Hydrometallurgical Engineer - Founding Team

About Riven

Our mission is to leverage fundamental science and the exponential growth of computational power to revolutionize industrial chemistry. We are integrating autonomous laboratories, computational modeling, and AI to systematize the design, de-risking, and deployment of new chemical capabilities. Our work is deeply interdisciplinary and closes the loop between fundamental physics and industrial deployment.

We are starting with critical minerals because they underpin virtually every facet of modern life—including energy infrastructure, compute architecture, and defense systems—and are at the heart of a generational effort to reindustrialize the west. We intend to dramatically reduce the time and cost required to scale new mineral processing capacity.

About the role

As a Hydrometallurgical Engineer you will help rethink how new chemistries move from bench-scale to pilot. You will work closely with experts in machine learning, process modeling, autonomous experimentation, and our commercial team to build out an automated platform for hydrometallurgical development.

Riven is hiring a lean, interdisciplinary team and experience spanning multiple roles is welcome. Apply to whichever role is closest to your skillset.

Initial Responsibilities

• Design, execute, and analyze bench- and pilot-scale solvent extraction experiments that guide process development and scale-up.

• Help set technical strategy for moving programs from vial-scale screening through pilot testing, including campaign priorities and scale-up criteria.

• Work with customers and commercial teams to define technical needs, run campaigns on customer feedstocks, present results, and scope subsequent phases.

• Inform technical trade-off studies, including scoping-level capital and operating cost estimates.

Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Chemistry, or a related discipline.

• 2+ years of industrial hydrometallurgical, separations, or process development experience.

• Experience independently designing, executing, and documenting bench-scale experimental campaigns.

• Understanding of core hydrometallurgical unit operations, including leaching, solid–liquid separation, solvent extraction, and precipitation.

• Ability to perform process calculations, analyze experimental data, and draw sound technical conclusions.

• Comfort working across laboratory, process engineering, analytical, and customer-facing responsibilities.

• Clear interdisciplinary communication and the curiosity to quickly learn and execute in new domains.

• Ability to prioritize, execute, and collaborate with a high degree of agency, a willingness to be wrong, and the ambition to build something that has never existed before.

• Trust, humor, rigor, and an excitement to work in a scrappy, interdisciplinary early-stage environment.

Bonus Points

• Familiarity with ICP-OES or ICP-MS workflows.

• Experience with process simulation tools such as METSIM, SysCAD, HSC Chemistry, or Aspen Plus.

• Experience with chromatography, adsorbents, or other solid-phase separation materials.

• Experience working with lanthanide solvent extraction.

• Experience in the mining industry.

• Exposure to pilot operations, equipment specification, or techno-economic analysis.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status, veteran status, medical condition or disability.

Compensation

The base salary range for this role is $135,000 – $190,000 per year.

Compensation decisions are made based on track-record, seniority, and skill set. Additional consideration can be given to candidates with exceptional experience.