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Phoenix Tailings is a U.S.-based rare earth metals company developing breakthrough technologies to produce rare earth metals and critical materials domestically at lower cost, higher efficiency, and greater scale. The company operates a fully integrated rare earth production platform spanning extraction, separation, refining, and metallization with a zero waste and zero emissions philosophy, focused on restoring America's leadership in critical minerals and building a secure domestic supply chain for defense, energy, robotics, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing.
As Director of Pilot Plant Engineering, you will lead the development, execution, and operation of pilot-scale rare earth separation and metallization programs in Burlington. This role sits at the intersection of R&D and Manufacturing, responsible for moving new technologies through pilot development in a structured, disciplined, and scalable way.
Key responsibilities include:
- Setting project priorities and coordinating engineering work across pilot programs
- Managing pilot timelines, budgets, and resources
- Ensuring lessons learned at pilot scale translate into clear requirements for production
- Building a pilot organization that proves new technology while creating processes, documentation, operating discipline, and execution models required for commercial manufacturing
- Leading a team to develop and validate manufacturing approaches before full-scale deployment
You will work closely with R&D teams to understand emerging technologies and with manufacturing leadership to ensure pilot learnings drive production readiness. Success requires balancing innovation velocity with operational rigor, translating scientific breakthroughs into manufacturable, scalable processes.
