Chief Science Officer

About Metalplant

Metalplant is a phytomining company that uses plants to mine metals from soils, waste streams, and unconventional resources, with the goal of producing clean and cost-competitive metals.

Nickel is our major focus target metal. We have active hyperaccumulator farms operating in northern Albania, where for the last four years we have produced nickel-rich biomass that gets converted to battery-grade nickel products.

We’ve received a grant from ARPA-E to help commercialize our plants in the United States by funding genetic editing for higher nickel yields, as well as sterilization that mitigates plant-pest risks and will unlock global scaling of our optimized hyperaccumulator species.

Metalplant’s science runs through the whole chain: from soil chemistry, to plant growth and optimization, to harvest and biomass handling, to ash processing, leaching, purification, and the final metal product. We are looking for someone who can hold that full system in their head, understand where the hard questions sit, and build the team and partner network needed to answer them.

The role

This is a science leadership role for someone who likes building the system as much as solving the technical problem.

You would set the scientific direction, hire the people who run the work, manage the university, lab, and consultant relationships that extend what we can do, and keep the science tied to commercial milestones. You would not be expected to personally run every experiment. You would be deciding which questions matter most, who is best equipped to answer them, and when a result is solid enough to change the roadmap.

A lot of the job is translating across the science program. A partner may be working on plant genetics, field performance, biomass preparation, ash chemistry, or metallurgy. Your job is to understand how each piece affects the final metal yield, product quality, and scientific confidence of the process. You are the person putting the pieces together, asking whether the work is valid, deciding which dials to turn next, and keeping the different programs in communication with each other. The farm operations team carries out the work in the field, and our external partners report progress from their own domains, but you are the one orchestrating the science across the full chain.

Who we’re looking for

The right person for this role likes turning research into results that show up in the world. You might read the literature, compare it against the realities of our farms and processing route, design the experiment, and then watch the answer come back as biomass, metal yield, product quality, or process performance. Those answers shape what the company does next. Metalplant is a business built around science, and this role sits at the center of that work: turning plants into metal production systems. A company background is helpful, but applied work in a national lab, research institute, or grant-funded technical program can also fit, especially if you have managed budgets, timelines, teams, and external stakeholders.

You should be comfortable reporting to a CEO and explaining what the science means in business terms without flattening the science. The role needs someone who can say what is known, what is still uncertain, what it would take to validate the next step, and what the company should do now.

Your own background may be in plant science, soil science, biogeochemistry, agronomy, hydrometallurgy, extractive metallurgy, or another field that touches our process. We care less about the exact starting point than about range, judgment, and the ability to get clear answers from experts across the chain.

What you’d own

• Hiring and managing the science team: directors, field scientists, lab leads
• The R&D roadmap, from field trials through bench-scale metallurgy to production validation
• ARPA-E program management, plus strategy for future federal grants (DOE, USDA, NSF)
• University and lab partnerships: scope, deliverables, timelines, accountability
• Internal coordination across operations, IP, and commercial functions
• Packaging scientific results for investors, offtake partners, and regulators
• Technical input on patent strategy with the CIO
• The company’s scientific reputation: publications, peer review, conferences

First year

• At least two science hires in place (plant science and/or hydrometallurgy directors)
• ARPA-E milestones on schedule
• An R&D roadmap that connects plant cultivation to nickel sulfate production, matched to the commercial timeline
• External partnerships productive, with clear deliverables
• Pilot-scale metallurgical work moving toward process validation

Backgrounds that tend to fit

People who’ve worked where biology meets geology, or biology meets chemistry, tend to find this interesting.

Biogeochemistry is a natural fit. If you understand metal cycling in soils, plant-soil interactions, and mineral weathering, the core of what we do will make sense to you quickly. Plant biologists and physiologists who’ve worked on metal uptake, transport, or tolerance in plants are also well positioned. Hyperaccumulation is a small field, but the underlying biology connects to broader work in plant mineral nutrition.

Agronomists and crop scientists who’ve optimized plant systems for yield at field scale will recognize the cultivation challenges, even though our plants are not food crops. The problems are similar: density, harvest timing, soil management, going from trial plots to commercial acreage.

If you come from extractive metallurgy or hydrometallurgy and you’ve processed unconventional feedstocks, the downstream chemistry has real overlap with laterite nickel processing. Bio-ore is different from mined ore, but not as different as you might expect.

And if your strength is science program management, running multi-track R&D with external partners, managing federal grants, keeping the science connected to what the business actually needs, that counts too.

A PhD or equivalent depth in a relevant field is expected. We are also looking for meaningful experience in applied settings: a company, national lab, applied research institute, or major grant-funded technical program where the work had to connect to a product, field operation, process milestone, or business decision. Academic experience is valuable, but this role needs someone comfortable moving between research, execution, and communication with company leadership.

The best fit will be comfortable working with specialists outside their own area. That means pulling enough technical detail out of each conversation to make decisions, spotting where one program affects another, and keeping internal teams and external partners moving in the same direction even when nobody has the full picture.

Building the team around you

This role spans plant biology, soil science, field agronomy, biomass preparation, and metallurgical chemistry. We do not expect one person to be deep in all of it. We already work with expert partners across these domains, and part of the role is knowing how to use that network well.

Your background will help determine where we build internal depth first. You may hire direct support in plant science, agronomy, hydrometallurgy, field science, or program management depending on what the science program needs. The important thing is knowing what expertise is missing, bringing the right people into the work, and making the whole program coherent.

Compensation

Equity, with a competitive base for a venture-funded deep tech startup. Relocation support available.

Location

USA or Europe preferred, but flexible. Regular travel to the Balkans is expected, including extended time during the farming season when needed.