Metallurgical Engineering Intern at Solcoa Industries (Alameda, CA)
Solcoa Industries· Alameda, CA·
Role details
Job description
Making the Metals Powering the World Solcoa is building the next generation of American metalmaking, starting with rare earths — the metals of power and motion. We've developed a new chemistry that converts rare earth oxides into high-purity metals — the materials inside every EV, fighter jet, wind turbine, and data center — cleaner, cheaper, and faster than any conventional process. Now we're scaling it to thousands of tonnes of annual production.
The Role
Join our process team and help convert rare-earth oxides into high-purity metals. You’ll support reactor operations, run experiments and characterize feed materials and products, working with metallurgists, chemists and technicians to move from lab-scale experiments to repeatable production.
What You’ll Do
- Assist with high-temperature and high-vacuum reactor operations.
- Help characterize feed materials and products using ICP-OES, SEM-EDS, LECO O/N.
- Run furnace cycles, collect process data, and summarize results to inform design iterations.
- Maintain organized logs of process parameters, equipment conditions, and sample tracking.
- Support equipment maintenance: vacuum systems, induction coils, thermocouples, and gas handling.
- Contribute to safety-first culture and continuous improvement on the facility floor.
What You Bring
Required
- Pursuing a BS/MS in Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Science, or related field.
- Exposure to pyrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, or high-temperature processing (coursework or labs).
- Hands-on experience from labs, foundry work, internships, or personal projects (furnaces, casting, heat treatment).
- Detail-oriented, disciplined documentation, and reliable follow-through.
- Comfortable in a fast-paced, hardware-centric environment and willing to get your hands dirty.
- On-site availability; able to start soon.
Preferred
- Experience with vacuum or inert-atmosphere furnace operation.
- Familiarity with rare-earth metallurgy, molten salt electrolysis, or reactive metal processing.
- Basic thermodynamic analysis skills (Ellingham diagrams, phase diagrams, FactSage/HSC a plus).
- Welding or basic machining experience (mill/lathe).
- Python/MATLAB for data analysis.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive compensation.
- Comprehensive medical, dental and vision insurance.
- Company-provided lunch daily.
- J1 Visa sponsorship available if needed.
Why work at Solcoa Industries
- Culture: Small, obsessive team (8 people) solving a deeply technical and mission-critical problem. Described as “truly obsessive people working on what might be the most important industrial problem of our time.”
- Work model: On-site in SF Bay Area (Alameda) – all current roles require physical presence.
- Compensation: Highly competitive base salaries ($100K–$350K for engineering roles), stock options, and strong benefits.
- Impact: Direct contribution to Western industrial independence and climate goals (carbon-zero metals).
- Engineering focus: Heavy emphasis on metallurgy, process engineering, and high-temperature chemistry; chance to build from scratch.