Metallurgical Engineering Intern

Job 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 — Metallurgical Engineering Intern** Join our process team and help turn rare earth magnet waste into high-purity metals. You'll support our reactor operations, assist with alloy production, and keep our documentation tight—working with metallurgists, chemists, and technicians to move quickly from lab scale to 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. - Insurance provided. - Support relocating to the Bay Area. - Company-provided lunch daily. - J1 Visa sponsorship available if needed.