Mint Innovation has been developing innovative cleantech since 2016. Our mission is to become the world’s leading provider of circular green metals. We’ve recently raised $60m to fund our global expansion and as a rapidly growing deep tech start-up, we need top talent to achieve our ambitious targets.

We’re currently ramping up our first commercial plant in Western Sydney, which showcases the innovative tech we’ve developed for recovering base and precious metals (e.g. copper & gold) from old scrap electronics. Following in its footsteps is a roll-out of plants in major cities globally, as well as the deployment of further product lines.

Why Apply?

Mint is expanding its R&D capability to continue the development of our cutting-edge tech, so this is a fantastic opportunity for an energetic and practically-minded junior chemist to become part of our company’s journey. We’re looking for a Research Scientist (Chemistry) to join our tight-knit group of a dozen scientists to work on projects related to the recovery of valuable metals from various feedstocks, such as e-waste.

Day-to-day you’ll be using your experimental skills in our labs as part of a small team on new or maturing projects. For early-stage projects, your curiosity and eager mindset will soon have you making a major contribution to the experimental work; for later-stage projects, you’ll have the opportunity to be involved with scaling a technology up from the lab bench to a pilot or demonstration size before plant deployment. If you’re practical with your hands, these skills will serve you well on projects that require experimental rigs to be built and operated to gather data. Your ability to analyse and present experimental results will be honed at our departmental tech talks when you showcase your work. Not only will there be chemistry challenges for you to attack (with the support of our senior scientists), you’ll also be exposed to more than just the lab bench. To get our tech out into the world, you’ll be collaborating with our Engineering and Commercial departments to ensure you understand the big picture and how your piece of the puzzle fits. Our lunchroom is never boring with our staff covering so many disciplines!

The Role

The Research Scientist position is full-time and will be located at our HQ in East Tamaki, Auckland (we will be relocating to Mount Wellington in 2024). You will report to our Head of R&D. With a competitive salary, learning & development budget and access to our employee share option programme, there will also be the opportunity for short international trips to our plants should your project work require.

Your main responsibilities will be to:

• Conduct scientific research and development on recovering valuable metals from various feedstocks (e.g. e-waste) by employing standard scientific principles, theories, and concepts
• Follow and execute research plans to achieve project goals in given timeframe; work with a project leader to clearly understand project goals and why they are important to Mint’s success
• Assist with troubleshooting routine R&D technical issues and developing procedural methods as they arise; recommend scientific approaches and solutions for approval
• Maintain accurate records of laboratory work conducted as per company’s lab information systems
• Search and examine scientific literature to inform experimental work or requests for information on technical state-of-the-art
• Interpret, analyse and communicate scientific results through written reports and presentations tailored to suit the intended audience, e.g. internal to team, R&D department or wider company; actively participate in knowledge sharing

Skills and Experience

As a company that was born in a dingy basement, everyone at Mint has a “can do, no fuss” attitude and our Research Scientist will be no different.

Our ideal candidate will have as many of the following qualities as possible:

• A recent BSc (Honours) or MSc in Chemistry (inorganic background will be advantageous)
• Self-motivated with a positive and practical “can-do”, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude to getting things done
• Good practical laboratory experience and familiarity with laboratory health & safety considerations, ability to work independently and safely in a laboratory environment
• Practically minded, able to assemble and maintain experimental apparatus and equipment
• Experience with analytical techniques for metal detection in solution and solids, e.g. AAS, ICP, XRD, XRF, etc
• Sound scientific method regarding the recording and analysis of data
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

If the above sounds like you, apply with your CV via Seek. We’re aiming to shortlist and interview candidates through January for a start date in February/March 2024.

We embrace diversity and inclusion and are committed to equal opportunities. We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the requirements, women and under-represented groups of candidates tend to only apply when they meet every requirement. If you think you have what it takes but don’t necessarily tick every requirement on this job description, please still get in touch and apply to Mint.

Please note you must have the right to work in New Zealand to apply for this role; we will not be offering visa sponsorship to relocate.

For more background on Mint see our website - ](https://www.mint.bio/)[https://www.mint.bio/