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About the Role
Deep tech startup unlocking stranded geothermal energy and critical minerals. As the Founding Scientist, you will lead the chemistry program from day one, developing a recoverable process to selectively remove silica from hot geothermal brines. This role forms the scientific foundation for the company's first product and IP, translating lab results into prototypes and pilot skids for deployment at European power plants. The position requires independent work, rapid iteration, and prioritization of viable outcomes for real-world operations.
Responsibilities
- Lead the chemistry program from day one.
- Develop a recoverable process that selectively removes silica from hot geothermal brines.
- Form the scientific foundation for the first product and IP.
- Work directly alongside the founder CEO and a process engineer to translate results into continuous-flow prototypes and pilot skids.
- Generate data to secure pilot customers.
- De-risk the transition from lab to field.
- Join team trips to collect and test samples under live geothermal conditions.
Requirements
- PhD in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, or closely related field.
- Proven ability to solve hard applied chemistry problems in aqueous real-world systems.
- Grounding in one or more of: silica chemistry, mineral precipitation, flocculation, polymer or surface chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis, water treatment, brine processing, or hydrometallurgy.
- Strong experimental and analytical chemistry skills.
- Ability to design systematic experiments, build reliable assays, and interpret messy data without overfitting.
- Practical judgement around real-world process constraints, including recoverability, residual chemistry, operating windows, failure modes, and scale-up risk.
- Ambitious scientist with technical rigor and drive to turn lab results into commercial technology.
- Excited to build a company from its earliest days.
- Willingness to work at the frontier of geothermal operations.
- Ability to work independently within a very small team.
- Ability to move fast under uncertainty.
- Ability to prioritize viable outcomes that bring the company closer to real-world operations over perfect experiments.
Skills
- Chemistry
- Chemical engineering
- Materials science
- Applied chemistry
- Silica chemistry
- Mineral precipitation
- Flocculation
- Polymer chemistry
- Surface chemistry
- Heterogeneous catalysis
- Water treatment
- Brine processing
- Hydrometallurgy
- Experimental chemistry
- Analytical chemistry
- Process constraints
- Recoverability
- Residual chemistry
- Operating windows
- Failure modes
- Scale-up risk
Location
- London
Work Type
- On-site
- Full-time
Experience Level
- Founding role
Education Level
- PhD
Salary/Compensations
- £50–70k
Benefits
- Founding equity
- Shape the company: Join early enough to shape the science, product, and culture with a path to leadership as we grow.
- Geothermal access: Operators, advisors from leading geothermal companies and investors with strong industrial networks.
- Physical impact: Build technology that leaves the lab: from real brine tests and customer pilots to adoption by geothermal plants.
- Founding team: Work in a small, high-trust founding team with the ambition to build something that does not exist yet.
About the Company
- One of First Momentum's portfolio companies (Imperial alumni, £2M raised).
- Deep tech startup unlocking stranded geothermal energy and critical minerals.
- Drilling advances are unlocking access worldwide to the Earth’s inner heat, creating the possibility for clean 24/7 power at civilisational scale.
- The geothermal industry is still constrained by the chemistry of the fluids it brings to the surface.
- Plant operators are forced to reinject brines early to protect infrastructure from severe silica scaling, leaving usable energy and dissolved critical minerals out of reach.
- Raised £2 million to develop a silica removal retrofit module to boost geothermal power generation and create cleaner brines for co-production of energy and critical minerals from the same wells.
- Mission: Bring talent to help create a new category of geothermal operations, built not just to survive brine chemistry but to master it.