[Hiring] Hydrometallurgy and Chemical-Separation Specialists @Axyde Analytics

Role Description

Axyde Analytics is assembling a multidisciplinary expert team for anticipated U.S. government-funded project-scoping assignments involving critical minerals and international infrastructure. We seek hydrometallurgists, chemical engineers, and separation specialists capable of evaluating critical-mineral extraction, purification, refining, and recovery from primary, secondary, unconventional, and recycled feedstocks.

• Potential assignments may involve lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, rare earths, graphite, manganese, vanadium, gallium, germanium, indium, antimony, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, uranium, or other critical materials.
• Axyde does not expect one candidate to cover every commodity or unit operation. Applicants should identify the feedstocks, chemistries, and process systems in which they possess direct, demonstrable expertise.

Specialist Tracks

• Atmospheric acid and alkaline leaching
• Pressure oxidation and pressure-acid leaching
• Chloride, sulfate, nitrate, and ammoniacal systems
• Heap, vat, agitation, and in-situ leaching
• Direct lithium extraction and brine processing
• Solvent extraction and multistage separation
• Ion exchange, adsorption, and membrane separation
• Selective precipitation and impurity removal
• Crystallization and product-quality control
• Electrowinning and electrorefining
• Hydrometallurgical recovery from concentrates, residues, and tailings
• Battery-material and recycling flowsheets
• Rare-earth cracking, leaching, and separation
• Water, reagent, recycle, and effluent management
• Process simulation, mass balance, and scale-up
• Pilot-plant design, commissioning, and operations
• Corrosion, materials selection, and containment
• Process safety involving acids, bases, oxidants, reductants, and toxic reagents

Potential Responsibilities

• Evaluate feed mineralogy, variability, liberation, and chemical characteristics.
• Review testwork quality, sample representativeness, and analytical methods.
• Assess leach chemistry, kinetics, recovery, selectivity, and reagent consumption.
• Evaluate pressure, temperature, residence-time, and materials-of-construction requirements.
• Review solvent-extraction, ion-exchange, adsorption, membrane, and precipitation circuits.
• Assess impurity deportment, recycle streams, bleed streams, and finished-product quality.
• Develop or review integrated mass, solution, reagent, and water balances.
• Evaluate crystallization, electrowinning, and product-finishing requirements.
• Review residue neutralization, effluent treatment, emissions, and disposal systems.
• Assess corrosion, containment, operability, maintainability, and worker-safety risks.
• Review technology maturity, vendor claims, pilot results, operating references, and scale-up evidence.
• Identify decisive technical information gaps and define additional testwork or diligence.
• Evaluate power, water, steam, oxygen, acid, alkali, and other infrastructure dependencies.
• Contribute to capital-cost, operating-cost, schedule, and implementation assumptions.
• Reconcile process assumptions with product specifications, market requirements, and project economics.
• Identify realistic opportunities for U.S. equipment, engineering, technology, and services.
• Develop or review feasibility-study, technical-assistance, or pilot-project terms of reference, budgets, and schedules.
• Participate in sponsor, government, supplier, laboratory, customer, or financing-source discussions.
• Support international meetings, site visits, and field verification when required.
• Prepare concise analyses and recommendations for senior government decision-makers.
• Serve as a discipline lead, contributor, same-discipline alternate, or independent technical reviewer.

Qualifications

• At least 7–10 years of directly relevant professional experience, with greater experience preferred for discipline-lead and independent-review roles.
• A degree in metallurgy, chemical engineering, mineral processing, chemistry, materials science, or a closely related field.
• Direct responsibility for identifiable hydrometallurgical plants, pilot programs, feasibility studies, process-development programs, or operating-improvement assignments.
• Demonstrated ability to connect feed characteristics, process chemistry, recovery, impurity control, product quality, scale-up, and economics.
• Experience developing or independently reviewing process-flow diagrams, mass balances, design criteria, testwork programs, or operating data.
• Strong written and verbal English-language communication skills.
• Ability to prepare concise, decision-oriented technical work.
• Ability to collaborate across geological, processing, environmental, safety, commercial, and financial disciplines.
• Either U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent-resident status in the United States.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally when an assignment requires it.
• No known employment, confidentiality, intellectual-property, noncompete, or conflict-of-interest restriction that would prevent participation.
• Operating, commissioning, troubleshooting, and scale-up experience is particularly valuable. Academic or laboratory experience should be accompanied by evidence of industrial application or project-development responsibility.

Application Information Requested

• Please submit a résumé and a brief response identifying:
• The commodities, feedstocks, and hydrometallurgical systems with which you have direct experience.
• Your strongest unit-operation and process-chemistry specialties.
• Up to five representative plants, projects, pilots, or studies and your personal responsibilities on each.
• The development stages you have supported, including laboratory testwork, pilot, demonstration, feasibility, design, construction, commissioning, ramp-up, or operations.
• Your experience developing or reviewing mass balances, design criteria, process models, and testwork programs.
• Countries and regions in which you have worked.
• Whether you can serve as a discipline lead, independent reviewer, or both.
• Your current U.S. location.
• Whether you are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
• Your availability during the next 30 days.
• Your ability to travel internationally and any geographic restrictions.
• Your anticipated hourly rate.
• Any actual or potential conflicts involving governments, project sponsors, technology providers, engineering firms, mining companies, or current employers.

Engagement Conditions

• This is a contingent opportunity supporting anticipated government-funded assignments. No employment, contract award, minimum workload, or particular assignment is guaranteed.
• Selection for an assignment will depend on contract award, the specific feedstock and technical question, qualifications, availability, eligibility, conflicts, travel requirements, mutually acceptable compensation, and execution of appropriate employment or consulting documentation.
• Axyde may tailor and reformat selected résumés for proposal compliance without materially changing the candidate’s qualifications or experience.