Solcoa Industries

Pilot Plant Operator

Alameda, California

H1B sponsorship availableDetected 154 days ago

SEMOSHA

About the role

We've developed a new chemistry that converts rare earth oxides into high-purity metals - the materials inside every EV, fighter jet, wind turbine, and data center - cleaner, cheaper, and faster than any conventional process.
Now we're scaling it to thousands of tonnes of annual production.

Manage production runs end-to-end: feedstock preparation, reactor charging, process execution, product recovery, and packaging under inert conditions.
Perform preventive and first-line corrective maintenance on furnaces, vacuum systems, gas delivery, and material handling equipment
Maintain strict housekeeping, chemical hygiene, and safety practices-especially around hot materials, reactive powders, and inert-gas environments.
Support commissioning and startup of new production lines and equipment as the facility scales.
Collaborate with R&D engineers and technicians on trial runs, process improvements, and scale-up campaigns
provide operator-level insight to improve designs and procedures.
Perform preventive and first-line corrective maintenance on furnaces, vacuum systems, gas delivery, and material handling equipment; coordinate with engineers on larger repairs.
Collaborate with R&D engineers and technicians on trial runs, process improvements, and scale-up campaigns; provide operator-level insight to improve designs and procedures.
Solcoa is building the next generation of American metalmaking, starting with rare earths - the metals of power and motion.
You'll own day-to-day operations of our pilot-scale production lines-managing high-temperature reactors, vacuum systems, induction furnaces, and material handling from feedstock prep through finished metal.

3+ years operating pilot-scale or production-scale process equipment (chemical, metallurgical, semiconductor, glass, ceramics, or similar).
Comfort working independently and making sound operational decisions in a fast-paced startup environment.
Experience in pyrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, or rare-earth/specialty metals processing.
Required
Strong mechanical aptitude-comfortable with hand and power tools, basic fabrication, and equipment assembly.
Rigorous approach to SOPs, batch records, safety protocols, and data logging.
Ability to work rotating or flexible shifts as production demands require.
Availability to start soon.
Preferred
Background operating vacuum induction melting furnaces.
Basic welding skills (MIG/TIG) and familiarity with shop fabrication.
OSHA 10/30 or HAZWOPER certification.

We're looking for an experienced Plant Operators to run and maintain our rare-earth metal production facility.

This listing is sourced directly from Solcoa Industries's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.