Metallurgical Engineering Intern

Solcoa Industries

  • San Francisco Bay Area, California
  • 22 days ago

    Highlights

    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. You’ll support reactor operations, run experiments and characterize feed materials and products, working with metallurgists, chemists and technicians to move from lab-scale experiments to repeatable production.

    Numbers & Facts

    LocationSan Francisco Bay Area, California

    Description

    Making the Metals Powering the World

    Solcoa is building the next generation of American metalmaking, starting with rare earths — the metals of power and motion. 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.

    The Role

    Join our process team and help convert rare-earth oxides into high-purity metals. You’ll support reactor operations, run experiments and characterize feed materials and products, working with metallurgists, chemists and technicians to move from lab-scale experiments to repeatable production.

    What You’ll Do

    • Assist with high-temperature and high-vacuum reactor operations.

    • Help characterize feed materials and products using ICP-OES, SEM-EDS, LECO O/N.

    • Run furnace cycles, collect process data, and summarize results to inform design iterations.

    • Maintain organized logs of process parameters, equipment conditions, and sample tracking.

    • Support equipment maintenance: vacuum systems, induction coils, thermocouples, and gas handling.

    • Contribute to safety-first culture and continuous improvement on the facility floor.

    What You Bring

    Required

    • Pursuing a BS/MS in Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Science, or related field.

    • Exposure to pyrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, or high-temperature processing (coursework or labs).

    • Hands-on experience from labs, foundry work, internships, or personal projects (furnaces, casting, heat treatment).

    • Detail-oriented, disciplined documentation, and reliable follow-through.

    • Comfortable in a fast-paced, hardware-centric environment and willing to get your hands dirty.

    • On-site availability; able to start soon.

    Preferred

    • Experience with vacuum or inert-atmosphere furnace operation.

    • Familiarity with rare-earth metallurgy, molten salt electrolysis, or reactive metal processing.

    • Basic thermodynamic analysis skills (Ellingham diagrams, phase diagrams, FactSage/HSC a plus).

    • Welding or basic machining experience (mill/lathe).

    • Python/MATLAB for data analysis.

    Compensation & Benefits

    • Competitive compensation.

    • Comprehensive medical, dental and vision insurance.

    • Company-provided lunch daily.

    • J1 Visa sponsorship available if needed.

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