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

Kunin’s product scales the way a battery does. Ion-exchange media is built into elements, elements are packaged into exchange modules, and modules are mounted on skidded systems, the way an electrode becomes a cell, a pack and then a system. The module is a polypropylene pressure vessel with special fittings and internals around the media; the skid is the piped, wired system shipped to a recovery plant. You own how modules and skids get made: the automated assembly cell for the module itself, the fabrication and welding of the polypropylene vessels and fittings, and the automated fabrication and welding of the skids they sit on. You start hands-on, building and commissioning the first module assembly and skid fabrication cells in Chattanooga, and you grow into running module and skid production as volumes climb.

This is a growth role. We are hiring an early-to-mid career engineer who has automated assembly, fabrication or welding on a real production floor and wants to become the Head of Manufacturing or Production for modules and skids as Kunin scales from the first recovery plants to one hundred. You will hire and lead the production team as it forms.

You are part of a dozen-person, rapidly growing team in Chattanooga, TN. The media line that feeds the modules is being delivered by the end of 2027; module and skid production has to be ready for it.

Module and skid production becomes the basis of a greenfield manufacturing facility in Series A – B, at 10X the scale, with automated material handling and integrated media packaging.

By 2030, we want to be the world’s largest volume producer of ion-exchange media.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Module assembly automation: design, source and commission the cell that loads elements into the module, seats internals and fittings, closes and seals the polypropylene vessel, and pressure-tests it, with in-line inspection and reject handling

Polypropylene vessel and fitting fabrication: plastic welding (butt fusion, extrusion and infrared welding), machining of fittings and internals, leak and burst testing, and the material and process qualification behind each

Supply chain for modules and skids: qualify and manage the vendors for plastic welding, machined fittings, vessels, frames and bought-out components; set up incoming inspection, FATs at the vendor and process qualification before first article

Skid fabrication and welding automation: frame fabrication, robotic or fixtured welding of steel and plastic piping, welding procedure qualification, hydrotest, and the assembly sequence from frame to shipped skid

Production readiness: takt and throughput models, bills of material, routings, OEE tracking, changeover procedures, and the operating procedures and training the first production operators run on

Equipment execution: specifications, vendor selection, FATs and SATs, installation and commissioning of assembly, fabrication and welding equipment, on schedule and on budget

Safety and quality for a fabrication shop: guarding, robot and welding safety, LOTO, pressure-equipment quality records, and traceability of every module and skid shipped