Our purpose as a company:  

Founded in late 2022 and spun out from UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry, ChemFinity Technologies is a Brooklyn, NY-based climate tech startup creating a more equitable future by eliminating pollution and circularizing natural resources. Our mission is to develop innovative recycling processes and materials for critical metal recovery, in ways that drastically reduce the environmental damage caused by competing methods. We are also advancing other separation technologies in water purification and gas separations. ChemFinity is supported by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, ARPA-E, the U.S. EPA, the USDA, the USAID, and the U.S. DOE.  

What you can expect in your role:  

For this role, we are seeking a talented chemist who aligns with our team-based culture and problem-solving approach. You will be responsible for developing new methods in material synthesis and metal extraction from waste. This role will require you to work creatively with the co-founders and research team as we grow from the lab to the industrial scale. 

Research & Development   

• You will synthesize and characterize new materials using various techniques (e.g., organic and/or inorganic synthetic methods).  
• You will develop new chemical recycling and recovery methods for metal waste.  
• You will help characterize and understand complex mixtures of metal-containing waste. 
• You will optimize material process conditions toward high quality, high yields, larger scales, and low costs.  
• You will work full-time on-site at our Brooklyn facility, primarily on lab work. If you do not live in the New York area, you must be willing to relocate within 2 months. 

Project Management and Mentorship 

• You will lead and manage multiple research project milestones, ensuring timely completion of tasks.  
• You will analyze data from lab experiments and prepare weekly/monthly technical reports and presentations.  
• You will collaborate closely with team members and external partners to achieve your project goals and support other research initiatives.  
• You will mentor undergraduate and graduate student interns, providing guidance on lab techniques, research design, and data analysis.  

Lab and Safety Management 

• You will ensure compliance with safety standards, regulations, and policies. 
• You will evaluate safety hazards and develop standard operating procedures for new experiments. 
• You will help oversee day-to-day lab operations, including the maintenance and calibration of research instruments. 

Skills we require for this role:  

You are an outstanding scientist with experience in more than one of the following areas: organic, inorganic, or organometallic chemistry, sorbent-based separations, metal recycling, purification techniques, product scale-up, experimental documentation, and/or equipment maintenance.  

• You have a PhD degree in Chemistry or a related field, or a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with at least 5+ years of directly relevant industrial chemistry experience. 
• You have a strong fundamental understanding of organic and inorganic chemistry. 
• You have hands-on experience in chemical synthesis, sorbent development, metal recovery processes, and/or industrial manufacturing.  
• You have excellent verbal communication and technical writing skills, demonstrated by your experience in grant writing, project reports, publications, and/or conference presentations. 
• You have an unwavering commitment to high safety standards and supportive work behavior.  

What we expect from you in this role:  

In your role as a Chemist, we expect you to significantly contribute to the development and optimization of our synthetic capabilities, enhancing the performance, scalability, and processability of our materials in the lab as we advance our commercial prototype. As one of our first employees, you will have the unique opportunity to meaningfully impact all aspects of our company culture and technical developments. 

Why you should join us in this role:  

We are a well-funded, small team with high ambitions. We are committed to fostering a culture of collaboration and inclusivity, where every employee's contributions are respected and celebrated. We believe that by working together, we can achieve our shared goal of eliminating environmental pollution by developing new innovative solutions. Our employees are the heart of this company, so we are dedicated to offering comprehensive compensation packages. Compensation will be commensurate with experience level. 

• Competitive salary and equity options  
• Health, dental, vision, 401(k), and life insurance benefits  
• Flexible paid time off and holidays  
• Health/fitness stipend  

If you are passionate about working on cutting-edge technology that combats environmental justice related to pollution abatement and circularity, we encourage you to apply! Please contact recruiting@chemfinitytech.com if you have questions. ChemFinity Technologies believes in and embraces diversity as a core value. We especially encourage candidates from minority and disadvantaged groups to apply, along with those with other diverse experiences, ages, talents, ideas, and other characteristics.