---
title: 'Engineer II - Special Projects at Kunin Technologies'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-ii-special-projects-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-8463tqpgr15k'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Engineer II - Special Projects at Kunin Technologies

- **Company:** Kunin Technologies
- **Location:** Chattanooga, TN
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-12
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin/69e837b7-f600-42ff-ab49-434a550e2ccb

## Job description

U.S. CITIZENSHIP REQUIRED: This position is open only to U.S. citizens. Applications from candidates who are not U.S. citizens will not be considered.

## 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.

## MISSION FOR YEAR 1

Kunin's Special Projects group runs externally funded research programs that sit alongside our metal recovery pipeline. The current program is a DARPA-funded effort on nanocrystalline metal catalysts for energy production: preparing and characterizing palladium and nickel nanocrystal samples, cycling them through an extensive loading and triggering test matrix, and measuring the result with calibrated detection and metrology instruments. The work is milestone-driven and reported to the government sponsor at scheduled program reviews. You will be the dedicated hands in the laboratory for this program, working under the Principal Investigator and a senior engineer. You will run the sample preparation, the test cycling, and the instruments, and you will turn the raw output into clean, documented data that the milestone reports are built on. By the end of 2027, we expect:

- The nanocrystal sample preparation and characterization workflow running to a written procedure, with every sample logged and traceable.
- The Phase 1 test matrix executed on schedule, with detection and metrology instruments calibrated to a documented routine.
- A reduced, quality-checked dataset for every test campaign, delivered to the Principal Investigator within one week of campaign close.
- Written contributions to each Phase 1 milestone deliverable and program review package.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Prepare and characterize palladium and nickel nanocrystal samples (XRD, SEM/TEM, BET and related methods).
- Operate the loading and triggering reactors and run samples through the test matrix, including gas handling and vacuum systems.
- Calibrate and operate the detection and metrology equipment, and keep calibration records current.
- Collect, reduce, and document experimental data; maintain the laboratory notebook and data files to program standards.
- Keep the laboratory safe and orderly: current on all safety training, standard operating procedures followed and maintained, housekeeping to audit standard.
- Identify improvements to laboratory workflows, test techniques, and equipment capability, and raise them with the senior engineer.
- Support Kunin's metal recovery projects with bench work when the program schedule allows.

## WHO YOU ARE

- Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering or Physics with 1 to 2 years of related laboratory experience, or a Master's with 0 to 2 years, or a PhD.
- Experimentalist comfortable with gas handling and vacuum systems and with careful, repetitive bench work across a large test matrix.
- Experienced in at least one of materials synthesis, materials characterization (XRD, SEM/TEM, BET), or radiation and particle detection.
- Skilled in data analysis with Python, MATLAB, or Excel, and disciplined about data provenance.
- Comfortable working independently on routine tasks and asking for direction on non-routine ones.
- Team player who keeps the laboratory notebook, the data, and the sponsor deliverables complete and on time.

## COMPENSATION

This role will pay $115,000 - $190,000, benefits, and equity.

## ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

- Must be willing to relocate to Chattanooga, TN.
- Must be a U.S. citizen.
- Extended hours and weekends frequently required to support critical project milestones.

Chattanooga is more beautiful than expected, and Tennessee has no income tax. "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

- [VP of Manufacturing](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-of-manufacturing-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-krky86pgqk1e) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-gtcd05qbsryh) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Mechanical Engineer - Facilities](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-facilities-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-4311d8fth3vk) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Facilities Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-engineer-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-kngfhyk8e3nb) — 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