--- title: 'Plant Operator at Red Metals' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/plant-operator-red-metals-charleston-qarzehr55w90' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-31' --- # Plant Operator at Red Metals - **Company:** Red Metals - **Location:** Charleston, SC - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-10-12 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-31 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/redmetals/fb02335b-6940-47d7-a4fa-cb55337f1071 ## Job description Plant Operator North Charleston, South Carolina Onsite ## About Red Metals Red Metals is rethinking the domestic copper supply chain at a pivotal moment in American industry. U.S. demand already exceeds domestic supply, and the gap is widening as grid modernization, the energy transition, and buildout of AI infrastructure accelerate. We are building a new model for this critical industrial layer in the United States. Conventional refining moves copper through concentrate, matte, anode, and cathode before it becomes rod. We go straight from scrap to rod in one facility, using our integrated flowsheet that brings together shredders, mills, physical AI, and molten metal chemistry. We are building our first production line in North Charleston, South Carolina: a $70M investment in the future of American-made copper. ## The Role We’re looking for someone to own the day-to-day operations of our first copper processing and refining facility in Charleston. This role lives on the plant floor and covers anything the plant needs. Some days you’ll be helping solve a production problem. Some days you’ll be fixing a conveyer. Some days you’ll be unloading a truck because it needs to get done. You’ll start hands-on, and the role grows as the company grows. The more you own, the more you lead. We care far more about drive, judgment, and how fast you learn than about titles or certifications. ## What You’ll Do - Keep the plant running safely and efficiently, every day - Own production, from material coming in the door to finished product going out - Find what’s broken or slow and fix it, whether it's equipment, a process, or a practice - Work side by side with engineering on startup, troubleshooting, and improvements - Build the systems, habits, and standards the plant runs on - Help hire and develop the people who will run the plant with you as we scale Red Metals Non-Negotiables - Bias for Action We move fast. Speed beats polish. We use every tool, especially AI, to accelerate decisions, execution, and learning. - Grit We do hard things because they matter. We keep pushing when others quit. - Ownership We own outcomes, not tasks. We see problems, fix them, and follow through across functions. - Signal We cut through noise. We communicate clearly and directly so decisions are fast and execution stays sharp. - Craft We take pride in our work. Quality, care, and precision are the standard. ## What We're Looking For - You’ve built, fixed, or run something hard that nobody asked you to take on - You’re the person people call when something breaks - You’d rather get your hands dirty than wait for instructions - You teach yourself what you don’t know, and you do it fast - You want more responsibility and you’re willing to earn it Experience in manufacturing, metals, the trades, the military, or a startup is useful. None of it is required. ## Why Red Metals - Build a company from zero, not optimize an existing system - Direct ownership of critical process and operational decisions - Work on a problem that matters: rebuilding U.S. industrial capacity - Small team, high trust, no bureaucracy Location This role is based in North Charleston, South Carolina and requires on-site work. The role operates on a standard Monday through Friday schedule, with the expectation of shift flexibility as the operation scales. ## About Red Metals ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Red Metals is building a new domestic supply chain for finished copper products by converting copper feedstocks directly into high-conductivity copper rod through an integrated refining and manufacturing process. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage – $10M raised) - **Headquarters**: Waterbury, Connecticut, United States / First production facility in Charleston, South Carolina - **Founded**: Not publicly available (recent startup, announced seed round in June 2026) - **Founders**: Jackson Switzer ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Copper refining and manufacturing (metals, advanced manufacturing) - **Target customers**: B2B – data centers, grid modernization, electrification, defense, wire & cable manufacturers - **Mission or purpose statement**: “Reshoring American copper – building the supply chain for what’s next.” – delivering high-conductivity copper rod domestically with dramatically shorter lead times and lower environmental impact. ## Products & Services - **High-Conductivity Copper Rod**: The company’s first commercial product – the industry-standard input used in wire, magnet wire, and other electrical applications. Produced via a single continuous operation from domestic copper feedstocks (initially scrap), reducing the typical multi-step, multi-country refining chain to days instead of months. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding of $10 million (Seed round, announced June 4, 2026) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Gigascale Capital (lead), Future Ventures, MCJ, and JB Straubel (founder and CEO of Redwood Materials, co-founder of Tesla). Also secured economic incentives from South Carolina and Charleston County. - **Growth Signals**: Building a $70 million facility in Charleston, SC (42,000 sq ft), expected to create at least 45 jobs with operations online in Q4 2026. Tackling a U.S. refined copper supply gap projected to exceed 2.5M metric tons annually by 2035. ## Competitive Advantages - **Integrated single-continuous process** that turns feedstocks directly into finished products, eliminating intermediate steps (concentrate, matte, anode, cathode, rod) – reducing lead times, working capital, energy intensity, and emissions. - **Feedstock-flexible** – initially focused on domestic copper scrap, making the process commercially viable without subsidies. - **Domestic supply chain security** – no port delays, no year-long lead times; built for reliability, speed, and control. - **Backed by top-tier deep-tech and industrial investors** with a rare combination of process innovation, operational execution, and supply chain expertise. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priority**: Launch the first production facility in Charleston, SC, scale the integrated refining process, and prove the economics at commercial scale. - **Medium‑term direction**: Expand capacity to support accelerating U.S. demand from data centers, grid modernization, electrification, and defense – aiming to capture a meaningful share of the domestic market ($45B+ by 2035). ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Technical, execution-oriented team with backgrounds from Redwood Materials, Boeing, Albemarle, BASF, and other industrial leaders. The company values hands-on work, speed, and staying close to the product. - **Location**: First facility in North Charleston, SC; company HQ in Waterbury, CT. The team is small (3 employees according to LinkedIn), so early hires will have outsized impact. - **Notable perks/culture**: Opportunity to help rebuild America’s industrial base and work on a mission-critical supply chain problem. The company is actively hiring engineers, operators, and “entrepreneurial builders” – see [jobs.ashbyhq.com/redmetals](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/redmetals). ## Sources 1. [redmetals.com](https://www.redmetals.com/) – Company homepage 2. [redmetals.com/announcement](https://redmetals.com/announcement) – Seed funding press release 3. [linkedin.com/company/redmetals](https://www.linkedin.com/company/redmetals) – Company LinkedIn profile 4. [governor.sc.gov](https://governor.sc.gov/news/2026-06/red-metals-establishes-first-copper-manufacturing-operation-charleston-county) – South Carolina governor’s announcement of Charleston facility 5. [miningweekly.com](https://www.miningweekly.com/article/tesla-co-founder-backed-copper-maker-red-metals-secures-seed-funding-for-us-refining-plant-2026-06-05) – Mining Weekly article on seed round ## Other roles at Red Metals - [Controls Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-technician-red-metals-charleston-75mxwx8g5h8c) — Charleston, SC - [Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-red-metals-charleston-275ycytdbgvg) — Charleston, SC - [Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-red-metals-charleston-ex2crnadsc07) — Charleston, SC - [Other Builders & Innovators](https://feeny.ai/job/other-builders-innovators-red-metals-charleston-bk53dvgw5mqg) — Charleston, SC - [Chemical and Process Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-and-process-engineer-red-metals-charleston-0hwqejbnd49b) — Charleston, SC - [Plant Operator](https://feeny.ai/job/plant-operator-valar-atomics-orangeville-fxr2zer57je7) — Orangeville, UT - [Plant Operator](https://feeny.ai/job/plant-operator-deep-sky-innisfail-ab-7c1tjpa768xq) — Innisfail Ab, Canada