Head of Engineering

Travertine is an Industrial Transformation company based in Boulder, CO, that is rapidly scaling a technology for sulfur-decoupled production of critical minerals, starting with phosphate. Our technology enables large-scale circularity in extractive industries while simultaneously decarbonizing building materials.

We do this by electrochemically recycling chemical byproducts, sulfate wastes, into sulfuric acid and valuable mineral co-products. Sulfuric acid is the world's most used inorganic chemical and is vital for producing a wide range of critical elements including phosphate (for fertilizer and LFP batteries), lithium, copper, nickel, and rare earth elements. Travertine's technology solves the dual problems of sulfur supply vulnerability and large-scale chemical waste disposal.

Our transformative process changes the fundamental material balance of critical mineral production, laying the groundwork for an industry liberated from fossil inputs and their legacy waste and carbon impacts.

Since founding, Travertine has raised over $29M in capital, including over $5M in US Federal and State government grants. We are an accomplished and driven team recognized by C&EN 10 startups to watch in 2022, Bloomberg NEF Pioneers in 2023, RMI Third Derivative 1st Gigaton Captured program in 2024, Mining Cleantech Challenge in 2026, and are a founding member of the Carbon Removal Alliance.

Travertine designed, built, and successfully operated our core technology Demonstration Plant in Rochester, NY for over 3,000 hours, and delivered the project on-time and on-budget.

We are now recruiting a VP of Engineering to lead the development of our first commercial project, which will be the only new phosphate plant built on US soil in over 50 years.

The VP of Engineering will lead Travertine’s engineering function as the company advances its technology from demonstration plant operation to commercial plant deployment. This role reports directly to the CEO and will be responsible for building the engineering discipline and team that will design and ensure effective operation of world-scale critical mineral production plants. The first plant in development is a purified phosphoric acid plant located in the southeastern US, that is currently in FEL-2.

This role will own all aspects of internal and external engineering including strategy, flowsheet development, technoeconomic modeling, hiring, EPC selection and management, vendor selection, budgeting, and translating R&D and Demo Plant data into engineering design. Critical to success is ensuring projects are executed on time and on budget without sacrificing strong technical rigor and safety.

The ideal candidate is a strong leader with a deep technical background in chemical process engineering, and who has designed multiple commercial-scale plants from concept to FEED to detailed engineering, and seen those plants through construction and consistent operation. We are looking for an engineer who can build, lead, and mentor a team; develop short and long-term strategies; vet and manage EPCs and vendors;

develop and refine scalable and cost-effective flow sheets; review P&IDs, HMB, equipment selection and sizing; develop high-level operating control logic; and think outside the box to design and deliver sustainable & repeatable chemical plant designs in the 21st century.

• Own Travertine’s plant engineering roadmap from demo plant to multiple commercial plant deployments
• Build the systems, standards, and processes needed for a professional engineering organization.
• Use pilot and demonstration plant experimental data to inform scalable process designs.
• Work cross-functionally with Process Development,…