ABOUT THE COMPANY
An 80+ year old specialist in fine physical mineral separation -- spirals, gravity, magnetic, and electrostatic separation equipment deployed across iron ore, mineral sands, chrome, and industrial minerals globally. The company is not a traditional OEM. Its differentiator is process and metallurgical expertise, and the Engineering and Management Projects (EMP) business in the Americas is in active build-out under a corporate startup mandate. Revenue comes from three streams: engineered modular products, traditional engineering services and study management, and brownfields process optimization. The Lead Project Engineer role sits at the front line of all three.
THE ROLE
The Lead Project Engineer is a client-facing engineering and project delivery role that works alongside the business development and sales team to help diagnose client problems, develop scopes of work, and deliver project outcomes. The time horizon is 12 months and less -- near-term wins that can be scoped, delivered, and invoiced. This is not a senior PM waiting for a fully defined project to land on their desk. It is a role for someone who wants to be on site, in front of clients, and actively involved in finding the next piece of work as much as delivering the current one.
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Travel to client sites with the business development team -- bring an engineering lens to process conversations and help develop scopes of work that the client can actually commit to
• Lead or contribute to pre-feasibility studies, feasibility studies, and improvement roadmaps -- help clients define and de-risk their project before it reaches an RFQ
• Manage study and project delivery from scoping through completion -- quality, timeline, and client confidence throughout
• Build direct client relationships at the operational and technical level -- earn trust by understanding constraints and delivering on commitments
• Proactively identify follow-on opportunities within existing accounts -- a good project engineer knows that finding their next project is part of the job
• Coordinate with internal process consultants, metallurgists, lab teams, and engineering specialists to deliver integrated, fit-for-purpose solutions
• Support proposal development with technical inputs, cost estimates, and delivery strategies
• Act as the technical conscience of the sales process -- help the team understand what is achievable and how to scope and price it accordingly
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
• Base salary: $130,000 -- $160,000 depending on experience
• Remote work arrangement -- Mid-Atlantic / Appalachian region strongly preferred; North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky area for proximity to current customer base
• All travel expenses covered; car allowance or vehicle arrangement negotiable depending on territory requirements
• Full comprehensive benefits: health, dental, vision, 401(k), PTO
IDEAL CANDIDATE
• 10+ years of experience in mineral processing, mining engineering, or a related technical discipline -- site-based experience in and around operating plants is essential; this role is not for someone who has worked exclusively behind a desk
• Tertiary qualification in Metallurgy, Mineral Processing, Mining Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline
• Study management, project engineering, or brownfields optimization background -- has been involved in leading studies and helping clients move from diagnosis to decision
• Client-facing and relationship-oriented -- can build trust with operations teams, understand what is important to their day-to-day, and help the sales team navigate those relationships without steamrolling them
• Self-sufficient -- the team is lean and there is no large support infrastructure yet; someone who waits for work to be handed to them will not be effective; someone who actively hunts the next project will thrive
• Practical plant knowledge -- can walk into a plant, quickly understand the operational constraints, and have a realistic conversation about what a good outcome looks like and how to get there
• Mid-Atlantic or Appalachian region location strongly preferred -- North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky; proximity to the current customer base is critical for the on-site, high-frequency contact model this role requires
WHY THIS ROLE
• Real ownership from day one -- you are helping build a team, not filling a slot on an existing one
• Every project is different -- brownfields optimization, modular plant delivery, study management across iron ore, mineral sands, tailings, base metals, and industrial minerals
• Backed by 80+ years of global process and metallurgical expertise -- the full company capability including lab services, testwork, and global engineering teams is available to draw on
• This is a corporate startup with the brand and backing of an established global company -- the people who thrive here are builders, not process followers
• Direct path to senior leadership as the Americas EMP team grows