About Travertine

Travertine is a Climate Tech start-up based in Boulder, CO that is rapidly scaling an electrochemical technology for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and sustainable critical element extraction. Our process takes carbon dioxide from the air and sources of waste sulfate to produce carbonate minerals, sulfuric acid, and hydrogen. The sulfuric acid is used in extraction of critical elements like lithium and nickel for EV batteries and phosphorus for fertilizer. The Travertine Process was developed by Prof. Laura Lammers at her UC Berkeley lab. Travertine was founded in 2022 to scale this process to gigatons per year of CDR.

In 2022, we raised a seed round from the Grantham Foundation and Clean Energy Ventures, followed by an $8M fundraise in 2024. We were one of the first companies to receive pre-purchases of CDR from the new Stripe-led $1B Frontier fund, and we received a $2M grant from the DOE’s ARPA-E program. We were also named C&EN 10 startups to watch in 2022 and a Bloomberg NEF Pioneer in 2023. We believe in developing practical approaches to solving the climate crisis.

The Role

We are recruiting an ambitious Senior Process Engineer who will work with our process engineering team on process R&D, pilot plant construction, and process scale-up efforts. We are kicking off the engineering and construction of a demonstration system to be deployed at a customer site, and you will be supporting this and future systems. You will be responsible for experimental design, leading benchtop experimentation, pilot plant operation, and data analysis to develop and scale-up Travertine’s sulfate waste upcycling and CDR technology. The successful candidate will have proven abilities to translate experimental results to process design and think critically to scale up hydrometallurgical processes. If you are a Process Engineer and want to work on the cutting edge of Climate Tech to help remove carbon from the atmosphere AND sustainably extract the elements critical for decarbonization, this is your opportunity.

Responsibilities

• Lead R&D experiments that contribute to process design and optimization, including experimental design, scheduling, execution, and mass balances.
• Compile, analyze, and report data from benchtop and pilot plant experiments.
• Design, select, and/or construct laboratory and pilot equipment.
• Troubleshoot performance issues in lab and pilot experiments.
• Assist with development of process flow diagrams, mass balances, and process design criteria.
• Manage one or more laboratory technicians. Train personnel as necessary in laboratory procedures and data analysis.
• Maintain a safe, clean, productive laboratory environment.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering (chemical, materials, metallurgical) or equivalent experience
• 7+ years experience in hydrometallurgical laboratory and plant operations
• Proven skills in hydrometallurgical experiment design, data acquisition and validation, mass balance development, and translation of laboratory results to process design
• Experience in chemical and physical analytical techniques (wet chemistry, spectroscopy, mineralogical characterization)
• Experience reading and writing process flow diagrams (PFDs) and piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs)

Optional Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in the mining industry or chemical process industry
• Applied hydrometallurgical process design experience
• Process simulation expertise
• Translation of process design from pilot to commercial scale

This role is based in our Boulder, CO headquarters.

Salary range is $110,000 - $150,000 depending on experience and qualifications.

Benefits

• Competitive pay and stock options
• Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance
• 401k with 3% match
• Flexible time off policy