Research and Development Engineer Associate - New Delhi - Novasensa

Description

Role: Research and Development Engineer Associate — Full-Time

Location: Delhi National Capital Region (On-site)

Start Date: Immediate or aligned with institute academic calendar

Eligibility: Final Year B.Tech, M.Tech, or M.Sc — Chemical Engineering, Metallurgy, Materials Science, Chemistry

About Novasensa

India disposes of over 3 million tonnes of electronic waste every year. The critical minerals inside those batteries and circuit boards — lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, rare earth minerals — are largely lost. Novasensa is building the industrial infrastructure to change that.

We are a deep-technology company developing commercially scalable, low-discharge hydrometallurgical processes for recovering critical and strategic metals from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, printed circuit boards, and complex electronic waste streams. Our work directly contributes to India's critical mineral security and the circular economy.

The company is founded by alumni of Duke University and Harvard University. One of the founders is an award-winning American entrepreneur with experience building and scaling technology-driven ventures internationally.

Novasensa operates with a small, high-caliber team and is scaling fast. Team members work closely with the founders and senior engineers, with real responsibility from early stages. Decisions are made quickly, learning cycles are short, and individual contributions have visible impact.

Commercialisation and Scale-Up Phase

Novasensa is currently transitioning our core technologies from advanced research and development into commercial deployment. As part of this phase, we are setting up Rajasthan's first hydrometallurgical plant focused on the extraction of critical minerals from electronic waste and end-of-life batteries.

Joining at this stage offers rare exposure to the complete journey from laboratory development to plant commissioning — process definition, material handling logic, operational constraints, and early commercialisation decisions.

The Role: Research and Development Engineer Associate

You will join Novasensa's core R&D team and contribute directly to the development and optimisation of hydrometallurgical recycling process flowsheets. This is a laboratory-intensive role designed for people who want to build, not observe.

What does a great week at Novasensa actually look like?

You might start Monday running leaching trials on a new black mass feedstock, analyse the AAS data Tuesday morning, realise the pH window needs tightening, redesign the trial by afternoon, and by Friday have a cleaner mass balance than you had the week before. The problems are real. The data is yours. The conclusions matter.

What You Will Work On

• Designing and executing laboratory experiments in leaching, solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallisation, and impurity control
• Preparing solutions, running controlled trials, tracking mass balances, and troubleshooting process bottlenecks
• Recording, analysing, and presenting experimental data with clear conclusions and next-step logic
• Supporting scale-up from beaker-level experiments to pilot systems
• Coordinating procurement, sample tracking, documentation, and vendor interactions

This role requires physical wet laboratory work, discipline, and the ability to work around experimental timelines rather than fixed desk hours.

Who Is a Strong Fit

We are looking for people who are serious about learning, ownership, and real-world impact. This role works best for candidates who:

• Hold a B.Tech, M.Tech, or M.Sc in Chemical Engineering, Metallurgy, Materials Science, or Chemistry
• Are comfortable with wet laboratory work — solution preparation, pH control, titration, filtration, and phase separation
• Can read and engage with technical literature in hydrometallurgy or adjacent fields
• Want to own their experiments, not just execute instructions
• Thrive in environments where the problem changes faster than the protocol

This role is likely not the right fit if you are primarily looking for remote or hybrid flexibility, prefer simulation and computation over physical experimentation, or are at a stage where compensation benchmarking is your primary decision criterion. There is no judgment in any of that — it is simply a different kind of role.

Engagement Structure: Full-Time Role with Probationary Onboarding

We do not hire people to observe. We hire future core team members. This is a full-time position with a structured probationary period designed to validate execution quality, scientific thinking, and ownership mindset — on both sides.

Phase One — Probationary Period (Months 1–2)

• You will immediately own live experiments alongside senior engineers
• The goal is mutual validation: we assess your execution and scientific thinking; you assess whether this is the right environment for you
• If at the end of the probationary period the fit is not right on either side, we part ways respectfully with no obligation beyond the period served

Phase Two — Full-Time Confirmation

• Candidates who demonstrate the ability to build and deliver — not just follow instructions — will be confirmed as Full-Time Associates immediately at the end of the probationary period

Compensation and Financial Upside

We offer a structure designed to reward high performers who want to build wealth alongside the company.

• Competitive Base Salary: Commensurate with skills and experience — discussed transparently at the offer stage
• Performance Bonus: Annual bonus of 5–15% tied to delivery and ownership
• Wealth Creation (ESOPs): High-performing team members become eligible for the Employee Stock Ownership Plan after 18 months — we want you to own what you build

A Note on Commitment

Because our work is proprietary deep-tech research, we ask for a 12-month stability commitment and a standard NDA as part of the full-time offer. We invest meaningfully in the people we bring on board, and this creates the mutual stability we both need to build something valuable. The details of both are discussed openly during the offer process.

Why Start Your Career at Novasensa

• Work on a nationally critical problem — India's mineral security and circular economy — at a stage where your contribution is visible
• Gain rare exposure to the full arc from laboratory development to plant commissioning
• Work directly with founders and senior engineers on core technical decisions from day one
• Build hands-on expertise in process development and pilot engineering that is genuinely difficult to find elsewhere at this career stage
• Grow in an environment where execution and ownership matter more than hierarchy or tenure

If this sounds like the environment you want to build your career in, we want to hear from you.