---
title: 'Damn Good Engineer at Kunin Technologies'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/damn-good-engineer-kunin-technologies-process-engineering-sgqrj2ewz67s'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Damn Good Engineer at Kunin Technologies

- **Company:** Kunin Technologies
- **Location:** Process Engineering
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2025-11-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin/8310c10d-92ec-4b9a-afa4-1f5a9a9f5a50

## Job description

Can you solve problems 10x faster than anyone else? Have you picked up new skills in a matter of days or understood new technical subject areas within a matter of weeks? Are you looking to join a team surrounded by other damn good engineers? Let’s talk.

Kunin is developing separation systems with an order of magnitude higher efficiency. This requires rigorous experimentation of various separations, thoughtful mechanical design to maximize throughput, state-of-the-art process controls to handle accelerated cycling, and multiple manufacturing scale-ups to reduce the cost of separations towards its theoretical minimum. To achieve all this simultaneously, we need some damn good engineers.

If you don’t fit any of our open roles but are interested in Kunin, convince us that you would be valuable.

Location: On-Site (Chattanooga, TN)

Type: Full-Time

## 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—but 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 mass manufacturable nano-separation systems, significantly more value can be produced from each resource, reducing waste, and unlocking domestic critical mineral production.

## REQUIREMENTS

- Completed a highly technical project from start to finish and able to thoughtfully discuss it.
- At least three previous coworkers will rave about your ability to learn and execute.
- Strong drive to work for an early-stage startup.
- Willingness to fill roles across an organization where necessary.
- Confident in highly autonomous environments.

## COMPENSATION

Whatever you are worth including benefits & equity.

## ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

- Must be willing to relocate to Chattanooga, TN.

## 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

- [Lab Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/lab-technician-kunin-technologies-process-engineering-62k61s3z37ya) — Process Engineering
- [Senior Scientist - Ion Exchange](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-ion-exchange-kunin-technologies-process-engineering-bwb8590we4jf) — Process Engineering
- [Hydrometallurgist](https://feeny.ai/job/hydrometallurgist-kunin-technologies-process-engineering-8f7v3n3pj0ng) — Process Engineering