About the Organisation: Karo Sambhav is an e-waste collection and producer-responsibility organisation working with producers across India. Its recycling subsidiary, Circularity Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (CSPL), operates two e-waste recycling facilities at Modinagar (Uttar Pradesh) and Nashik (Maharashtra).

CSPL is extending its operations from dismantling and mechanical recycling into the recovery of critical minerals from e-waste and is planning an advanced plant for pyro-hydrometallurgical processing. Current research includes recovery of rare earth elements from end-of-life NdFeB magnets, indium and tin from display panels, engineering plastics from e-waste, and other critical minerals such as nickel, PGMs, tantalum and lithium. CSPL has been granted eligibility under the Ministry of Mines' Critical Mineral Mission incentive scheme for critical mineral recycling.

Position Overview: The R&D; Lab Manager / Senior Manager will plan and carry out laboratory research across CSPL's critical mineral recovery programmes at the Modinagar laboratory and lead a small team of chemists, metallurgists, technicians, interns and thesis students. This is a laboratory-based role that needs sound experimental practice, the ability to generate reliable and repeatable data from heterogeneous e-waste feedstock, and the ability to develop a junior team.

Research Focus Areas:

Recovery of critical raw materials from e-waste and spent batteries, including indium, tin, tantalum, nickel, cobalt, lithium, antimony, bismuth, precious metals (gold, silver, PGMs) and rare earth elements.

Key Responsibilities:





Research and Process Development

- Plan, run and document lab experiments across leaching, solid–liquid separation, precipitation, thermal treatment and metal recovery, including electrowinning.
- Characterise feed and recovered products, and report yield, recovery and purity accurately, including failed trials.
- Keep records detailed enough for independent replication of results.

Team Leadership

- Plan and allocate work among chemists, metallurgists, technicians, interns and thesis students.
- Train the team in procedures, instrument use and safe practice, and review their data and notebooks.
- Supervise thesis students and interns so their work serves laboratory objectives.

Laboratory Operations, Safety and Reporting
- Maintain SOPs, sample tracking, chemical inventory, instrument calibration and waste-handling protocols, and enforce safe handling of acids, furnaces and hazardous residues.
- Advise on the specification, procurement and commissioning of laboratory equipment and instruments.
- Coordinate with the plant team, academic partners and technology providers, and report progress and resource needs to the leadership team regularly.

Essential Qualifications and Experience

- M.Sc., M.Tech or Ph.D. in Metallurgy,



Materials Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or a related discipline.
- 5–7 years of hands-on R&D; experience in an industrial laboratory, or research institute.
- Bench-scale hydrometallurgy: leaching, filtration and precipitation, plus at least one of solvent extraction, ion exchange or electrowinning.
- Sample preparation and elemental analysis: acid digestion, ICP, MP-AES or AAS, and ability to interpret XRD and SEM data.
- Experience guiding junior researchers, interns or students in a laboratory.
- Rigorous record-keeping and secure handling of acids, furnaces and hazardous residues.
- Willingness to work on-site at an operating recycling facility in Modinagar.

Desirable

- Recovery of rare earth elements, tantalum, tin, indium or other critical minerals from e-waste, batteries or scrap (as distinct from primary ore).
- Thermal processing (roasting, calcination, pyrolysis, melting) or electrochemistry (electrowinning, cyclic voltammetry).
- Laboratory-to-pilot scale-up experience, and publications or patents.

What We Offer

- A senior laboratory position in a research facility being established, with scope to shape its working practices and structure.
- Exposure to multiple critical mineral streams.
- Close interaction with an operating recycling facility, allowing lab findings to inform practice.
- Collaboration with academic and industry partners.
- Opportunity to mentor and develop a junior research team.
- Remuneration commensurate with qualifications and experience.

📌 R&D Lab Manager / Senior Manager – Critical Minerals Recovery (Modinagar)
🏢 Karo Sambhav
📍 Modinagar