---
title: 'Head of Controls at Kunin Technologies'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-controls-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-gtcd05qbsryh'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-11'
---

# Head of Controls at Kunin Technologies

- **Company:** Kunin Technologies
- **Location:** Chattanooga, TN
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin/890ecab3-2db9-4dfa-8422-7edd7649f632

## 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, 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 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 controls layer that makes separate unit operations one coherent line: web transport, drives and tension control, in-line process controls on bath, dryer and dose parameters, and the PLC, HMI and SCADA layer with recipes, interlocks and data logging that ties it together. Battery electrode coating experience maps directly: fragile-web transport, wet steps, drying, precision tension, modern automation. This is a growth role. We are hiring an early-to-mid career controls engineer who has commissioned in-line process controls or automation on a real line and wants to become the Head of Controls, and from there a leader of manufacturing or production, as the line scales from demonstration to a greenfield plant. You will build the controls and automation team as it forms. You are part of a dozen-person, rapidly growing team in Chattanooga, TN delivering this line by the end of 2027. 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

- Line architecture: unwind and rewind stands, roll transfer between unit operations, accumulator and festoon strategy, and splice stations
- Web transport and tension control for low-basis-weight media: drive sizing, load cells and dancers, tension zones through nips, baths, the beam shield labyrinth, and dryers
- In-line process controls: closed-loop control of bath concentration, temperature, residence time, dryer profile and dose, with the sensors and analyzers that feed them
- Controls and automation: PLC programming, drive coordination and draw control, HMI and SCADA, recipe management, and interlock coordination with the beam systems engineer and the material handling automation
- Line data: sensor selection and logging of speed, tensions, temperatures, bath parameters and dose records, captured from day one and made usable for process development and quality release
- Commissioning leadership when unit operations physically connect; line-level safety: e-stops, guarding, LOTO; growth into the Head of Controls role, hiring and leading controls and automation staff

## QUALIFICATIONS AND PREFERRED SKILLS

- Bachelor’s degree in electrical, mechatronics, chemical or mechanical engineering.
- 3-8 years on roll-to-roll, continuous process or automated production lines with hands-on drives, tension and controls work; battery electrode coating, converting, or process plant backgrounds preferred.
- PLC and HMI programming experience (Rockwell/Allen-Bradley or Siemens class) with servo and VFD drive commissioning, and in-line process control loops tuned on a live line.
- Experience with SCADA, historians and recipe systems, and with troubleshooting sensors, actuators and electrical components.
- Wants to lead: has owned the controls scope on a commissioning, or has guided technicians and integrators through a startup.
- Creative problem solving that brings together reactive chemistry, material handling, controls and fluid mechanics disciplines.

## 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

## 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

- [Chemist I - Functionalization Scale-Up](https://feeny.ai/job/chemist-i-functionalization-scale-up-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-pw8sz7re39fe) — Chattanooga, TN
- [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
- [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