Process Engineer

About Alta

Alta Resource Technologies (Alta) is a next generation mining company that uses synthetic biology to separate critical minerals from conventional and unconventional resources, including e‑waste. Founded in 2023, the company is expanding its team in Boulder, CO. The exponential growth of new tech industries, as well as the information technology sector, are driving historic growth in mineral demand and stressing existing supply streams.

Meeting new demand, diversifying the supply chain, and producing minerals in a more sustainable manner requires the rapid development, deployment and scaling of new technologies. This mineral challenge represents a historic opportunity for technology development and value creation. Alta is proud to be at the vanguard of this mega trend.

Berkner Group has been retained to execute this search. If Berkner Group contacted you directly, please respond to the recruiter who reached out to you. If you are applying through this job posting and your background is a strong match, a member of the Berkner Group team may contact you to discuss the opportunity.

Alta is seeking a talented Process Engineer to join our growing Engineering and Operations team. This role will lead the operation, maintenance and improvement of our Demonstration Facility, contribute to technology improvement and support design work for the semi‑works facilities. This role will be a key contributor to our innovation pipeline.

A successful candidate should have operational experience in the Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas, and/or Mining Process Industries. There should be a strong desire to collaborate across disciplines including chemistry, biology, and engineering. The role requires full‑time, on‑site presence at our Boulder Facility.

• Develop and implement Process Safety, Environmental and relevant SHE procedures
• Develop and implement Operations, Maintenance and Reliability systems/strategies
• Create a body of knowledge for the Operation of Alta’s mineral separation process that will inform the design and operation of commercial scale facilities
• Lead the development of the plant training plan

• Lead the Operations and Maintenance activities of the plant
• Lead and support all Process Safety related activities (including managing of the deviation process, MOC, Risk Assessments, PHAs, etc)
• Monitor performance of process equipment
• Provide technical support to the Operations team for day‑to‑day and long‑term troubleshooting
• Identify and implement process and equipment improvement opportunities
• Produce necessary reports for safety management, production, and technology improvements
• Liaison with supply chain and facilities department to maintain raw materials and spare parts
• Liaison with supply chain to ship products
• Support hiring activities for the plant

• Contribute to technology improvement and optimization studies/projects
• Work with the R&D team to create Design of Experiments to be executed at various scales
• Interface with licensors and vendors to improve design of key equipment
• Support design work for the semi‑works facilities

• Support development of Engineering Standards
• Participation in conferences and events
• Become the Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Alta’s rare earth element process technology

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Chemical Engineering or Metallurgical Engineering
• At least 2 years of experience in a similar position in a Chemical/Petrochemical, Mining Processing plants and/or Demo/Pilot scale facilities
• Sound working knowledge of hydraulics, mass transfer, heat transfer and reaction engineering
• Process Safety Management knowledge
• Ability to create and implement systems
• Ability to lead Operators
• Mechanically inclined and can troubleshoot and fix equipment

• Operational experience with unit operations such as adsorption, column separation, chromatography, solid/liquid separation, solids handling, rotary kilns/calciners and other hydrometallurgy‑related unit operations would be an asset
• PLC/DCS programming and troubleshooting knowledge would be an asset
• Ha…