Process Development Manager

Process Development Manager

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, 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 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 developing our first commercial plant, which will be the only new phosphate plant built on US soil in over 50 years.

The Process Development Manager will report to the Director of Process Development and will manage and oversee RD&D projects. We are developing processes in the phosphate and sulfuric acid space to create innovative and economic routes to producing critical minerals. This role will be responsible for managing a portfolio of development projects, overseeing experimental design, analysis, and piloting to develop and scale-up Travertine's technologies. The successful candidate will have proven abilities to efficiently and safely develop and execute experimental planning on a compressed timeline, manage pilot process design, analyze experimental data, develop mass balances, manage and mentor junior engineers and technicians, communicate effectively in writing and verbally, and above all translate experimental results into scalable processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain and improve a safe, clean, productive, and happy work environment.
• Manage and oversee process development projects, including experimental plans and review of work products from benchtop and pilot experiments.
• Manage and mentor junior engineers and technicians. Train personnel as necessary in laboratory procedures and data analysis.
• Translate process engineering needs into work packages that deliver results to fill that need.
• Support the design and construction of laboratory and pilot test equipment.
• Translate benchtop and pilot data into inputs for heat and mass balance models with our process simulation engineers.
• Review and improve PFDs and Equipment Lists.
• Troubleshoot performance issues in lab and pilot experiments.

Required Qualifications

• MS degree or more in engineering (chemical, materials, metallurgical) or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of applied chemical process development/design experience.
• Project management experience, under aggressive timelines, with teams having diverse professional backgrounds.
• Demonstrated leadership and personnel development skills.
• Proven skills in chemical experiment design, data acquisition and validation, mass balance development, and translation of laboratory results to process design.
• Experience in hands-on laboratory work, including chemical and physical analytical techniques (wet chemistry, spectroscopy, mineralogical characterization).
• Experience reading and writing process flow diagrams (PFDs) and developing mass and energy balance models (MEBs).

Desired Qualifications

• Experience interfacing with vendors and contractors to integrate development results into engineering designs.
• Experience in a start-up or RD&D environment is desired.
• Translation of process design from pilot to commercial scale.
• Experience in the following industries are desired: phosphate fertilizer production, chlor-alkali, electrolysis, and/or hydrometallurgy.

Salary & Benefits

This role is onsite and based in our Boulder, CO headquarters.

Salary range is highly dependent on skill set and experience and includes the following benefits:

• Stock options
• Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance
• 401k with 100% match up to 3% of salary
• Flexible time off policy