, which dramatically reduce cost.
- **Vertically Integrated**: Kunin is America’s only vertically integrated ion-exchange technology developer, covering design, manufacturing, deployment, and financing.
- **Strategic Positioning**: Headquarters in Chattanooga strategically near Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory — all hubs for engineering talent.
- **Massive Addressable Market**: Estimates over $3 trillion in stranded critical minerals across U.S. mining waste that are currently not recovered.

## Strategic Focus
- Moving from pilot-scale demonstration to full production and deployment across the United States
- Scaling manufacturing to apply a lithium-ion battery-style learning curve to skidded system costs
- Building automated process controls for optimized metal recovery at existing mine sites
- Helping restore U.S. competitiveness in critical mineral production amid geopolitical supply chain disruptions

## Why Work Here
- **High-Impact Mission**: Directly contribute to U.S. critical mineral independence, domestic manufacturing, and national security — with measurable environmental benefit by recovering metals from existing waste rather than new mining
- **Tiny Team, Huge Ownership**: Currently 2-6 people; new hires (titles include “Damn Good Engineer,” Senior Scientist, Hydrometallurgist, Mechanical Lead) will have outsized influence on technology and company trajectory
- **Engineering-First Culture**: Emphasis on chemical process engineering, mechanical design, and multiphysics simulation — building real hardware that goes into the ground
- **Location**: Chattanooga, Tennessee — lower cost of living with proximity to top engineering universities and DOE national labs
- **EY: Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Likely onsite/hybrid given the hardware and lab focus; careers page does not specify remote options
- **Backed by DOE**: Credibility from federal selection for critical mineral recovery projects
- **Growth Trajectory**: Active hiring spree signals company is scaling from R&D toward deployment — early-stage equity opportunity

## Sources
1. [kunin.tech](https://www.kunin.tech/)
2. [Jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin)
3. [Hypepotamus](https://hypepotamus.com/startup-news/kunin-technologies-critical-minerals-mining-waste/)
4. [LinkedIn - Kunin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/kunin)

## Other roles at Kunin Technologies

- [Polymer Process Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/polymer-process-engineer-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-ywcdwqycpqcw) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Head of Manufacturing](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-manufacturing-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-krky86pgqk1e) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Head of Controls](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-controls-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-gtcd05qbsryh) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Mechanical Engineer - Facilities](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-facilities-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-4311d8fth3vk) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Chemical Process Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-process-engineer-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-hfzfqwf7fcbv) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Summer Intern - Metallurgy and Chemistry](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-intern-metallurgy-and-chemistry-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-hp54hxchvhgf) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Summer Intern - Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-intern-engineering-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-9ph7kzpmmwez) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Summer Intern - Commercial](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-intern-commercial-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-z3qtgkr9cvfw) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Head of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-xf4jt96dx6w7) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Director of Government Relations](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-government-relations-kunin-technologies-washington-39361rcv1yfm) — Washington, DC