---
title: 'Head of Finance at Kunin Technologies'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-xf4jt96dx6w7'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Head of Finance 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/94e62740-3f71-4238-abb5-a5e45a24b194

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

## MISSION FOR YEAR 1

You will be Kunin's first finance leader, hired with the explicit intent that you become Kunin's Chief Financial Officer. This is not a Controller seat with a vague promise attached. The path is defined: own the fiduciary stack in year one, take over deal structuring in year two, and step into the CFO chair at or before the Series A once the close, the controls, and the capital strategy are yours. The CEO will not hire a CFO above you if you earn it. In year one you own the finances of a company that is closing a Seed round, executing a federal pilot award, standing up a first-of-a-kind plant with a partner, and forming a manufacturing joint venture: monthly close, cash and runway, government cost accounting, payroll and spend controls, tax, insurance, and the board pack. Every Kunin program is a streaming transaction applied to industrial waste, and every plant is a project finance problem. As the fiduciary base solidifies, you move onto the deal side beside the CEO: joint venture structures, streaming and royalty style recovery agreements, offtake agreements, debt and equipment financing, and the Series A and the capital markets work above it. By the end of 2026, we expect:

- A reliable monthly close within ten business days, GAAP books with the outside CPA, and a monthly cash, runway, and board reporting pack.
- Government contract cost accounting, timekeeping, and invoicing on the Army OTA award that would survive a DCAA-style review.
- Seed closing financials and a Series A data room that an institutional investor can diligence without a cleanup.
- Your name on the term sheet and model for at least one joint venture, stream, royalty, offtake, or debt financing.
- A written CFO readiness plan agreed with the CEO: the controls, deal record, and capital markets exposure required for the promotion, with dates.

## WHAT YOU'LL LEAD

- The close: monthly close, GAAP discipline, audit readiness, and the outside CPA relationship.
- Cash and treasury: runway management, spend controls, payroll and benefits, tax, and insurance renewals.
- Government contract finance: cost accounting, indirect rates, timekeeping, and invoicing across federal awards.
- FP&A: the operating model, unit economics per program, metal price sensitivity, and the board and investor reporting built on them.
- Deal structuring with the CEO: joint ventures, streaming and royalty style recovery agreements, offtake agreements, and debt and equipment financing, from model to redline to signature.
- Capital strategy: the Series A process and data room, and the layering of equity, debt, and project finance as the deployment portfolio scales.
- Buildout of the finance organization beneath you: controller, analysts, and the systems they run on.

## WHO YOU ARE

- Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or engineering with 8+ years in finance, including at least one Controller, Head of Finance, or senior investment or banking seat; CPA, CFA, or MBA preferred.
- Operator who has run or stood up a close process inside a venture-backed industrial or hardware company and knows what institutional diligence looks for.
- Skilled in building the model and redlining the agreement for the same transaction; exposure to streams, royalties, offtake, project finance, or metals and mining a strong plus.
- Fluent in government contract cost accounting, or able to become fluent in the first quarter.
- Builder who wants the CFO seat and can show the trajectory to earn it, not someone looking for a steady-state controllership.
- Communicator who translates financial results and deal structures into clear decisions for the CEO, the board, counterparties, and investors.

## COMPENSATION

This role will pay $225,000 - $350,000, benefits, and equity.

## ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

- Must be willing to relocate to Chattanooga, TN. Regular travel to counterparty sites, investors, and the partner plant.
- Must sign Kunin's standard NDA before interviewing.
- 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
- [Director of Government Relations](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-government-relations-kunin-technologies-washington-39361rcv1yfm) — Washington, DC
- [Chief of Staff](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-mzv1r77zcqkv) — Chattanooga, TN