Chemical Process Engineer

About the Company 

General Matter is enriching uranium in America.

Our goal is to design, build, and operate the world’s lowest-cost enrichment services in the United States. 

Our mission is to restore America’s ability to produce nuclear fuel—fuel that will power AI, advanced manufacturing, critical industries, and the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Ultimately, our work will help power national ambitions and enable a high-energy society.

We were incubated by Founders Fund, like Anduril and Palantir before us, and are backed by top-tier investors. Our lean, world-class team of engineers and operators is applying a first-principles approach to solving the problem of nuclear fuel production. 

We are a mission-driven company with a culture of urgency, accountability, and transparency.

Help us build a high-energy society by making the cleanest, safest form of baseload energy the most affordable.

About This Role

As a Process Engineer at General Matter, you’ll set the process engineering basis for a new chemical manufacturing company, and for America’s next commercial nuclear fuel capability. This isn’t maintenance on a legacy plant. You’ll design one from first principles, starting with initial scoping, flow diagrams, and mass and energy balances and carrying it through every stage of the design life cycle until it gets built.

Our process group covers R&D on our core process technology, the move from pilot scale to commercial deployment, the plant systems that support it, and the process architectures we’ll need next. Every engineer on the team owns a system or a set of subsystems from start to finish. You’ll write the design criteria for our test assets, keep the design basis current as it feeds the larger plant systems, and make sure every flow rate, layout, and process drawing is known, verified, and communicated across the company.

Your scope here grows with your experience and the ownership you show. This is a rare chance to write the fundamental design of something new, for a mission of national importance. 

Responsibilities

• Own one or more process systems or subsystems across the full design life cycle, from initial scoping and concept through detailed design, build, and commissioning.
• Develop and maintain process flow diagrams, P&IDs, mass and energy balances, and process layouts, and define the deliverables required at each design stage.
• Write design criteria for test asset programs, and keep the process design basis updated as it feeds the larger plant systems.
• Lead process documentation and configuration tracking as systems scale, so design parameters stay well understood and clearly communicated.
• Apply thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and reaction kinetics to size, model, and optimize unit operations.
• Build and refine process models that predict performance, find bottlenecks, and guide trade studies.
• Act as process design authority for your systems, owning the fundamental design basis and making sure the whole design fits together, is verified, and is built as intended.
• Support R&D on core process technology, and help evaluate new process architectures for future capabilities.
• Partner with mechanical, controls, manufacturing, operations, and safety/licensing teams to turn the process design into hardware that gets built.
• Prepare clear reports, specifications, and design documents that move decisions forward quickly.

Basic Qualifications

• Evidence of exceptional ability (prior projects, portfolio of work, completed products, etc.).
• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or a related field. Advanced degrees may substitute for some experience, depending on degree level.
• 5+ years of process engineering experience. Candidates with deeper experience, including technical lead or design authority roles on major process systems, will take on broader system and program ownership
• Hands-on experience developing PFDs, P&IDs, mass and energy balances, and process design basis documents.
• Strong command of thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, and reaction kinetics.
• Experience taking a process system through multiple design stages, ideally from concept through construction or commissioning.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to make complex technical information clear to diverse audiences.
• This role requires the ability to obtain and maintain a DOE security clearance.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Process design experience in oil and gas, petrochemicals, specialty chemicals, or other high-hazard process industries, especially greenfield or design-from-scratch projects.
• Startup or early-stage hardware experience where you built process, documentation, and systems from zero with a resourceful, entrepreneurial approach.
• Experience leading programs or teams, formally or informally, and coordinating deliverables across multiple systems.
• Proficiency with process simulation and modeling tools.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as necessary. 

Equal Opportunity Employer 

General Matter is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with General Matter is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status. 

Compensation and Benefits

The base salary range for this role is $110,000-$225,000 annually. 

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. Please note that the stated salary range is an estimate and may be adjusted based on market conditions, business needs, or other factors. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.