Would you like to have a hand in repurposing closed mine sites into revenue generating assets? Are you a Swiss army knife engineer with a passion for reversing climate change and restoring degraded lands?

Who we are

Aquarry is a pre-seed stage startup working to convert mine pit lakes into massive carbon sinks. After closure, open pit mines will passively fill with groundwater, creating a pit lake. Water quality is often poor, and without treatment these systems pose a threat to communities and wildlife. More recently-formed pit lakes do get treated in places where environmental laws are enforced, but at a cost and with few beneficial end uses.

We’ll use our patent-pending system to convert each pit lake for capturing CO2 and recovering trace metals in tailings in a way that meets many of the goals of conventional remediation. We accelerate the dissolution of on site tailings piles using pit lake water and mechanical and chemical accelerants, perform passive aeration, and monitor the formation of carbonate minerals. With thousands of sites globally and capacity for up to tens of millions of tons of CO2 each, the potential impact is huge.

What you’ll do

We’re seeking an entrepreneurial, highly motivated engineer to lead our efforts to move from beakers to field trials to a pilot. This cross-disciplinary role has elements of project management and process engineering. You will be responsible for getting our technology ready for deployment: planning and running off site field trials, managing internal and contracted R&D projects, and technical roadmapping for our future pilot in a pit lake and beyond. The role will involve hands-on work in the near term, transitioning to management as we grow.

In this role you’ll work hand in hand with the Founder/CEO and Board of Advisors having a direct impact on the success of the business while making a substantial contribution to the evolution of reclamation.

• Ownership of the technical plan to de-risk our technology and scale into the field, including:
• Identification of major technical risks and developing strategies to mitigate them
• Planning and running an off-site pilot project in an excavated and lined pit
• Guiding and performing engineering and scientific troubleshooting
• Managing external contract R&D
• Ownership of our techno-economic analysis
• Performing hands-on mechanical, chemical, and electrical work as necessary to build system prototypes and run analyses
• Building and mentoring a small technical team comprising geologists, chemists, environmental scientists, and engineers
• Working closely with the CEO to ensure alignment between technical and business directions
• Growing our IP portfolio
• Contributing to external-facing technical documents including white papers and grant proposals

The ideal candidate must have:

• A graduate-level degree in engineering (mechanical, mining, materials, chemical, civil, environmental, process) and 5+ years industry experience

or

• An undergraduate degree in engineering and 7+ years industry experience
• The proven ability to balance speed, budget, and precision for our stage of technology development. Someone with a strong understanding of "perfect is the enemy of good", the MVP approach
• Experience scaling from early to later stage tech development.
• Built and managed technical teams with diverse skillsets
• A problem-solving mindset and a “get it done” attitude
• The right to work in the US for at least the next 2 years and ability to travel to Canada several times per year

Bonus qualifications:

• Previously scaled a mining, CDR, or water treatment process from the lab to pilot, raising TRL from 4 to 7+
• Prior experience working for a mining company, ore testing lab, engineering firm, or mining consultant
• Experience with geochemical modeling (e.g., PHREEQC, Geochemists’ Workbench)
• Experience working with outdoor sensors and dataloggers

What’s it like to work with us?

Our team is small but mighty. Everyone wears a lot of hats.

We have a high trust environment. Everyone takes ownership. No one gets micromanaged. We admit when we need help and when we mess up.

Technical decisions are made collaboratively, based on evidence and data.

We take safety seriously.

We are running a marathon, not a sprint. Burning out is not a badge of honor. We use our PTO and we get a full night’s sleep.

Location and compensation

You’ll be on site, full time in our Golden, CO, office with travel (frequency TBD) to field sites in Colorado or Wyoming in 2026 and to Canada beginning late 2026/early 2027.

Compensation includes salary $110k-140k (negotiable depending on experience), significant equity (5-10%), IRA, and health reimbursement arrangement (HRA). Salaries and benefits will increase as we obtain additional funding.

This role is not eligible for relocation or visa sponsorship.

How to apply?

Aquarry is committed to building a workplace of mutual respect and inclusion for all employees. We welcome all applicants and strongly encourage women, people of color, LGBTQA+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply. Applicants will not be discriminated against based on their race, color, caste, religion, national origin, disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, status as a parent, veteran and/or military status, or political affiliation. All employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

If you are passionate about environmental sustainability and eager to contribute to the development of geochemical carbon removal technologies, we encourage you to apply. Please submit your resume and a short paragraph outlining your interest to hr@aquarry.earth.