Demonstration Plant Superintendent

Based in Oakland, California, Magrathea is a global category leader in critical mineral production technology. Our mission is to rebuild the magnesium metal supply base, delivering secure access to one of the most critical materials on Earth. Magnesium is essential to the aluminum, steel, titanium, nuclear, defense, and aerospace industries but 95% of global supply comes from China where large amounts of coal are used to make metal.

This isn’t just an economic risk: it’s a national security threat, and Magrathea is fixing it. We’ve developed a next-generation electrolytic process to make magnesium metal from seawater and brines, unlocking a new path to industrial independence and to a cleaner environment for future generations. We’re backed by the earliest believers in Tesla and SpaceX, major European industrial families, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

If you’re ready to make a lasting real-world impact, let's talk.

You’ll be joining a small, high-trust team of builders developing an electrolytic magnesium production demonstration plant in the Salt Lake City Area. You will be the person who builds the team and runs it. The facility will produce magnesium metal and the reliable operating data needed to validate the process and inform future commercial project development. You’ll be hands‑on from day one, on the ground and shaping the facility from detailed engineering drawings through construction, startup, and demonstration operations.

If you're the kind of person who is energized by hard, consequential problems, stays clear, calm, and effective when the work is ambiguous or urgent, and wants to build something that will matter far beyond the company, this role is for you.

This is a hands‑on plant superintendent role, with responsibility for operational readiness and daily operation of a demonstration plant where disciplined operating campaigns and reliable data are central to success.

You’ll help prepare the facility for startup, bring it to life, and then run it. You’ll review P&IDs and 3D models with engineers, walk the site with our host‑site partner and contractors, identify operating needs and readiness gaps, write the operating procedures, lead the operations scope of commissioning and startup, and then own day‑to‑day production, safety execution, controllable operating cost, quality, and operating data.

One day you may be flagging an operability problem before it gets built into steel; the next you may be reviewing a system turnover checklist, coordinating safe maintenance, or training the first operators we hire. This role is for someone who wants to build an operating team and run a plant, not inherit one. Operate, not observe.

• 7+ years in high‑accountability operating environments in chemical or minerals processing, metals, manufacturing, energy, or heavy industry, including direct supervision of operators or shift teams; equivalent practical experience is welcome
• 5+ years in the chemicals, metals, or related industry in the Salt Lake City Area
• Demonstrated experience commissioning and starting up a new plant or process unit, not just running an established one
• Demonstrated ability to lead an operations team, set clear expectations, and hold operators accountable for safe production and reliable data collection; experience coaching and qualifying operators through practical training
• Demonstrated ability to interpret process trends, diagnose deviations, and translate findings into corrective actions and documented learning
• Practical process fluency: able to read and use PFDs, P&IDs, mass/energy balances, operating procedures, and equipment specs, and to troubleshoot process deviations with engineering
• Proven safety…