Metallurgical Engineering Intern
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.