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Pilot Plant Operations Manager

Mariana Minerals· Process Development
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Houston, TXFull-timePosted 4d ago

About the role

Experienced operations leader for the DSM Pilot Plant in Houston, overseeing safe, reliable, round-the-clock operation of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical sections, building the operating team, commissioning and startup, and running campaigns to generate process data and product samples.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the DSM pilot operations team, including shift leads and technicians across the pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy sections. Recruit the team, develop shift leads into supervisors, and own training, qualification, and performance management.

Qualifications

  • 5 or more years supervising a multi-shift team, and 10 or more years operating pilot or commercial scale process plants in minerals processing, metallurgy, or chemicals.
  • Hands-on operating experience in both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes. Deep experience in one with demonstrated working exposure to the other will be considered.
  • High temperature equipment experience: kilns, roasters, calciners, or furnaces, including burner management systems, refractory, and hot solids handling.
  • Wet chemical unit operation experience: leaching, filtration or centrifugation, solvent extraction or ion exchange, precipitation, and crystallization.
  • Demonstrated safe handling of concentrated acids and bases, flammable solvents, and hazardous process gases.
  • Proven ownership of core safety work processes: lockout and tagout, hot work, confined space entry, and safe work permitting.
  • Commissioning and startup experience on new plants or new units.
  • Fluent with HMI, DCS or PLC systems and historians, and with PFDs, P&IDs, and control narratives.
  • Associate or Bachelor degree in engineering, metallurgy, or chemistry, or equivalent operating experience.
  • Startup environment experience preferred, where procedures and systems have to be built rather than inherited.

Skills

Required:Safety and compliance

Benefits

  • Not specified in the provided description
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Mariana Minerals

We to the Future of Minerals, verify the mineral supply chain.

Mariana Minerals is a software-first, vertically integrated minerals company focused on supplying the minerals critical to modern energy, AI, and defense technologies.

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