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MINTEK
FUND LEADER - 3 YEAR FIXED TERM CONTRACT
Listing reference: minte_000457
Listing status: Online
Apply by: 7 September 2026
Position summary
Industry: Scientific, Research & Development
Job category: Technical Project Management
Location: Randburg
Contract: Fixed Term Contract
Remuneration: Market Related
EE position: No
Introduction
The Fund Leader is primarily tasked with raising commercialisation investment funding from external sources and managing all systems, governance, and procedures for both internal and external commercialisation-related investments into Mintek innovations. The role ensures robust decision-making, rigorous stage-gating, and reporting on project outcomes, acting as a business mirror to technical teams to ensure investments meet critical commercial milestones to unlock commercialisation.
Job description
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:
Leadership
- Provide active stage-gating and governance for commercialisation investments to prevent passive R&D expenditure.
- Exercise foresight, creativity, and professional judgment when making decisions or recommendations that directly impact research direction and the commercial outcomes of the Mintek IP portfolio.
- Guide technical research teams toward meeting critical, clearly defined commercial milestones.
Strategy & Innovation
- Establish and refine mandates, application criteria, and evaluation procedures for internal commercialisation funding instruments.
- Assess the local and international funding landscape to identify investment opportunities aligned with Mintek’s focus areas.
- Transform identified opportunities into high-quality proposals for externally funded commercial de-risking.
- Act as a "business mirror" to technical teams to ensure investment decisions are informed by clearly articulated commercial & market opportunities.
- Continually refine stage-gating and review procedures to ensure technologies move efficiently through the institutional commercialisation pipeline.
Financial Sustainability
- Support the development of robust internal funding proposals and systematically manage the portfolio of internal seed funds.
- Leverage internal seed funding to attract external co-investment, strategic partnerships, and DFI funding.
- Ensure that external revenue contributions from successful proposals actively support Mintek’s broader commercialisation programmes.
Execution, People and Planning
- Drive reporting mechanisms and quarterly reviews for all commercialisation investments, acting as the primary secretariat for funded projects.
- Manage large, multi-year funding programmes, executing comprehensive resource and timeline planning for funded milestones.
- Coordinate project inception meetings to closely align technical development with commercial de-risking activities.
Compliance Management
- Establish and monitor the operational systems and mandates required for sound governance of externally funded commercialisation projects and internal Seed Fund investments.
- Provide operational oversight of the work of applicants and technical staff to ensure absolute compliance with funding mandates.
- Proactively assess, profile, and manage all risks related to the commercialisation funding programs and individual projects in the portfolio.
Relationship Management and Reporting
- Prepare highly professional statistical and narrative reports for internal funding committees, Exco, and external institutional stakeholders.
- Engage deeply with applicants pre- and post-award to ensure milestones are commercially geared.
- Lead, guide, and mentor researchers and technical staff as they navigate the complex commercialisation funding landscape.
Minimum requirements
QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE:
- Master’s degree in science / engineering
- PhD in a scientific or technical field and/or Business qualification (MBA qualification would be an advantage)
- 3–5 years of experience directly related to technology transfer or investment fund management.
- Nature of Experience: Proven experience within a technology transfer function in a University or Science Council managing seed-funding projects or investment funds and associated governance processes.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Strong knowledge of high-tech product development processes and commercialisation hurdles.
- Ability to negotiate complex funding terms and a thorough understanding of the statutory reporting requirements of the IPR Act.
- Excellent communication, organisational, and technical integration skills
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW: BIOINFORMATICS
Listing reference: minte_000460
Listing status: Online
Apply by: 16 September 2026
Position summary
Industry: Scientific, Research & Development
Job category: Laboratory Work
Location: Randburg
Contract: Fixed Term Contract
Remuneration: Market Related
EE position: Yes
Introduction
Mintek has an exciting career opportunity for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Bioinformatics. The candidate will be responsible for providing bioinformatics and computational biology expertise to support research on bioleaching and biological sulfate-reducing systems. Working within a multidisciplinary research team, the candidate will analyse and integrate molecular, microbiological and metallurgical data to improve process understanding and support technology development.
Job description
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:
- Develop and apply bioinformatics pipelines for the analysis of 16S rRNA gene, metagenomic and whole-genome sequencing data.
- Develop, validate and implement new analytical methods, workflows and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
- Integrate molecular, microbiological and process data to support research and technology development.
- Contribute innovative ideas, research proposals and technical solutions to advance the division's research programmes.
- Contribute to scientific publications, conference presentations and collaborative research initiatives.
- Mentor postgraduate students and junior researchers and support the development of bioinformatics capability within the division.
- Plan and manage research activities in compliance with SHEQ and good research and data management practices.
APPLICATIONS
- Comprehensive curriculum vitae, including academic records, research experience, publications and R&D outputs.
- Copy of doctoral certificate (or letter from the university confirming meeting of Ph.D. requirements).
- Cover letter motivating the application.
- Two (2) reference/support letters (one must be from the Ph.D. supervisor).
GRADE: AO3, SALARY PACKAGE: Negotiable
Successful candidates must arrange their own accommodation close to Mintek, and must make their own travel arrangements to get to Mintek. Candidates must be willing to undergo psychometric testing.
Should you not hear from us within one (1) month of the closing date, consider your application to be unsuccessful.
Mintek is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, whose aim is to promote representivity in all levels of occupational categories.
Minimum requirements
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
- A Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology or related discipline.
- Demonstrated experience in bioinformatics and computational analysis of omics datasets.
- Experience with bioinformatics pipelines and workflow management tools (e.g. Nextflow or similar).
- Knowledge of microbial ecology, metagenomics and genomics.
- Foundation in biostatistics and data analysis.
- Understanding of molecular biology techniques and sequencing technologies.
BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES:
- Team player who enjoys variety and has a strong affinity for planning and executing new and high impact research.
- Passion for research, technology development, and technology transfer.
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Ability to work in a stressful and demanding environment.
- Willing to travel locally and internationally.
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Listing reference: minte_000459
Listing status: Online
Apply by: 16 September 2026
Position summary
Industry: Scientific, Research & Development
Job category: Laboratory Work
Location: Randburg
Contract: Fixed Term Contract
Remuneration: Market Related
EE position: Yes
Introduction
Mintek has an exciting career opportunity for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Chemical Engineering. The candidate will be responsible for conducting research in chemical and biological percolation leaching, contributing to the development and optimisation of innovative metallurgical processes for the treatment of low-grade ores and mine wastes. Working within a multidisciplinary research team, the candidate will undertake experimental and theoretical studies to improve process understanding, support the development of predictive models, and contribute to technology development and scale-up.
Job description
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:
- Conduct experimental and theoretical research on percolation leaching processes (heap and vat leaching), including hydrodynamics, mass transfer and reaction kinetics.
- Design, execute and interpret laboratory-scale test work to improve process understanding and support technology development.
- Contribute innovative ideas and methodologies to advance percolation leaching and biometallurgical processes.
- Analyse experimental data and contribute to process modelling, prediction and optimisation of leaching performance.
- Prepare research proposals and contribute to scientific publications, conference presentations and intellectual property development.
- Mentor junior researchers and contribute to collaborative research programmes.
- Plan and manage research activities in compliance with SHEQ requirements.
APPLICATIONS
- Comprehensive curriculum vitae, including academic records, research experience, publications and R&D outputs.
- Copy of doctoral certificate (or letter from the university confirming meeting of Ph.D. requirements).
- Cover letter motivating the application.
- Two (2) reference/support letters (one must be from the Ph.D. supervisor).
GRADE: AO3, SALARY PACKAGE: Negotiable
Successful candidates must arrange their own accommodation close to Mintek, and must make their own travel arrangements to get to Mintek. Candidates must be willing to undergo psychometric testing.
Should you not hear from us within one (1) month of the closing date, consider your application to be unsuccessful.
Mintek is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, whose aim is to promote representivity in all levels of occupational categories.
Minimum requirements
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
- A Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a BSc(Eng) or BEng undergraduate degree.
- Demonstrated experience in hydrometallurgy.
- Sound understanding of fluid flow, mass transfer and reaction kinetics in heterogeneous systems.
- Experience in percolation leaching (heap or VAT leaching) or biometallurgy will be advantageous.
- Experience in process modelling, machine learning or data-driven modelling will be advantageous.
- A publication record in peer-reviewed journals would be beneficial.
BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES:
- Team player who enjoys variety and has a strong affinity for planning and executing new and high impact research.
- Passion for research, technology development, and technology transfer.
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Ability to work in a stressful and demanding environment.
- Willing to travel locally and internationally.
